@John Jay
News and Events of Interestto the College Community
News and Events of Interestto the College Community
Ma 17, 2011
Spotlight Set to Shine on the Class of 2011
At the 2011 Commencement, John Jay willsalute a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, apioneering jurist and a women’s rights advocatewith honorary doctorates.Tony Kushner is the author of
Angels in America
, a two-part, seven-hour epic about theAIDS epidemic in Reagan-era America that earnedhim the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama along with aTony Award and Emmy Award.Kushner’s newest work,
An IntelligentHomosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialismwith a Key to the Scriptures
, opened off-Broadwayin New York on May 6.The Hon. Judith S. Kaye, who retired in 2008after 15 years as Chief Judge of the New York
State Court of Appeals, was the rst woman tooccupy the state judiciary’s highest ofce, and
served during the administrations of four New Yorkgovernors — the longest tenure of any chief judgein state history.During her tenure, Kaye helped to establishthe Center for Court Innovation, an independent
nonprot think tank that serves as the judiciary’s
research and development arm. She has been along-time advocate of court reform and problem-solving approaches to jurisprudence. In March
2008, Kaye became the rst recipient of the John
Jay Medal for Justice.As the founder and executive directorof National Advocates for Pregnant Women,Lynn Paltrow has worked to secure the health,welfare and civil rights of all women. She hasbeen a senior staff member at a number of leading reproductiverights organizations,including the ACLU’sReproductive FreedomProject the Center forReproductive Law andPolicy and Planned Parenthood of New York City.Paltrow combines legal advocacy withorganizing and policy work to secure the rights,health and welfare of all women, particularly thosewho are most vulnerable — low-income women,
women of color and drug-using women. She ledthe rst federal civil rights challenge to a hospital’s
policy of searching pregnant women for evidenceof drug use and then turning that information overto the police. The United States Supreme Courtagreed that such a policy violates the FourthAmendment’s protections against unreasonablesearches and seizures.More than 3,100 John Jay students willinaugurate a new venue for graduation onJune 3, as the College moves its 46th annualCommencement ceremony to the Jacob Javits
Convention Center North for the rst time.
The Class of 2011, comprising 2,497undergraduate and 617 graduate students,will bid farewell to John Jay in two ceremoniesdifferentiated by major, one at 10:30 AM and theother at 3:30 PM.“It is hard to believe, but we are rapidlyapproaching the end of the school year and thecelebrations that mark the awarding of degrees toour students,” said President Jeremy Travis. “Formy part, I look forward to this festive celebrationand to shaking the hands of each of our graduatesas they walk across the stage of the Javits CenterNorth.”The graduating class consists of approximately62.4 percent female and 37.6 percent malestudents. According to statistics provided by the
Registrar’s Ofce, 26.9 percent are white, 22.1
percent are black, 29.5 percent are Latino and 6.8
percent are Asian/Pacic Islander. They range in
age from 19 to 61 years old.The top two students in the class — thevaledictorian and salutatorian — are bothgraduating with perfect 4.0 grade point averages.
Proles of Konrad Ornatowski and David M.
Marshall IV appear below,The College will also present honorary
doctorates to three leading gures in humanities
and the law: playwright Tony Kushner, former New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye and women’s
rights advocate Lynn Paltrow. (See proles below.)
Pre-Commencement activities will include aFor Konrad Ornatowski, earning the designationas the Class of 2011 valedictorian is the latest ina string of honors — and yet another strong pieceof evidence attesting to the triumphal power of dedication, effort and resiliency.Ornatowski, a 27-year-old Forensic Sciencemajor with a perfect 4.0 GPA, immigrated to theUnited States from Warsaw, Poland, at age 7,settling in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. Atage 15, Ornatowski was on his own, following thedeaths of both parents — his mother when he was
10, and his father ve years later. Self-sufciency
was a lesson he had to learn quickly. “I knew thateducation would be my rescue,” he said.Ornatowski planned to follow a conventionalpath from high school straight to college, but the9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centerintervened. “We watched the whole thing from
2011 doctoral honorees(clockwise from upper left)Lynn Paltrow, Judith Kaye and Tony Kushner.
The road of life can be
lled with interesting and
unforeseen detours. The 2011salutatorian, David M. MarshallIV, appreciates the truth of that.Marshall began his collegecareer in 1993 fresh from highschool, but soon left to escapefrom what he described asan environment marked byhomophobic bullying. He was in
the midst of a career as a ight
attendant when two peoplehe knew were killed on 9/11,prompting the realization thatlife is too short. He decided to restart his collegecareer, this time at John Jay, where he has sincecompiled a perfect 4.0 GPA while majoring inculture and deviance studies, with double minorsin psychology and gender studies.“Coming back to college as an adult, youappreciate things in a totally different way,” saidMarshall, now 35. “Your perspective is totallydifferent.” The path to his bachelor’s degree hasbeen a voyage of discovery for Marshall. He hasworked on a variety of research projects, withDepartmental Awards ceremony on May 18, acollege-wide Graduation Awards ceremony andreception on June 1 and the Night of the Starsdinner/dance on June 2. A harbor cruise forgraduating seniors, including DJ and buffet, willtake place on May 26. For more information aboutthese and other graduation events, contact the
Ofce of Student Development at 646.557.4888,
or e-mail graduation@jjay.cuny.edu.For complete information, visit theCommencement page on the John Jay website,www.jjay.cuny.edu.
What It Takes to Be #1 and #2 in the Class
Doctoral Honorees Hailedfor Art, Advocacy & Justice
‘I knew education would be my rescue’
the windows of our school,” hesaid, recalling his senior year atMurry Bergtraum High Schoolin lower Manhattan. Like manyof his generation, he heeded apatriotic call and enlisted in thearmed forces.During his four years withthe Marine Corps, Ornatowskiserved in a variety of eliteroles, including the Presidentialhonor guard and the ForceRecon special operations unit,among other assignments. In2006, following the end of hiscommitment, getting a collegeeducation once again became his priority.“I enrolled in the forensic science program atJohn Jay in the hope of further developing mylove and curiosity for the sciences,” he explained.Focusing on molecular biology, he became amember of the lab group led by Professor DianaFriedland, and lost a valuedmentor with Friedland’s deathlast year from cancer. “She
was very inuential and always
cared about her students,”he said.Ornatowski said maintaining a perfect grade point averagewas something of a challenge.“Sometimes I wish the 4.0 hadgone away a long time ago, just to take the weight off me,”he said. “But it didn’t, so aftera while keeping it becamemore and more important.”Next on the agenda forOrnatowski is giving back to his wife and infantdaughter. “Right now I need to get a job to supportmy family,” he said. “My time at John Jay hasbeen extremely positive, and this program hasunquestionably prepared me for the employmentaspirations I have with the federal government.”
‘As an adult, your perspective is different’
Ornatowski Marshall
many of them opening doors tonew areas of scholarly interestand new faculty contacts,including a study of underagesex workers in Atlantic Citywith Professor Ric Curtis, astudy of methamphetaminemarkets in New York City withProfessor Travis Wendel and,since completing his degreein December 2010, a six-week study of social networksin Labrador, Canada, withProfessor Kirk Dombrowski.Wendel has since askedMarshall to be project coordinator for federally-funded HIV behavioral study in New York.
“I love research and I love eldwork,” Marshall
said of his broad-ranging scholarly interests. “It’snot something I thought I would like, but I justlove it.” And while he gives much of the creditfor academic mentoring to Dombrowski, Curtisand Wendel, he is also quick to cite the supportprovided by his mother and partner. “It may soundcliché,” he says, “but I wouldn’t be where I amwithout them.”
He’ll AlwAys HAve PAris —
StudentCouncil President
JosePH onwu
is a fan of Benjamin Franklin, quoting the Founding Father
in an online prole. In June, Onwu will follow inFranklin’s footsteps and head to Paris for a ve-
week HumanityInternational Fel-lowship, followedby an extendedcommunity-serviceinternship.Onwu, a nativeof Nigeria who grewup in the Bronx,is graduating witha B.S. in PoliticalScience, with triple minors in History, English andPhilosophy. His glittering academic résumé at JohnJay includes membership in national honor societ-ies and a 3.66 GPA. He was the 2010 winner of the Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship.Now, with graduation upon him, he’s ready togive back to his school, and is encouraging hisfellow graduates to join him. Along with other Stu-dent Council leaders, Onwu launched the Legacy2011 project, through which the members of theClass of 2011 are being asked to give generouslyto John Jay as they make their transition fromstudents to alumni. “When I was running for Presi-dent, I promised to push for community outreachand involvement,” he said. “The Legacy 2011
project is part of fullling that promise.”
The next big academic step for Onwu will be lawschool. In time, he said, he hopes to have a futureas a lawmaker in Nigeria.
notHing to sneeze At —
To say thatJohn Jay senior
DAviD geliebter
is a person of varied interests would be an understatement. The21-year-old Honors Program student and ForensicScience majorcould not havecome up with twomore different top-ics for his forensicscience researchproject and hisHonors thesis.Geliebter’sresearch projecttook him to Texaslast summer toexamine pollen.
“Just like everyone has their own ngerprints,
every region has its own pollen count,” he said.Finding a certain ratio of pollen grains on a spe-
cic individual, Geliebter explained, could help law
enforcement determine where a person was killedor where a terrorist had been trained. “You’re try-
ing to match up that body with a specic location.”
Geliebter will next be attending the College
of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in
Syracuse, NY, on an scholarship that will cover histuition and provide a stipend in exchange for someteaching and research. His goal is to obtain a doc-torate in ecology from ESF.For his Honors thesis, Geliebter turned awayfrom forensic science to examine why rap musicseems to be criticized more harshly for its violentlyrics than other genres of music such as heavymetal. He asked students to listen to equally vio-lent lyrics from both types of music, and found thatrap got a bad rap because its lyrics were easier tounderstand. “People who heard rap recalled lyricsmuch better and they picked up on the themes,”said Geliebter. “People who listened to heavymetal are just horrendous at recalling lyrics.”
eyewitness to History —
norHAnbAsuni
, a CUNY BA student majoring in Conict
Resolution and International Crime, Justice andDevelopment, minces no words in her online
prole, describing
herself as a “student,activist, communityorganizer and revolu-tionary.”When protestsbegan in Cairo’s Tah-rir Square in January,Basuni was there torally against Egypt’sauthoritarian regimeand watch historyunfold. “I’ll never forget the sense of solidarity andunity among my fellow Egyptians and how theyexpressed their desire for freedom and democ-racy,” she said.Basuni, who has been selected as this year’swinner of the College’s Howard Mann Humanitar-ian Award, is a self-described “interdisciplinarystudent living an interdisciplinary life.” She is aScholar/Athlete who plays on John Jay’s women’ssoccer team and a former president of the Col-lege’s award-winning National Model United Na-tions Team. She served on the working group thathelp develop and launch the spring 2011 initiative“Mosques, Veils and Madrassas,” a series of cam-pus events aimed at enhancing the understanding of Islam.On tap for Basuni is another return to Egypt,
where she plans to work with a nonprot orga
-nization helping Sudanese and Iraqi refugees.She has applied for a position with the U.S. StateDepartment, and later on plans to attend gradu-ate school, “hopefully in a joint JD/PhD programwhere I can study immigration law and humanrights law,” she said.
educating for justice
@ John Jay
is published by the
Ofce of Marketing and Development John Jay College of Criminal Justice899 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10019 www.jjay.cuny.eduEditor: Peter Dodenhoff Submissions should be faxed or e-mailed to:Ofce of Communicationsfax: 212.237.8642e-mail: pdodenhoff@jjay.cuny.edu
class acts
Snapshots of selected members of the Class of 2011.
reforM-MinDeD —
JuliA szenDro
, asenior in the CUNY BA program at John Jay, is
holding off on plans for graduate school. The rst
item on her agenda, after having won a prestigiousFulbright Foreign Scholarship, will be to return toher native Hungary in September for research inthe area of youth who are at risk of homelessnessor criminal activity.Szendro, who has majored in Criminal andSocial Reform under the mentorship of JohnJay Professor Staci Strobl, is no stranger to so-cially consciousactivism. Whilein high school,she traveled toNew Orleans toparticipate in thedemolition and res-toration of homesdamaged by Hur-ricane Katrina. Shespent the summerbetween highschool and collegein Nicaragua, building a house as part of a culturalexchange program.“Nicaragua was an eye-opening experience,”
said Szendro. “It was condence-boosting and
inspiring. I’ve always had a strong feeling forpeople who are being taken advantage of, and astrong interest in the justice system.” In January,she organized and led another trip to Nicaragua aspart of the research for her senior thesis.Szendro already has a solid background inprisoner reentry efforts and alternatives to incar-
MAPPing tHe future —
Celinet DurAn
has her educational future all mapped out. First,the Justice Studies major will get her master’s de-gree from Michigan State University, and then shewill return to John Jay for her doctorate. She will beon full scholarship for both programs.“I just feel really lucky because I get to stay andwork on the project I have been working on withDr. [Joshua] Freilich and continue my interest indomestic terrorism,” said Duran. “And it’s a com-pletely free education!”Duran, a McNair Scholar with a 3.7 GPA, de-scribed her work with Freilich as “a cross compari-son of extremist groups that operate both in and
out of prison,” specically the far-right and the
black separatist groups. Her senior thesis exploresthe paradox of punishment and how it directlyrelates to prison radicalization of extremist groupsas well as groups such as the Aryan Brotherhood
and the Ku Klux Klan. “Instead of reecting on
what they’ve done, they are learning new motivesto commit more crimes in the future,” she said.
go west, young MAn —
All prospectivelaw school students should have the problems of
tyler gArvey
, a Justice Studies major who hasbeen accepted to Cornell Law School, the Univer-sity of Texas School of Law and UC Berkeley BoaltHall School of Law, which offered him a full ride.“I think that might be the place I’m going to beheaded,” said the 21-year-old Student Council VicePresident, who is graduating with a 3.66 GPA andwill receive the Scholarship and Service Award,John Jay’s second highest graduation honor.The 2010 winner of the prestigious SteamboatScholarship, Garvey’s expenses at Berkeley willbe covered by two scholarships that will provide acombined $49,000 a year. But that’s not the onlyreason Garvey is going to Berkeley. “I’m interestedin family law,” he said. “Berkeley has one of thebest pro bono programs in the country.”“I can’t say for certain I want to do family law,but I’ve interned at places to see what I like, whatI don’t like, and try to learn from there instead of just starting when I get to law school,” he said.
oPPortunity KnoCKs —
While teach-ing criminal justice at Bronx Community Collegewas not in
MegAn MAiello
’s post-graduationplans, it was the kind of opportunity that the Hon-ors student and Justice Scholar was not aboutto turn down. What is even more remarkable isthat Maiello landed the job while still a studentherself. “I got lucky because I was working thereas a Criminal JusticeFellow,” she said. “Itfell on my plate and Igrabbed it.”Maiello will gradu-ate in June with bach-elor’s and master’sdegrees in criminal justice. The 22-year-old sports a GPA of 3.798 and is co-cap-tain of the College’s women’s swimming team.Maiello’s plans include taking the test for theSuffolk County, NY, Police Department. Meanwhile,she’ll spend the next year teaching at BCC. “Iwasn’t planning on doing that,” she said. “At thesame time, I’ll be looking into a police job.”Playing intercollegiate sports at a DivisionIII school takes a special commitment, withno athletic scholarships available to providemotivation and support. At a commuter campuslike John Jay, with the added factor of nodormitories, the necessary commitment getstaken to another level. How, then, to describethe 12 John Jay seniors who have been studentathletes for four years?“They love their sport and they love the schoolthey represent,” said Director of Athletics DanPalumbo. “They have given us so much over the
course of four years, excelling on the eld and
in the classroom, even while wrestling with busylives, family responsibilities and more.”Six sports will say goodbye to these very specialathletes at the 2011 commencement. SaidPalumbo: “We’re very proud of all our studentathletes, and we as a department will always behere for them as they move on to the next phaseof their lives.”The departing four-year athletes include severalwho are Scholar/Athletes, having achieved GPAs of at least 3.2 on top of their athletic achievements.Two — men’s soccer goalkeeper Kemar Brownand softball catcher Christina Perez — have beenScholar/Athletes for their entire John Jay careers.Many have also posted extensive records of schoolservice, most notably as representatives on theStudent Athlete Advisory Committee.This year’s class includes:
woMen’s Cross-Country:
Anna Garlinska;
Baljit (Bita) Kahlon (also softball).
woMen’s bAsKetbAll:
Dominique Grice;
Jessica Lirio (also softball).
volleybAll:
Crystal Reyes.
Men’s soCCer:
Kemar Brown; Steven Castillo;Ray Sanicola; Christian Valdez.
softbAll:
Angela Lam; Christina Perez.
Men’s tennis:
Dong Shao.
Saying Goodbye to Highly Dedicated Athletes
PresentAtion —
José rosArio
made a
midlife decision to return to college to nish his
education, and is he ever glad he did.“I’ve had the most wonderful years at JohnJay,” said Rosario, a Political Science major. “Iwas involved in manydifferent events, orga-nizations, committeesand the Student Coun-cil, and because of my participation, theJohn Jay community
has beneted from
my knowledge andmaturity.”Serving as a PeerAmbassador gave Rosario the opportunity tospeak in classes to fellow students. As a SEEKstudent, he talked to students about how to man-age their time while in college and achieve suc-cess. “Corporations and other potential employersdon’t necessarily want to know your GPA,” he said.“They want to know what you’ve achieved in col-lege, and see how you present yourself.”Rosario manages his own busy schedule well
enough to nd time for extracurricular activities as
well as academic excellence. “John Jay has givenme more strength to achieve the highest accom-plishments in my life,” he said.
grAy MAtter —
For most people, becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon would be a lofty enoughaspiration, but it is just a part of what forensic sci-ence major
riCHArD PiszCzAtowsKi
wants todo with his life. The 21-year-old says he would alsolike to open his own research laboratory where hecould study the “complex and ambiguous” work-ings of the brain.Piszczatowski, who will graduate
summa cumlaude
, is currently preparing a manuscript basedon his original research into the mechanisms of blood clotting for submission to the medical jour-nal
Blood
. “Ultimately, I plan on getting an MD/PhD degree,” said Piszczatowski. “For the shortterm, I plan on taking a small amount of time off to travel to Europe and see the world while alsotrying to look at how hospitals and the medical
eld function in various countries.”
Piszczatowski has lined up an interview atMount Sinai Medical School for an internship at itsGenome Sequencing laboratory. “Hopefully, thiswill bring me more experience as a scientist, moreexposure to the clinical world, and one step closerto admission to an MD/PhD program,” he said.
tHinK globAlly —
A world view of criminal justice seems to be in
Jennifer sHiM
’s blood.She was raised in six states and two countries. Atage 16, while on a trip to Bolivia, she discovered
a crime called “human trafcking,” which sparked
her interest in International Criminal Justice. Whenit came time to select a college, she chose JohnJay and was accepted into the Honors Program.Her college career has been similarly inter-national. She has been a member of John Jay’sUnited Nations Student Association for three yearsand helped to bring back numerous awards atthe National Model United Nations conferences.Her Honors thesis, which will be published in the
Asia Pacic Journal of Police and Criminal Jus
-tice
, focused on differences between Hindu andMuslim honor killings in Pakistan and India.Shim also knows how to “talk the talk.” She par-ticipated in three study-abroad programs in Spainto learn Spanish, then mastered Korean, French,Arabic and German. She has traveled to 22 coun-tries, and interned twice in Australia.Up next for Shim? Not surprisingly, she’llbe heading overseas once again, having beenaccepted for graduate study in Intelligence andInternational Security at King’s College London,England in the fall.ceration. “I’m also very interested in preventivework with young people and diverting them fromthe justice system,” she said. “The Fulbright schol-arship is an incredible opportunity to do that andcontinue working for social change.”
Worth Noting
News and Events of Interestto the College Communit
Ap 20, 2011
Ap 27
Spring Break Ends — Classes Resume
Campus-wide
Ap 28
3:00
PM
Job & Internship Fair
For students and alumni. Business attire required.
Gymnasium, Haaren Hall
Ap 28
6:30
PM
The Hijabi Monologues
By Sahar Ishtiaque UllahDirected by Professor Lorraine MollerRoom 1311, North Hall
Ma 2
7:00
PM
The 1960s — The Struggle
for Justice Intensies
The Revolution Fantasy: Thinking Yourself into a Corner
Mark RuddRoom 630, Haaren Hall
Ma 9–14
Celebrating Student Research &Creativity @ John Jay
For complete schedule of events and other
information, contact Ofce of Honors,
Awards & Special Opportunities, 212.237.8553,or visit Room 3300 North Hall
Members of John Ja’s graduating class of 2011 are working to insure that the will leave alasting imprint on the College, and their means tothat end is a campaign known as the Legac 2011Project.The project, which organizers describe asunprecedented at John Ja, is asking each of the more than 2,000 members of the 2011graduating class to donate or pledge a minimum
of $1 a year for the next ve years. The funds will
be used to provide scholarships for struggling students and student services aimed at insuring “a culturall and academicall enriching experience for future classes,” according to aletter to the graduating class written b StudentCouncil President Joseph Onwu, Vice PresidentTler Garve and Secretar Elizabeth Cran.The executives explained that the campaignis intended to cement the seniors’ legac whileembracing their new status as John Ja alumni.“The Legac 2011 project allows us to give backin the most simple, direct and powerful wa,”their letter sas. “This initiative allows us to makea visible difference to those classes following in
ThoMAs J. DArT
The Sheriff of Cook Count, IL, Thomas J.Dart has brought an aggressive et innova-tive approach to law enforcement, earning national attention for a more thoughtfulapproach to evictions brought on b the mort-gage foreclosure crisis. Earning the enmit of banks and landlords, Dart suspended evic-tions until greater safeguards were in placeto protect tenants, assigned a staff attorneto investigate potential mortgage fraud andassigned a social worker to accompansheriff’s eviction teams in hopes of linking displaced families with social services. Dart
has also targeted the sex-trafcking industry,ling a groundbreaking pro-bono lawsuit
against the Web site craigslist.com in orderto crack down on elusive purveors of prosti-tution in the Greater Chicago area.
MAriAn WrighT EDElMAn /ThE ChilDrEn’s DEfEnsE funD
For 35 ears a tireless champion of effortsto protect America’s children, Marian WrightEdelman founded the CDF to help lift childrenout of povert, protect them from abuse andneglect, and ensure their access to healthcare, qualit education and a moral and spiri-tual foundation. Edelman has become a pas-sionate advocate for juvenile justice reform,emphasizing the “cradle to prison pipeline,”a phase describing the was that schools and justice agencies have become overl puni-tive and funnel a high percentage of minoritouth into the nation’s criminal justice ss-tem. Edelman and the CDF have focused onschool discipline policies, juvenile detentionand police-outh relations.
suniThA KrishnAn
Sunitha Krishnan is a former Hindu nun whofounded and operates Prajwala (“eternal
ame”), an organization that provides shel
-ters, schools and other services for victims of
sex trafcking in Hyderabad, India. Working
inside the bleak netherworld of human slav-er in India’s slums, and at times suffering
violent retribution from sex trafckers for her
work, Krishnan has helped to rescue and re-habilitate thousands of women and childrenin hopes of restoring them to some sem-blance of a normal life. With an estimated 3million sex workers in India alone, and manmillions more around the world, Krishnanbelieves it essential to “break the culture of silence” in combating what she said is theworld’s third-largest organized crime.
Te 2011 John Jay Justice Award Honorees
Seniors Leave Mark With Legacy 2011 Campaign
A panel discussion on April 5 gave John Jastudents and other members of the collegecommunit a chance for some candid, up-close-and-personal interaction with winners of the 2011John Ja Justice Awards.Honorees Sunitha Krishnan and Sheriff Thomas
J. Dart elded questions from moderator Mangai
Natarajan of the criminal justice department andfrom the audience, and said the were excited andenergized to be talking with the students. “Weneed our energ and our vision,” said Dart.Both honorees are accustomed to facing problems on a grand scale — India, the world’ssecond most populous countr, has more than 3million sex-trade workers, while Cook Count, IL,runs the second-largest jail in the United States,and is the largest mental-health provider in thestate of Illinois. Nonetheless, both underscoredthe power of the individual to effect change. “It’s
important for each of us to nd ways to respond
to this problem,” said Krishnan, referring to illicit
sex trafcking and human slavery. “There is no
tomorrow when it comes to this problem; it has tobe toda.”Being passionate about taking a stand for justice is vitall important, the honorees agreed,but awareness and perception of a problem are
just as crucial. “Sex trafcking is more pervasive
than ou think,” said Dart, who has taken on thecraigslist Web site over its links to prostitution.“Still, a lot of people don’t seem to care about this.Societ’s perception has a long wa to go.”Changing the perception of societ is more
important, and more difcult, than dealing with the
organized crime aspects, said Krishnan. She urgedthe man students in the audience to break theculture of silence, become more aware, and learnthe law and how to use it — and change it.“If ou think about possibilities, the sk’s thelimit,” she said.
Honorees Urge Students toBecome Agents of Change
Courage in the Pursuit of Justice
Awards Ceremony Salutes Tree Who Dare to Make a Diference
our footsteps, and is a great demonstration of theexemplar leadership to be found in the Class of 2011.”Organizers set up tables around campus inearl April where seniors could make Legacpledges. In addition, donations and pledges couldbe made on line atwww.jja.cun.edu/legac2011.
“This is the rst such effort in the history of the
College, and ou should be proud to be membersof a class that wishes to leave such a meaningfullegac,” President Jerem Travis said in a letter tothe Class of 2011.The 2011 John Ja Justice Awards Ceremonheld on April 5 was a celebration of individualswho “dare to make a difference,” and thehonorees who were cited for global, national andcommunit leadership in the pursuit of justicewere favored with repeated ovations from apacked house at the Cit Universit GraduateCenter’s Proshansk Auditorium.
Before an audience of public ofcials and
members of the college communit, the JusticeAwards were presented to Sunitha Krishnan,founder and head of Prajwala, an anti-sex
trafcking network in India; Marian Wright
Edelman, civil rights activist and founder of theChildren’s Defense Fund, and Sheriff Thomas J.Dart of Cook Count, IL.“Justice is often described as truth in action.
This denes our honorees tonight,” said President
Jerem Travis. “As we leave tonight we are calledto action.” Travis hailed the honorees as truechampions of justice, saluting their “courage,clarit of purpose and generosit of spirit.”The awards ceremon included a rosterof presenters as notable as the recipientsthemselves. One of the presenters, award-winning stage, screen and TV actor Len Cariou, alsoprovided the event’s welcoming remarks. “Tonight,we celebrate individuals who dare to make adifference,” said Cariou. “The have devoted theirlives to helping individuals for whom help seemedlike a distant dream.”Cariou was later called on to present theCommunit Leader for Justice Award to Dart.“Experience shows how much rarer moral courageis than phsical braver,” Cariou said. “ThomasDart is one such rare man.”The International Leader for Justice Award waspresented to Krishnan b Tina Brown, best-selling author and editor-in-chief of
Newsweek
and
TheDaily Beast
, who proclaimed it “a huge honorto honor this small woman with extraordinarcourage and a huge heart.”Edelman received her National Leader forJustice Award from her long-time civil rightscompatriot, singer and actor Harr Belafonte, whonoted that he felt “no need for contemplation or
reection when John Jay extended an invitation to
participate” in the ceremon. He and the honoree,Belafonte said, “have shared man campaigns andstruggles.”
The Justice Awards afrm the commitment of
John Ja College to strengthening societ’s socialfabric through justice and civic engagement.These awards, named after John Ja, a founding
father and rst Chief Justice of the United States,
recognize individuals and organizations for theirunparalleled dedication to the cause of justice.The John Ja Justice Awards are made possiblethrough a generous donation from RichardJ. Tarlow, a retired advertising executive andmember of the John Ja College Foundation Boardof Trustees.
[For more information on the 2011 Justice
Award honorees, including video proles, visit
www.jjay.cuny.edu.]
President Jeremy Travis with (from left) presenter Tina Brown, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart, Marian Wright Edelman, presenter Harry Belafonte, Sunitha Krishnan and presenter Len Cariou.
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