MSU faculty, staff and students are in Washington, D.C., today attending the James H. Quello Communication Policy & Law Symposium.
Representatives from the MSU community are primarily from MSU-Detroit College of Law.
National security, social and political rights, access to Internet networks, providers and services and the evolution of the legal industry will be discussed, said Barbara Anselmo, assistant director of marketing for MSU-DCL.
The symposium is at the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel and is sponsored by the Quello Center at MSU, the Law Review at MSU-DCL and the Institute of Public Utilities at MSU.
“When the law is changing this quickly, it is sometimes more important to learn the theory, rather than the actual law at the time,” said Brian Kalt, an assistant professor of law.
Kalt, who is the co-chairman of the Law Review advisory committee, said telecommunication and administrative law is at the forefront of law discussion.
“Well this is, I think, broader than any one particular class,” he said.
“This is dealing with some cutting-edge issues - law, communication and policy.”
He said professors and people from top firms and government, such as Michael Powell, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will be attending and speaking at the event.
Kalt said Law Review students will be publishing the proceedings of the event and will have the opportunity to make contacts and become familiar with important issues.
Kalt said MSU-DCL Dean Terence Blackburn will kick off today’s events with a welcome to those attending and an introduction of the day’s events.
Although there has been restrictions put on technology since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Blackburn said the day’s events have not been altered.
He said the event had been planned for about a year.
The annual symposium is the third one in MSU-DCL’s history.
“This isn’t something that DCL did when it was down in Detroit,” Kalt said.
“It’s something we got involved with since we’ve been here.
“It’s a lot of groups working together. The main driving force is from the Quello Center, for us it’s more of an educational opportunity for our students and a good source of articles for our Law Review.”
