Conferences & Workshops

Baldy center collage.

Fall 2019

Buddhism, Law and Society: Between Text and Context.
The Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law
7/24/19
Join us for the Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law, September 26 to 29, 2019. Hosted by the journal Buddhism, Law & Society, this conference focuses on the many legal features of Buddhism, and how law and the state relate to Buddhist actors, institutions and texts. The conference will cover themes, such as: Buddhism and politics; current issues in implementing Buddhist religious values into legal systems; Buddhist law and constitutionalism in emerging democracies; legal aspects of different versions of the Vinayain Sanskrit, Pali and other vernacular sources; Buddhism and social policy; the relationship of Buddhism to religious education, criminal law, and property law; colonialism and its relationship to Buddhist law; and Buddhist legal processes, among many others. The conference is free and open to the public. We invite all persons interested in the topic to attend.
The marble sculpture, Authority of Law, appears below the inscription, EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW, on the west entrance of the U.S. Supreme Court building. Photograph courtesy of CC BY-SA 3.0, Matt H. Wade.
Journal of Law and Political Economy: Developing the Field
8/16/19
Join us this fall for a workshop to launch The Journal of Law and Political Economy (JLPE),  a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary online publication. The JLPE  seeks to promote multi- and interdisciplinary analyses of the mutually constitutive interactions among law, society, institutions, and politics. Its central goal is to explore power in all its manifestations (race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, global inequality, etc.) and the relationship of law to power. Sponsored by The Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy, and Law and Political Economy Project, the workshop is free and open to the public with advance registration. Space is limited. Advance registration is required.
Dates: October 11 & 12, 2019

Spring 2020 Workshops

Legacies of Suffrage.
Legacies of Suffrage

March 2020 Workshop organized by Carrie Bramen, UB Professor of English and Director of the UB Gender Institute. (description and dates forthcoming). 

Global Glyphosate: New Challenges in Regulating Pervasive Chemicals in the Anthropocene.
Global Glyphosate: New Challenges in Regulating Pervasive Chemicals in the Anthropocene

April 16-17, 2020
Join us this spring for the workshop, Global Glyphosate: New Challenges in Regulating Pervasive Chemicals in the Anthropocene, organized by Marion Werner, UB Associate Professor of Geography. (additional information forthcoming)

Past Conferences and Workshops

Spring 2019 Workshop: Environmental Justice in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank Photo: 'Land of Olives and Vines, Occupied Territories of Palestine' photograph courtesy of National Geographic, UNESCO World Heritage Site In the Central Highlands between Nablus and Hebron, a series of ancient terraces, agricultural towers, and a complex irrigation system have been used to cultivate Battir since antiquity. The agricultural practices—still in use today—are some of the oldest farming methods known to humankind. In 2014, the site was listed "in danger" because of ongoing geo-political transformations in the region. According to UNESCO, Israel’s controversial West Bank Barrier “may isolate farmers from fields they have cultivated for centuries.”.
Environmental Justice in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank
6/3/19
Workshop: Environmental Justice in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank. Fifty years into the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, it is important to understand the lesser known aspects of this apparatus. The focus of the workshop is on the administration of environmental injustice in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Dates: February 7 and 8, 2019. 
Women's March, Washington, D.C., January 21, 2017. Photograph courtesy of Gwynn Thomas.
From Protest to Politics: Women's Movements and Strengthening Democracies
6/3/19
Conference: “From Protest to Politics: Women’s Movements and Strengthening Democracies.” For the last sixty years, there has been a consistent pattern of the growth of democratic governments produced by engaged citizens working together in social movements. Often led by diverse women, these social movements won the expansion of civil rights, political participation, and new laws to ensure equality. However, we now face a global rise in authoritarian politics and a rising concern over the future of liberal democracies. Our conference brings together scholars to analyze the current moment. Dates: April 11 & 12, 2019.
"The Tantalus of to-day" illustration by J.S. Pughe, for Puck Magazine, 1897. Image courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress. DK Image remixed for the Baldy Center, 2018.).
Tempering Power
2/19/19
On November 10, 2018, we hosted "Tempering Power", The Baldy Center's 40th Anniversary Conference held in conjunction with the Mitchell Lecture. On November 9, the Mitchell Lecture was delivered by John Braithwaite, the prolific and highly distinguished professor at Australian National University. His working title is “Tempered Power, Variegated Capitalism, Law and Society”.  The talk was complemented by the Baldy Center's day-long conference.
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Addiction as a chronic illness? Promises and perils of a new drug policy paradigm
5/14/19
On September 21 and 22, 2018, we hosted the symposium, Addiction as a chronic illness? Promises and perils of a new drug policy paradigm. Activists and physicians have worked hard to end punitive responses to addiction and recast it as a chronic illness treatable, in part, with medications like buprenorphine. But the “chronic illness” paradigm raises new questions: How to avoid the stigma and social limitations associated with chronic illness? How to prevent pharmaceutical industry influence over medication assisted treatment (MAT)? This symposium brings together leading scholars of addiction, pharmaceuticals, and chronic illness to explore the promises and perils of applying this paradigm to drug dependence and addiction.
Universities, Innovation, and Development.
Universities, Innovation, and Development
5/14/19
This invited workshop will focus on the internal and external facilitators and barriers of the transactional, developmental, and hybrid roles of the research university, in an effort to address the absence of systematic quantifiable measures of university-based research that address broader developmental aspects. Participants in this workshop will share their current work on this topic as well as plan for future collaboration.
Dates: April 7 and 8, 2018
Participants in the School of Public Health and Health Professions 2017 Public Health Summer Camp take part in lesson about community accessibility for people with disabilities at Kimball.Photographer: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki.
Disability and Higher Education
5/14/19
For most people familiar with the process of seeking accommodations through institutional channels, we know that there is often a disconnect between following the letter of the law and maximizing the learning experience for everyone involved. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires us to provide reasonable accommodations for students and workers with disabilities. When is it not enough? What can universities do better? This discussion will bring together scholars, students, and advocates to discuss the particulars of succeeding as a student, teacher, and researcher while disabled. Date: April 11, 2018
For information on this image contact: dmore@buffalo.edu.
Buffaronto Sociolegal Conversations
12/10/18
Join us on Saturday, September 23, 2017, for Buffaronto Sociolegal Conversations. The event will bring together scholars from Buffalo and Toronto for informal, wide-ranging discussion of pressing issues in sociolegal research. We invite you to participate in this conversation, which we hope will be the first of an ongoing series.
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Trump and the Law Speaker Series
5/14/19
Fall 2017: The Trump and the Law speaker series seeks to create a space for discussion, inquiry, and action as we enter new and ever more turbulent legal and political waters. To that end, we are hosting a series of speakers who will engage in public discussions of the policies and politics of the current administration. The talks are organized around particular policy or legal issues and bring to campus distinguished scholars, lawyers, and others engaged with the issues of the day. 
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The Changing Climate: Reflections on Current Law, Policy, Justice, and Regulation
12/10/18
Join us, March 10 and 11, 2017, for a conference that explores the legal challenges for climate change advocacy, alternative policy approaches, and the stumbling blocks for existing and proposed legal theories.
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Ocean Legalities: The Law and Life of the Sea
12/10/18
February 23 and 24, 2017, join us for a two-day workshop that examines the limits of legal frameworks rooted in humanistic and terrestrial assumptions. The event brings together legal scholars, geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, environmental scholars, and historians to expose the biopolitical hierarchies naturalized through modes of classification and operation by exploring a new subject of inquiry: ocean legalities.
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Global Governance and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
12/10/18
Join us on Saturday, November 5, 2016, for Global Governance and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Symposium. The goal of this one-day symposium is to critically evaluate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Billed as a “21st century trade agreement,” this far-reaching accord seeks to harmonize and, in some instances, to deepen the transnational governance of labor, the environment, and intellectual property, among other areas.
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Gene Editing: Life and Law Beyond the Human
12/10/18
October 21 and 22, 2016, join us for a groundbreaking workshop that will bring together scholars from a diverse range of disciplines to contemplate the cultural, scientific, regulatory, and normative implications of gene editing technologies for the future of life.
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Buddhist Law and State Law in Comparative Perspective
5/14/19
Sept 30 and Oct 1, 2016: The two-day conference, builds on the edited collection, Buddhism and Law: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2014) by Rebecca French and Mark Nathan. It will also serve as the official launch of the first issue of the new peer-reviewed, academic journal, Buddhism, Law & Society (William S. Hein Publishing).
Painting by Pieter Brueghel, the Younger (or workshop) The Payment of the Tithes (The tax-collector), also known as Village Lawyer, 1617. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Creative Commons.
Redistribution: Politics, Law, and Policy
5/14/19
Spring 2016 workshop conference: Redistribution: Politics, Law, and Policy. The theme of this gathering is the redistribution of income, with particular focus on questions that concern preferences, taxation, and state capacity.
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Gender and the Drug War
9/7/16
The Spring 2016 conference examined how gender plays a role in the drug war as viewed by the varied disciplines that inform sociolegal studies.
Also see the archive listing of Baldy Center Conferences since 1999

TOWN HALL MEETING ON THE 2017 REFERENDUM

HOW TO FIX NEW YORK’S CONSTITUTION?
 Tuesday, April 5, 2016    2:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Hosted by Baldy Center, Buffalo Law Review, Jaeckle Center, Partnership for the Public Good, SUNY Rockefeller Institute

On Election Day, Nov. 7, 2017, New York voters will decide: “Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?” (N.Y. Const., Art. XIX, § 2). 

Issues are: Campaign finance reform, redistricting reform, election administration reform, term limits, tax limits, public pension guarantees, environmental protection…  Is a convention “good medicine” or “snake oil?”

PRESENTERS:

  • GERALD BENJAMIN, Director, Benjamin Center for Public Policy Initiatives, SUNY New Paltz.
  • CHRISTOPHER BOPST, Chief Legal and Financial Officer at Sam-Son Logistics.
  • HENRIK DULLEA, Trustee, Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY)
  • PETER GALIE, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, Canisius College.