Shestack addresses human rights issues

College students are attempting to return to the past by morphing their campuses into hotbeds of political activity.

At yesterday's Students for Human Rights and Democratic Education Conference, students from 8 different colleges and universities gathered in Logan Hall to hear Former U.S. Ambassador Jerome Shestack deliver a keynote speech on the principles of democracy and the importance of getting involved in the fight for human rights.

"I flew in last night and am flying out today," said Jamie Bemis, a junior at the University of New Hampshire. "I think it's great that students who are interested in combating student apathy can come together."

Students from Brandeis, Rutgers, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Temple and Haverford also attended the event, listening intently to the lecture and asking questions in a brief question-and-answer session.

Shestack covered topics such as the genocide in Darfur, ethnic cleansing, rules of the Geneva Convention and the United States' role as the world's security force.

"The concept of human rights is that the individual has the right to do what he wants, as long as he does not harm others," said Shestack, a Penn alum and former professor who served as President of the American Bar Association from 1997-1998.

"It took a long time, all through the early part of the 20th century, for human rights to be enforced by the federal courts at all," he said.

During his time at Penn, Shestack was part of the Naval ROTC program. Following his tour of the armed forces, he attended Harvard Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Law School Record.

After clerking in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Court, he taught law at Northwestern and Penn, and he was eventually chosen to serve as Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights under Jimmy Carter.

And he pulled no punches when describing America's efforts in that department.

"In the interest of security, we torture people; we deny people free trial; we hold people for an indefinite detention without charges; we enact laws that inhibit free speech and we make terrorism into something that triumphs over all of our values," he said.

For the students, though, Shestack expressed ideas for hope and a brighter future.

"For you, each age is one as born anew and perhaps what you can do is make a difference," he said.

Oscar Abello, a senior Economics major at Villanova, noticed that many attending students shared similar ideals and questions about activism.

"They share so much," Abello said. "They are not alone in their generation's struggle."

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