Campus

PAD examines ethnic identity in “Dancing Who I Am”

Dancers, critics and choreographers will explore ethnic identity through dance in “Dancing Who I Am,” a concert and panel discussion this Saturday in Edison Theatre.

The event, presented by the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences and by the Center for the Study of Ethics and Human Values as part of their “Ethnic Profiling: A Challenge to Democracy” series, examines how individual dancers draw expectations and inspiration from ethnic identity.

Performers and panel participants include Washington University faculty members Ting-Ting Chang, Mary-Jean Cowell and Cecil Slaughter, who will be performing with the Slaughter Project. Also participating will be Rulan Tangen, a visiting scholar in the Performing Arts Department and choreographer; the critic Elizabeth Zimmer, a former dance editor at the Village Voice; and Thomas DeFrantz, an MIT professor who specializes in African-American performance.

Admission is free and open to the public. (Rafa García Febles)

National

Sotomayor takes seat in Supreme Court

Sonia Sotomayor made history Tuesday afternoon when she took her seat as the 111th member of the Supreme Court in a formal ceremony attended by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, her fellow justices, and her family and friends.

Sotomayor, Obama’s first Supreme Court appointment, is only the third woman and the first Hispanic to serve on the nation’s highest court. Chief Justice John Roberts, who first administered the judicial oath of office to Justice Sotomayor following her Senate confirmation on Aug. 8, once again did the honors in a ceremony rich with tradition.

Following the oath, Sotomayor took her seat with her new colleagues, sitting in a chair that once belonged to Chief Justice John Marshall.

“I, Sonia Sotomayor, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich,” she pledged.

Her first chance to test her pledge comes next Wednesday, when the court hears arguments about the constitutionality of federal and state laws restricting corporate donations to election campaigns. Sotomayor, who emphasized her respect for precedent during her Senate confirmation hearings, will help to either uphold or overturn a position established by the court twice. (Rafa García Febles)

International

Three convicted by British court for bombing attempt

A British court convicted three men on Monday for a plot that officials said could have killed as many as 1,500 in a single day. The men planned to smuggle liquid explosives in soda bottles on at least seven trans-Atlantic flights.

The convictions of Abdulla Ahmen Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain are the culmination of the largest counterterrorism investigation in British history, spanning three years and resulting in two trials and the arrest of eight men.

The 2006 plot involved smuggling hydrogen peroxide in soda bottles and then exploding them with battery-powered devices. It resulted in new prohibitions regarding what passengers could bring onto an airplane, notably reducing the amount of liquid allowed onboard to very small amounts.

The criminal investigation, in which the suspected terrorists received due process prior to conviction, contrasts markedly with the approach to counterterrorism favored by the U.S., which tends to treat terrorism as a military matter. As of yet, there have been no trials of anyone involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. (Rafa García Febles)

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