Headlines @ U.Va.

Movie night with the faculty
“Cold Mountain,” the film adaptation of Charles Frazier’s 1997 novel, is earning critical acclaim. But does it get the history right? Three U.Va. professors — Edward Ayers and Gary Gallagher of the history department, and Stephen Cushman of the English department — attended last month’s Virginia Film Festival advance screening at Newcomb Hall and offered their impressions afterward. The film largely ducked issues of race and slavery, they noted, which Gallagher says is not surprising: “Americans are so uncomfortable with slavery. Slavery and race are the great bugaboos for us in terms of really coming to terms with our past. It’s just so raw still.” Still he expects the movie, like others before it, will have a major impact on Americans’ views of the Civil War. “I think ‘Gone With the Wind’ has shaped what people think about the Civil War more than anything we’ve written put together, or put together and squared.” — Washington Post, Dec. 24

Haiti seeks to overcome 200 years of unrest
New Year’s Day marked the bicentennial of the Haitian revolution, during which African slaves, led by national icon Toussaint L’Ouverture, overthrew their French and British colonial rulers. The uprising set off two centuries of political instability and poverty that continue to this day, as Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide faces increasing political opposition. In a commentary published in The New York Times, U.Va. politics professor Robert Fatton Jr. calls on the U.S. and the international community to back a compromise plan that would create a transitional government immediately and hold elections within a year. The alternative, he wrote, is “a continued
descent into hell.” — New York Times, Jan. 4

How long should the law’s arm be?
In 1990, Mexican bounty hunters delivered Humberto Alvarez-Machain to U.S. authorities to stand trial for the torture and murder of a Drug Enforcement Agency agent. He was eventually acquitted and has since pursued claims that the U.S. acted illegally in dragging him over the border — a claim that the U.S. Supreme Court has now agreed to take up. The decision likely will have a major impact on the war on terror. The U.S. has a right to defend itself, argues John Norton Moore, director of U.Va.’s Center for National Security Law. “I know we need to be quite sensitive in working with other countries,” he said. “But I think it’s critically important to maintain the ability to effectively deter and defend ourselves against terrorists who kill Americans. … We have the right to … arrest them wherever we can get them.” — Fox News, Dec. 9

Cornell: Defending sniper was an academic obligation
Curry School psychologist Dewey Cornell said he had misgivings when an attorney for D.C. sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo asked him to evaluate his client. Ultimately, the academic opportunity proved too great to pass up. After meeting with Malvo 21 times over 10 months, Cornell testified for the defense in Malvo’s trial, opining that Malvo was brainwashed by John Allen Muhammad. Cornell’s testimony may have kept Malvo from a death sentence; last month, the jury sentenced him to a mandatory life sentence. “I can’t say I’m glad,” Cornell said. “I had an obligation to do this. I also learned a great deal from it.” — Daily Progress, Dec. 24