OSI Forum: Murder by Public Policy
OSI-New York
April 24, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Samantha Power, Gara LaMarche, Eric Klinenberg

OSI Fellows and acclaimed authors Eric Klinenberg (Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago) and Samantha Power (A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide) discuss similarities in two seemingly unrelated tragedies: the July 1995 Chicago heat wave and the 1994 Rwandan genocide.   more

OSI Forum: Random Family
OSI-Baltimore
April 23, 2003

The Criminal Justice Program invited Adrian Nicole LeBlanc to talk about her new book Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx.   more

OSI Forum: Three Federal Reauthorizations
University of Baltimore
April 23, 2003

The Workforce and Economic Development Program and Job Opportunities Task Force sponsored a forum titled "Three Federal Reauthorizations: Implications For Low-Skill Workers", on April 23rd at the University of Baltimore.   more

OSI Forum: Building the Afghan State
OSI-New York
April 11, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Barnett Rubin

An Afghanistan expert warns that failing to curtail the power of the country's warlords will jeopardize the successful implementation of a new constitution.   more

OSI Forum: Radical Islam
OSI-New York
April 2, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Olivier Roy

An expert on "political Islam" discusses Islamic terrorists' motives and current antiterrorism responses and policies in the United States and elsewhere.   more

OSI Forum: Invisible Punishment
OSI-Baltimore
March 18, 2003

The Criminal Justice Program hosted a forum featuring Patricia Allard and Imani Walker on "Invisible Punishment: Collateral Consequences of Denying Welfare Benefits to Women Convicted of Drug Offenses".   more

OSI Forum: 40 Years Later—Assessing the Promise of Gideon
OSI-New York
March 18, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Jacqueline Baillargeon, Jimmy Ray Bromgard, John J. Farmer Jr., Stephen Bright, Jo-Ann Wallace, Abe Krash, Bryan A. Stevenson

Marking the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, criminal justice advocates discuss the impact of the ruling that ordered states to provide a lawyer for people who cannot afford one.   more

OSI Forum: Collapse of a State
OSI-New York
March 14, 2003

The director of OSI's Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) discusses the deplorable human rights and economic situation in Zimbabwe—and how his program, the region, and the world are responding.   more

OSI Forum: Random Family
OSI-New York
February 26, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Terry Williams, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Two Soros Justice Fellows—journalist Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally—discuss recent high—profile projects focusing on urban poverty and drug use in the United States.   more

OSI Forum: Cutting Correctly in Maryland
OSI-Baltimore
February 24, 2003

The Criminal Justice Program invited Judith Green, Senior Soros Justice Fellow from the Justice Policy Institute, to discuss a recently released report on safe and effective ways to reduce Maryland's prison population.   more

OSI Forum: Must Democracy Be An Endless Meeting?
OSI-New York
February 13, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Seth Borgos, Anusuya Oona Chatterjee, Jennifer Gordon , Francesca Polletta

A panel of activists and academics discuss inclusive decision-making strategies that can help make community organizations and social movement groups more effective in influencing change in the United States.   more

OSI Forums: Oppression and Strife in Central Asia
OSI-New York
February 11, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Yevgeny Zhovtis, Filip Noubel

The conviction of a Kazahstani journalist and domestic turmoil in Turkmenistan are the subjects of two separate forums sponsored by OSI's Central Eurasia Project.   more

OSI Forum: The Dilemma of Standardized Tests
OSI-New York
February 10, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): William Cala, Jay P. Heubert, Gerry House, Thomas Sobol

A panel of education experts discuss whether test-based accountablility systems are the best way to improve public education in the United States.   more

OSI Forum: Drug Use and Pregnancy in the United States
OSI-New York
February 3, 2003
Guest Speaker(s): Ann M. Boyer, M.D., Lynn M. Paltrow, J.D.

Advocates of women's rights and drug policy reform discuss developments that pose threats to compassionate efforts to care for drug-using pregnant women in the United States.   more

OSI Forum: Atlantic Monthly Discussion
OSI-Baltimore
January 21, 2003

Open Society Institute-Baltimore, ABAG and Annie E. Casey Foundation hosted a discussion on the double issue of the Atlantic Monthly magazine "The State of the Union" which examines the current state of affairs in important areas of social and economic life and provides with a range of policy options for moving forward.   more