September 10, 2001

Contact:
Sarah Ray
802-443-5794
sray@middlebury.edu
Posted: September 10, 2001

MIDDLEBURY,
VT - “Integration in Policy and Practice in Europe and
the Americas” will be the topic of the ninth annual
Middlebury College Clifford Symposium on Sept. 21-22. This
year’s symposium will offer panels and an open
discussion addressing the subject through the perspective of
leading scholars, policymakers, activists, lawyers and
journalists from Britain, France and the United States. All
events are free and open to the public, and will take place
in the Little Theatre at Middlebury College’s Bread
Loaf campus on Route 125 in Ripton.

According
to Erik Bleich, Middlebury College assistant professor of
political science and organizer of the symposium, the
integration of immigrants and ethnic groups poses
longstanding challenges in Europe and North America.
“Tensions have crystallized in recent decades due to the
increasing ethnic pluralism of these societies and the
recognition that such pluralism is here to stay. Yet many of
the controversies have their roots in a centuries-deep
history of slavery and colonization,” said Bleich. “This
conference seeks to examine the extent of ethnic integration
and to explore the policies and practices that best overcome
the legacies of the past,” he added.

Speakers
include Middlebury College Bicentennial Scholar-in-Residence
Madeleine M. Kunin and Chairman of the United Kingdom’s
Commission for Racial Equality Gurbux Singh.

The
symposium will kick off at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 21 with a
discussion titled “Legacies of Slavery and Colonization and
their Effects on Integration.” The talk will feature a
distinguished panel of academics: Randall Hansen of Oxford
University, Mickaëlla Périna of Harvard
University, Mae Ngai of the University of Chicago, and Susan
Martin, director for the Study of International Migration at
Georgetown University.

At
11 a.m., there will be a panel discussion titled “Dealing
with Historical Traumas: Precedents and Perspectives.”
Panelists include Kunin and John Torpey of the University of
British Columbia.

Later
that afternoon, the panel discussion “Dealing with
Historical Traumas of Slavery and Colonization in Europe and
the Americas” will begin at 2 p.m. Speakers will reflect on
the effectiveness of ignoring the past versus public
admissions of guilt by politicians or monetary compensation.
Panelists will be Michael Hausfeld of the Washington,
D.C.-based law firm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll;
Michel Giraud of the University of the Antilles-Guiana;
Azouz Begag of the National Center for Scientific Research
(CNRS) and the University of Paris IV; and Harry Goulbourne
of South Bank University in London.

At
3:30 p.m. a panel discussion titled the “National Practices
of Integration” will address the three countries’
varying policies and approaches toward immigrants and
minorities. The panel will feature Fred Constant of the
University of the Antilles-Guiana; Krishna Sarda, chief
executive of the Ethnic Minority Foundation; Michael Fix,
the principal research associate of the Population Studies
Center of the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.; and Marco
Martiniello of the University of Liege.

The
final talk of the day, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., will be
“Anti-Racism Policies: Fighting Legacies of Domination.”
This panel will examine several issues, including the
effectiveness of the legal system and policies such as
affirmative action. The event will feature panelists Gurbux
Singh, chairman of the U.K.’s Commission for Racial
Equality; Malek Boutih, president of France’s
SOS-Racisme; and Erik Bleich, Middlebury College assistant
professor of political science.

The
symposium will continue Saturday, Sept. 22, beginning at 9
a.m. Presenters will reflect on related topics not yet
covered by previous speakers in a discussion titled
“Managing the Social, Economic and Political Problems of
Integration.” The panelists, who will represent the United
States, France and Britain, will be Dalton Conley of New
York University; Nacira Guénif of the University of
Paris XIII; and Shamit Saggar of Queen Mary and Westfield
College-University of London.

At
11 a.m., the discussion will broaden with the topic “Better
Practices at the Local Level”—a panel designed
specifically to highlight integration issues that escape the
national media’s attention. Featured speakers will be
Ann Morse of the State and Local Coalition on Immigration, a
division of the National Conference on State Legislatures;
Bruce Gill of the Birmingham City Council in England; and
Romain Garbaye, a Jean Monnet Fellow of the European
University Institute.

The
final event of the conference will take place at 2 p.m.
“Roundtable Discussion: Rethinking the Challenges of
Integration” will draw out the speakers’ and
audience’s

conclusions
regarding the conference’s key topics, particularly
what policies are likely to be most successful at promoting
integration. Patrick Weil of CNRS and University of Paris
I-Sorbonne will serve as moderator.

The
Nicholas R. Clifford Symposium was established by the
Middlebury College board of trustees in1993 to honor the
distinguished career of Clifford, Middlebury College
professor emeritus of history. He was a member of the
Middlebury College history department from 1966 through
1993, and served as vice president for academic affairs on
three occasions, from 1979-1985, in 1989 and from 1991-1993.
He is a former trustee, and was a co-chair of the
College’s Bicentennial celebration
committee.

For
more information, contact Carolann Davis of the Middlebury
College Center for International Affairs at
802-443-2319.

Events
Calendar Listings

“Integration
in Policy and Practice in Europe and the
Americas”

Nicholas
R. Clifford Symposium

Middlebury
College, Bread Loaf Campus, Ripton, Vt.

September
21-22

Friday,
Sept. 21

9-10:30
a.m., Panel Discussion: “Legacies of Slavery and
Colonization and their Effects on Integration”

Panelists:
Randall Hansen of Oxford University, Mickaëlla
Périna of Harvard University, Mae Ngai of the
University of Chicago, and Susan Martin, director of the
Institute for the Study of International Migration at
Georgetown University

11
a.m.-12:30 p.m., Panel Discussion: “Dealing with
Historical Traumas: Precedents and Perspectives”

Panelists
include John Torpey of the University of British Columbia
and Madeleine Kunin, Middlebury College Bicentennial
scholar-in-residence, former ambassador to Switzerland, and
former governor of Vermont

2-3:30
p.m., Panel Discussion: “Dealing with Historical Traumas
of Slavery and Colonization in Europe and the
Americas”

Panelists:
Michael Hausfeld of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm
Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll; Michel Giraud of the
University of Antilles-Guiana; Azouz Begag of the National
Center for Scientific Research and the University of Paris
IV, and Harry Goulbourne of South Bank University in
London

3:30-5
p.m., Panel Discussion: “National Practices of
Integration”

Panelists:
Fred Constant of the University of Antilles-Guiana; Krishna
Sarda, chief executive of the United Kingdom’s Ethnic
Minority Foundation; Michael Fix, principal research
associate for the Population Studies Center at the Urban
Institute in Washington, D.C.; and Marco Martiniello of the
University of Liege

5:30-7
p.m., Panel Discussion: “Anti-Racism Policies: Fighting
Legacies of Domination”

Panelists:
Gurbux Singh, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality
in the United

Kingdom;
Malek Boutih, president of SOS-Racisme in France; and Erik
Bleich, Middlebury College assistant professor of political
science

Symposium
on integration of immigrants and ethnic groups/Page
4

Saturday,
Sept. 22

9-10:30
a.m., Panel Discussion: “Managing the Social, Economic
and Political Problems of Integration”

Panelists:
Dalton Conley of New York University, Nacira Guénif
of the University of Paris XIII and Shamit Saggar of Queen
Mary and Westfield College-University of London

11
a.m.-12:30 p.m., Panel Discussion: “Better Practices at
the Local Level”

Panelists:
Ann Morse of the State and Local Coalition on Immigration, a
division of the National Conference on State Legislatures;
Bruce Gill of the Birmingham City Council in England; Romain
Garbaye, a Jean Monnet Fellow of the European University
Institute

2-4
p.m., Open Discussion: “Roundtable Discussion:
Rethinking the Challenges of Integration”

Moderator:
Patrick Weil of the National Center for Scientific Research
and the University of Paris I-Sorbonne

All
events are free and open to the public, and will take place
in the Little Theatre at the Middlebury College Bread Loaf
campus in Ripton. Admission is free. For more information,
contact Carolann Davis of the Middlebury College Center for
International Affairs at 802-443-2319.