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Law School to host symposium on ‘The Same-Sex Marriage Divide’

Falling around the one-year anniversary of same-sex marriage legalization in the state of Iowa, Drake University Law School will hold a symposium on Saturday, April 10, to explore the social and legal implications of same-sex marriage.

“This symposium is designed to allow for a careful and scholarly examination of the constitutional, legal, economic and other issues related to same-sex marriage,” said Mark Kende, the James Madison chair in constitutional law and director of the Law School’s Constitutional Law Center. “This is in line with the Drake Constitutional Law Center’s purpose of presenting programs that educate the public on pressing constitutional questions.”

The symposium, “The Same-Sex Marriage Divide,” will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 213 at Cartwright Hall, 2621 Carpenter Ave. It will feature six legal experts:

  • Douglas Allen, the Burnaby Mountain professor of economics at Simon Fraser University
  • Lee Badgett, professor of economics and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts—Amherst
  • Andrew Koppelman, the John Paul Stevens professor of law at Northwestern Law School
  • Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
  • Mark P. Strasser, the Trustees professor of law at Capital University Law School
  • Lynn D. Wardle, the Bruce C. Hafen professor of law at J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University

The symposium is free for Drake students, faculty and members of the law firm of Belin and McCormick. Cost for other participants is $10 per person.

The event is organized by Drake’s Constitutional Law Center in support of its agenda to promote awareness of constitutional law throughout American culture. Since 1987, Drake has held the distinction of being one of only four universities permanently endowed by Congress to promote study of the Constitution.

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit has been approved for the event.

For more information about the symposium, contact Drake Law School at 515-271-2988.