 Renaud Colson |
Renaud Colson, vice dean of international relations at the University of Nantes in France, will deliver a lecture at Drake Law School on “France and the Gypsies” on Wednesday, Sept. 29.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 3 p.m. in room 203 of Cartwright Hall, 2621 Carpenter Ave.
Colson will discuss historical discrimination towards the Roma people and the legal and political implications of France’s current policies towards the group. He will address President Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent order to dismantle traveler’s camps and expel Roma with generational roots in Romania and Bulgaria — an action that was labeled as xenophobic by human right groups.
Colson earned his bachelor’s degree from Cardiff University in Wales, the United Kingdom and his master’s degrees in legal theory from the Facultés Universitaires Saint Louis in France and the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel in Brussels, Belgium.
Colson’s visit is a component of the Drake Law School’s decade-long partnership with the University of Nantes, where Drake students can spend a summer learning about comparative and international law subjects. The 2011 Summer in France Program is tentatively scheduled for May 23 through June 28. For more information, contact Associate Dean Andrea Charlow at 515-271-3985 or andrea.charlow@drake.edu.