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Media Advisory: UC Irvine School of Law Holds Public Forum with Reverend Jesse Jackson on Constitutional Implications of Ebola

11-06-14

IRVINE, Calif. — UC Irvine School of Law will host the inaugural event for the Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Policy on Wednesday, November 19, 2014, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. PST.

WHAT: An expert panel, including Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., UCI Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of Law Michele Goodwin, UCI Associate Professor of Public Health Andrew Noymer and Dr. George Woods, Jr., will present “The Constitutional Implications of Ebola: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights in Times of Health Crises.”

According to state and federal laws, patient information is deemed private and is to be held in strict confidentiality. However, in the wake of Ebola, well-established protocols to guard patient privacy have been neglected or suspended without any public debate. Already there has been litigation about when states can use their quarantine laws in trying to prevent the spread of Ebola.

At this forum, a panel of experts raises questions not only about how to contain the disease, but also to what extent Americans value their healthcare privacy, civil liberties and civil rights. How are Americans’ Ebola fears influenced by the origins of the disease? What liberties are Americans willing to sacrifice to calm their fears? How to balance the concern for public welfare with legal and ethical privacy principles?

WHO:

  • Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Founder and President, Rainbow Push Coalition
  • Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, UC Irvine School of Law
  • Michele Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law
  • Andrew Noymer, Associate Professor, Public Health, UC Irvine
  • Dr. George W. Woods, Jr., President-Elect, International Academy of Law and Mental Health

WHEN: Wednesday, November 19, 3:30-5:30 p.m. PST.
Schedule:

  • 3:30 p.m. Welcome
  • 3:35 p.m. Panel Discussion
    • Professor Andrew Noymer: Public Health In Times of Emergency—A Look Back On HIV, Tuberculosis, and Threatening Diseases
    • Dr. George Woods: Cognitive Bias and Fear in Times of Natural Disaster and Health Crises
  • 4:05 p.m. Armchair Discussion
    Reverend Jesse L. Jackson and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky will discuss civil rights and liberties moderated by Michele Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Policy. This armchair discussion will engage law’s role in protecting, promoting and balancing civil rights and civil liberties in times of perceived and actual national threat and disaster. Two of the foremost thinkers on civil liberties and civil rights will weigh in on this international conversation.
  • 5:00 p.m. Press Conference/Q&A

WHERE: UC Irvine School of Law, EDU 1111 (grid F11, bldg. 3 on campus map).

REGISTER: Space is limited for this event. Attendance and parking in the Social Science Parking Structure (grid F10 on campus map) are complimentary for media representatives who reserve a media pass here.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY AND GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY: Please visit the website here.

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