BREAKING NEWS Chief Justice to address college

Author: Ben Salkowe

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. will deliver Middlebury's Fulton lecture next month, the Office of the President announced in an all-campus e-mail earlier this afternoon. Roberts, 51, will speak in Mead Chapel at 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 24.

"The Chief Justice will take questions from the audience after the lecture, which will be followed by a reception in McCullough Student Center," wrote College President Ronald D. Liebowitz.

Liebowitz called the lecture an "important event in the life of the College."

Student political leaders from both parties agreed that the Chief Justice's visit would be an opportunity for meaningful political discussion.

"While all of us might not agree with Chief Justice Roberts' politics in his decision-making, there is no denying that we all stand to explore our own personal beliefs through listening to his words," wrote Antoinette Rangel '09, president of the College Democrats, in response to the announcement.

"I hope that [Roberts'] lecture will give the student body some sort of understanding of conservative viewpoints," wrote Natalie Komrovsky '09, co-president of the College Republicans, in an e-mail Friday.

Stefan Claypool '09, the College Republican's other co-president, wrote that he was "thrilled" about the event but did expect some student protests.

Past campus appearances by prominent conservatives have sparked protests by students and community members, including controversial visits by former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer '82 in the fall of 2002 and former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in the spring of 2005.

"Seeing as how Chief Justice Roberts is an appointee of President Bush, towards whom many [Middlebury] students are openly hostile, I do expect some form of protest from the radical liberal elements of the student body," wrote Claypool.

Roberts' visit will mark the second by a U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice to the Middlebury campus. The late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Roberts' predecessor, gave a Fulton lecture in 1998.

Roberts was confirmed as the 17th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 29, 2005. As a lawyer the Buffalo, N.Y.-native had argued dozens of cases before the Court and been sworn in as a justice on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003.

Roberts received his bachelor's degree in only three years at Harvard College in 1976, and his degree in law from Harvard Law School in 1979.

The John Hamilton Fulton Lecture in the Liberal Arts was established at Middlebury College in 1966 by an emeritus member of the College Board of Trustees. Previous Fulton lecturers have included James A. Baker, III, Wynton Marsalis and Elie Wiesel.