The inaugural Alan Sieroty and Allen Neiman Lecture in Civil Liberties will be delivered Feb. 22
- By Gilien Silsby
A new civil liberties issues lecture series that will bring some of the country’s most respected scholars to the USC Gould School of Law has been endowed by Alan Sieroty ’56, a former California state senator and assemblyman.
The Alan Sieroty and Allen Neiman Lecture in Civil Liberties, named in honor of Sieroty and his classmate, Allen Neiman ‘56, will bring an annual speaker to USC Law to address civil liberties issues.
“These men have devoted substantial portions of their careers to working on issues related to civil liberties,” said USC Law Dean Robert K. Rasmussen. “We are honored to launch this incredible lecture series.”
Geof Stone, a University of Chicago Law School professor, will deliver the inaugural lecture on Feb. 22, 2012. One of the nation’s leading constitutional law scholars, Stone is known for voicing a vigorous defense of civil liberties.
His most recent books are Speaking Out! Reflections on Law, Liberty and Justice (2010), Top Secret: When Our Government Keeps Us in the Dark (2007) and War and Liberty: An American Dilemma (2007).
Stone served as dean of the University of Chicago Law School from 1987 to 1993, and provost of the University of Chicago from 1993 to 2002.
“Geof Stone is one of our nation’s great lawyers,” Sieroty said. ”I am looking forward to hearing him speak.”
Sieroty, who serves on the board of the Southern California American Civil Liberties Union and on the advisory board of the Liberty Hill Foundation, said he wanted to endow the lecture series to encourage law students to take a closer look at matters related to civil liberties and freedom.
“Al Neiman and I are pleased to be able to endow this important lecture series and hope it will stimulate interest from law students in civil liberties issues,” Sieroty said.
Sieroty has spent much of his career in public service. He was elected to the California State Assembly in 1966, serving until 1977, when he was elected to the state Senate. Sieroty retired from the state legislature in 1982.
While in the legislature, Sieroty authored more than 100 bills, including the California Coastal Protection Act , the California Financial Privacy Act, the Dymally-Sieroty Children's Center Construction Act and the Art in Public Buildings Act.
Prior to his term in the state legislature, Sieroty served as deputy director of the Chile-California Program and was executive secretary to Lt. Gov. Glenn Anderson from 1961 to 1965. He is a founder of the Progressive Jewish Alliance.
Sieroty, whose father Julian was a USC graduate, is the chairman of the Sieroty Company, which was founded by his grandfather in the 1890s as Eastern-Columbia retailer of clothing and accessories. The Eastern-Columbia building remains at the corner of 9th Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. The landmark is decorated with turquoise terracotta tiles, making it one of the signature Art Deco buildings in Los Angeles.
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