Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed '81 received one of eight 2009 National Humanities Medals from President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White House Thursday, according to a National Endowment for the Humanities press release. Gordon-Reed, a law professor at New York Law School and a history professor at Rutgers University, was honored for her research exploring the relationship between former President Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings, and for "bringing to light a previously unrecognized chapter in the American story," the press release said. Gordon-Reed received the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in History for her most recent book, "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family."
Seton Hall University announced Wednesday that it will eliminate its track and field athletic program after this season because of budget difficulties, according to The Star-Ledger. The elimination of the program's four teams would save the institution $1.5 million annually, officials said. The move came as a shock to many athletes and long-time track and field coach John Moon, who produced 71 All-American athletes, 19 Olympians, seven NCAA champions and six Big East team titles during his time at Seton Hall, The Star-Ledger reported. Seton Hall athletic director Joe Quinlan said the University would honor its sports scholarship commitments and grant a "blanket release" to any student athletes who wish to transfer, The Star-Ledger reported.
Joseph Weiler, a law professor at New York University and editor-in-chief of the European Journal of International Law, will stand trial for libel in June before a French tribunal because he refused to remove a critical academic book review from a web site affiliated with the journal, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Author Karin Calvo Goller, a lecturer at the Israel Academic Centre of Law and Business, sued the review's writer, Thomas Weigend, director of the Cologne Institute of Foreign and International Criminal Law. Goller claimed that Weigend's critique of her 2006 book, "The Trial Proceedings of the International Criminal Court," was defamatory. Weiler said he offered to publish a response from Calvo-Goller after the review, The Chronicle reported, but refused to remove the review itself. Weiler said he is optimistic he will be acquitted at trial and that any other outcome would "deal a heavy blow to academic freedom," according to The Chronicle.
Compiled by Ping Khuan Sim
