Newsroom Stories

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.Thurgood Marshall (center) with George E.C. Hayes and James Nabri celebrating the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.For the past 50-plus years, civil rights litigation has greatly affected Americans’ lives. It has secured our Constitutional rights, and it has dramatically improved many of our public and private institutions. Information about these cases, however, has been exceedingly difficult to locate. Until now. More…

The sixth annual Access to Equal Justice conference Nov. 17 brings to campus Barry Scheck, Roscoe C. Howard Jr. and U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr.

Preserving a treasured culture.Nearly every federal policy directed toward Native Americans since the time of America’s discovery has been a policy of either annihilation or assimilation. For this reason, Native Americans have not been fully recognized as vibrant, valued and productive, says Dana Klar, J.D., founding and interim director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “Our government has sent the message, ‘We’ve been able to assimilate you. Why separate you?'” This paradox, says Klar, helps to explain why Native American Indian Heritage month, which began Nov. 1, often comes and goes with very little fanfare. More…

Nearly 70 percent of kidney transplant patients get short-term drug therapy initially administered during surgery to help prevent rejection. In the first head-to-head comparison of the two drugs most commonly given to ward off acute kidney rejection, an international study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that one – anti-thymocyte globulin – is superior.

The WUSTL School of Law’s Clinical Education Program and Center for Interdisciplinary Studies will host the sixth annual Access to Equal Justice conference Nov. 17 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The conference will focus on “Examining the Risks of Wrongful Executions and the Role of Prosecutors, Defense Attorneys, Academia and the Press.” Panelists will examine four criminal cases that many critics believe ended in the executions of innocent defendants.

Studies of a rare genetic condition that increases cancer risk have unveiled a potential treatment for metabolic syndrome, a common disorder that afflicts as many as one in every four American adults and puts them at sharply increased risk of type 2 diabetes and clogged arteries.

Four aspiring playwrights will present staged readings of their work Nov. 16 and 17 as part of Washington University’s 2006 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival. Sponsored by the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, the festival’s selection process actually began in January, when students from across the university submitted original plays to an adjudication committee made up of faculty and theater professionals. The committee then selected four plays — two full-length works and two shorts — to undergo an intense two-week workshop this fall, culminating in the staged readings.

Washington University regrets that a member of its medical faculty issued an email regarding Amendment 2, now widely circulated, that included inappropriate and mistaken comments about the medical condition of Cynthia Kramer, a candidate for public office.

The Olin Cup Competition, the annual business formation contest at Washington University in St. Louis, is taking the contest to the people. On Thursday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m., fourteen semi-finalists will present their business proposals in an “elevator pitch” first to a panelist of judges and then for an audience. Audience members will then vote on which pitch should win.

Cynthia White has been selected to receive The National Council of University Research Administrators 2006 Distinguished Service Award. The award is way to recognize members of NCURA who have made sustained and distinctive contributions to the organization.