LAW
Truth, justice, and coping with atrocities
Legal scholar Beth Van Schaack is tapped for a State Department post tackling war crimes—from Cambodia to the former Yugoslavia.
In March, Professor of International Law Beth Van Schaack took on new responsibilities outside the classroom: as deputy to the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp. In her new position, Van Schaack will be part of the team advising Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on responses to atrocities committed throughout the world.
Van Schaack’s portfolio includes working with international tribunals, nongovernment organizations, and foreign governments to ensure accountability for international crimes. That also entails support for hybrid courts trying persons responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity committed in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. Her state department appointment will extend for up to two years; she is on leave of absence from SCU while serving in Washington.
Last year, the more than 15 years of work Van Schaack has done with Cambodia yielded a new book that she co-edited, Cambodia’s Hidden Scars. Published by The Documentation Center of Cambodia, the volume looks at ways that the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia can better accommodate witnesses who are traumatized by the horrific crimes in that nation’s past.
Spring/Summer 2013
Table of contents
Features
Walk Across California
An epic journey whereby one foot is put in front of the other to discover, up close and personal, who and what and where is the Golden State.
Miller's Tale
To tell the story of Bob Miller ’67 is to tell the coming-of-age tale of Las Vegas itself. And it’s the chronicle of a man who served a decade as governor of Nevada. Quite a journey for the son of an illegal bookie from Chicago.
Blood. Sweat. Tears. Repeat.
Nina Acosta ’82 was a tough enough cop to pass the test for the LAPD’s SWAT team. Then she learned the hard way about gender discrimination. So how did she do on Survivor?
Mission Matters
When justice is kidnapped
The 2013 Alexander Law Prize honors Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese civil-rights activist and attorney who protested government abuses—including excessive enforcement of the one-child policy—then escaped house arrest to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Double trouble
Growing up tennis with Kelly Lamble ’13 and John Lamble ’14. And Bronco teams that are a force to be reckoned with nationally.
Keep the door open
For teaching and advising and a ministry that’s blessed this place for 48 years—paying tribute to Charles Phipps, S.J.
