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Intellect

Kennedy Center to open winter semester with pair of lectures Jan. 11

On international law, human rights and Islam

The David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at Brigham Young University will host two guest lecturers Wednesday, Jan. 11, in 238 Herald R. Clark Building located south of the Harold B. Lee Library.

Davis Brown, an attorney and visiting scholar at George Washington University Law School, will open this semester’s Global Awareness Lecture series at noon with his presentation, “International Law and the Use of Force: A New Analytical Approach.”

Frederick M. Denny, a professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder, will discuss “Human Rights and Islam” as part of an Area Focus Lecture at 3 p.m.

Both events are free and the public is welcome.

Brown, an expert in public international law, has trained thousands of airmen in the law of armed conflict, rules of engagement, host nation legal pitfalls and standards of ethical conduct during his eight years in the U.S. Air Force. Prior to that, he worked with the legal office of the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai, Egypt.

He has an master’s degree in international law with highest honors from George Washington University and a J.D. from New York University, where he was also a fellow at the Center for International Studies.

Denny has researched Muslim community formation in North America and Muslim human rights discourses, Qur'anic studies, comparative ritual, Islamic education in Malaysia and Indonesia and Islam and Muslim communities in North America.

He is the editor of the University of South Carolina Press scholarly book series, “Studies in Comparative Religion,” which has published pioneering titles on Islamic subjects.

Both lectures will be archived online. For more information on Kennedy Center events, visit kennedy.byu.edu.

Writer: Brian Rust

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