Attend University Faculty For Life's 10th Annual Meeting

University Faculty for Life (UFL) is holding its 10th annual meeting at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., June 2 to 4. Speakers this year include the distinguished journalist and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff; Maggie Wynne, director of the House Pro-Life Caucus; the medical-moralist Dianne Irving; and Richard Duncan, a professor of law.

Attendance is open to faculty members and their spouses, or to others by special request. For membership or registration information, contact: University Faculty for Life, 120 New North, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. 20057, or e-mail: kingt@gunet.georgetown. edu.

For pro-lifers unacquainted with life on college campuses, it may come as a surprise that university faculty are not monolithically pro-abortion. UFL has been instrumental in bringing pro-life scholars together to exchange ideas and present papers.

In existence since 1989, UFL began publishing a newsletter in 1990, held its first conference in 1991, and since 1992 has published its conference proceedings.

"The proceedings, entitled Life and Learning, are a gold mine of information for those interested in the life issues," NRL Educational Trust Fund Director Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D., told NRL News. "UFL shows how foolish it is to believe that higher levels of education lead an individual away from a respect for vulnerable human life."

Over the years many truly distinguished speakers have addressed the annual UFL conferences. To just mention a few: Dr. Jerome Lejeune, Hadley Arkes, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Dr. Joel Brind, Francis J. Beckwith, Helen Alvare, Dr. Vincent Rue, Clark D. Forsythe, Sidney Callahan, Alan Keyes, Wanda Franz, David Reardon, Richard M. Doerflinger, Julian L. Simon, Paul Swope, Rabbi David Novak, Robert and Mary Ellen Bork, Dr. John and Barbara Willke, and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus - - among several dozen others.

UFL conferences have been held on a number of campuses of academic distinction: Georgetown, Yale, Fordham, Marquette, Loyola in Baltimore, Toronto, and Trinity International in Chicago. Attendance has reached over a hundred at several of these.

UFL has played an active role in advancing the pro-life cause, and has submitted "friend of the court" briefs, beginning with Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, and most recently in the Nebraska law banning partial-birth abortions, on which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments April 25.

UFL members come from a host of disciplines: philosophy, sociology, history, literature, theology, economics, political science, medicine, nursing, and computer science are all represented. All pro-life faculty in institutions of higher learning are welcome to join, both in the United States and abroad. Indeed, UFL conferences have always had an international dimension, with foreign academics among the speakers at every conference.

The UFL president is Fr. Tom King, S.J., of Georgetown. The board is drawn from faculty members across North America. UFL's web site can be viewed at www.marquette.edu/ufl.

Due to a generous donation, conference registration, including a wine and cheese reception, light breakfasts, refreshments between sessions, and a banquet, is only $40. A room for Friday and Saturday nights is $55 (double occupancy) or $85 (single occupancy). The conference begins at 2 p.m. on Friday and ends with the banquet on Saturday night. Religious services are available on Sunday morning.

Faculty are invited to propose a paper for presentation. Papers will be considered for inclusion in Life and Learning; faculty members might wish to note that this is a peer-reviewed publication. To propose a paper contact Professor Teresa Collett, South Texas College of Law, 1303 San Jacinto St., Houston, TX, 77002-7000 or e-mail her at rhctsc@aol.com (proposals must be received by May 8).