Law Professor Works for Justice in Uganda
Case Western Reserve University law professor Michael Scharf had just landed in Kampala after a 30-hour flight from Cleveland when the news of the joint military strike by Uganda, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo against the jungle bases of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) was announced.
Scharf, director of Case Western Reserve's Frederick K. Cox International Law Center, was beginning a 10-day mission to help the Ugandan government set up a war crimes tribunal for leading members of the LRA. News of the coordinated attack, code-named "Operation Lightning Thunder," meant that Scharf's work would take on an unexpected urgency.
Scharf's mission to Uganda was under the auspices of the Public International Law and Policy Group, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated NGO Scharf co-founded 16 years ago with American University law professor Paul Williams to provide pro-bono assistance on war crimes issues to foreign governments and international tribunals. Since receiving a USAID grant for the Uganda project in September, Scharf and other members of the Public International Law and Policy Group, assisted by several law firms and several dozen Case Western Reserve, American University and Vanderbilt Law students, have provided the Ugandan government a dozen legal memoranda on various issues related to transitional justice. Read more.
Data Center Renovations Continue, Planned Server Outages Expected
Case Western Reserve University has reached the halfway point in its yearlong project to renovate two campus data server centers.
Initial construction, electrical and heating and cooling upgrades to the centers at the Kelvin Smith Library and Crawford Hall are nearly complete. Beginning in January teams will begin moving individual data servers into newly renovated spaces, resulting in periodic planned outages for some information technology services.
Planned outages are expected to begin January 12 and continue through April. Interruptions in service are not expected to last more than eight hours and may not even constitute downtime on applications with redundant hardware. Server and application administrators will be notified about planned outages at least two weeks prior, and the administrators will alert all users who may be affected.
Updates related to the Data Center Remediation projects and planned outages will be available in Case Daily and on the project Web site. E-mail questions to DCR-Questions@case.edu.
Campus News
Case Daily will not publish the week of December 29. The newsletter will resume publication Monday, January 5, 2009.
The deadline for the 2009 Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest has been extended to Monday, January 5. Students, faculty and staff are invited to submit entries based on the essay prompt of "By What Human Injustice Are You So Moved that You Would be Willing to Sacrifice Your Time, Energy and Other Resources in Order to Make a Difference? How Would You Engage the Community in Your Efforts? Please Share Your 'Untold' Story." The prizes for first, second and third place are $300, $200 and $100, respectively. Essays should be submitted by e-mail to sharevision@case.edu.
The university's shuttle bus service is on a winter break schedule through Friday, January 9. One bus will share the north and south campus routes; there will be no service on Thursday, December 25, and Thursday, January 1. Regular bus operations will resume Saturday, January 10.
Veale Center is on a winter break schedule. Regular hours of 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. resume Monday, January 12.
For Faculty and Staff
As part of Case Western Reserve's continuing efforts to improve the accuracy and timeliness of reported information and to identify trends that may impact projected budget performance, the university will again be instituting a hard close for the December 31 quarter-end. All salary adjustments, non-salary transfers or other correcting activity for transactions that occurred between July 1, 2008 and November 30, 2008, must be submitted by the December month-end processing deadlines, which can be found on the Controller's office Web site. The disciplined review of financial reports and the timely adjustment of variance items are vital to ensuring the accuracy of the university's reported financial information. Contact Sponsored Projects Accounting regarding grant related transactions, or the Controller's Office with other questions regarding this process.
A "Conducting Effective Interviews" session will be held from 1-3:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 6, in Nord Hall, Room 310. The session will address the information, skills and strategies necessary for the interview process to ensure that all applicants are provided with the maximum opportunity for success. In addition, the session will help interviewers assess all applications in a comprehensive and equitable manner. The program will be facilitated by Erica Merritt, director of employee education, training and development, and Karma Topor, director of employment and compensation. Register online.
Members of the university community can contribute to the Charity Choice Campaign online or print out a pledge form and return it by mail. The active campaign continues through December 31, 2008. Additional information about the organizations and the program is available on the Charity Choice Campaign 2008 Web site.
The participant tax-deferred contribution limit is increasing to $16,500 in 2009 for Salary Reduction Agreement contributions made to the 403(b) plans sponsored by the university. Participants age 50 and older can contribute up to an additional $5,500 on a pre-tax basis. To increase per paycheck contributions, employees should submit a Salary Reduction Agreement form (Plan A and Plan C forms can be accessed online) to Benefits Administration. Call 368-6781 with questions.
For Students
This section will be updated occasionally during the winter break. Refer to the "Campus News" section for general information.
Events
Refer to the University Circle Inc. calendar for a list of holiday events and activities.
The views and opinions of those invited to speak on campus do not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration or any other segment of the university community.
In Memoriam
Gerhard "Jerry" Rosegger, Frank Tracy Carlton Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Weatherhead School of Management, died December 21. He was 78. He was a distinguished scholar of economics whose best known work, The Economics of Production and Innovation, went through three editions. In addition, he was a frequent contributor to the university's Friday Public Affairs discussion program. A memorial service will begin at 11 a.m., Friday, December 26, at Heights Christian Church, 17300 Van Aken Blvd., Shaker Heights, Ohio.
