Children: Public Good or Individual Responsibility (1999)

AN UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATION

"CHILDREN: PUBLIC GOOD OR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY?"

November 19 and 20 at Cornell Law School, Myron Taylor Hall, Ithaca NY

Sponsored by the Feminism and Legal Theory Project

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 - - 4:00 - 6:30 PM

Exploring the Parameters

Panel discussion designed to set out various perspectives and provoke general discussion on the general question of how we should view children in policy terms -- as a public good or individual responsibility.

Panel presentations by Mary Anne Case (University of Chicago Law School), Katherine Franke

(Fordham Law School and Columbia Law School), Mona Harrington (author), Martha

McCluskey (SUNY Buffalo Law School) and Nancy Staudt (SUNY Buffalo Law School).

Materials for discussion will include chapters from Mona Harrington's new book, Care and

Equality: Inventing a New Family Politics, as well as articles on the issues of the costs of caring and who should pay for children.

7 PM -- VEGETARIAN DINNER AT MARTHA FINEMAN'S HOUSE -- 204 Sunrise Road

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20 - - 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Locating Responsibility in "Public" and "Private" Contexts

Moderator: Miranda Stewart, New York University

Panelists and topics for discussion (reading materials will be provided):

June Carbone, University of Santa Clara Law School:

"Rationales for Assistance to Children: From Productivity to Citizenship."

Alice Hearst, Smith College, Government Department:

"Children in Constitutional Discourse."

Margaret Krasik, Duquesne University School of Law:

"The Case for Mandatory Public Education."

Risa Lieberwitz, Cornell University, School of Labor and Industrial Relations: "

The Private Sector -- the Role of Unions and Employers."

LUNCH IN THE ATRIUM -- 12:30 - 2:00 PM

2:00 - 4:30 PM - - Thinking Outside of the Parameters

Moderator: Nancy Barta-Smith, Slippery Rock University, English Department

Panelists and topics for discussion (reading materials will be provided):

Linda McClain, Hofstra University and Harvard University:

"Care as a Public Value: Foundations for Collective Responsibility."

Judith Stacey, University of Southern California, Department of Sociology:

"No Parent is an Island -- No Society is Childless by Choice."

Jane Rutherford, DePaul University College of Law:

"One Child, One Vote: Proxies for Parents."