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Covering the New Secrecy: The Press and Public Policy
Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post, and J. William Leonard, director of the U.S. Information Security Oversight Office, will lead separate panels, one of nationally recognized journalists and another of policy-makers, in a conference hosted by the Knight-Wallace Fellows from 1-5 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Michigan League Ballroom.

Participants will examine the impact of the recently constricted access to public information aimed at protecting the United States from terrorism. Journalists joining Woodward are Jill Abramson, managing editor, The New York Times; Jackie Northam, national security correspondent, National Public Radio; Robert Pollock, editorial board member, The Wall Street Journal; Tom Rosenstiel, director, Project for Excellence in Journalism and Greta Van Susteren, Fox News.

Policy-makers joining Leonard are Steven Aftergood, director, Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists; Bradford Berenson, former associate counsel to President George W. Bush; Thomas Blanton, director, National Security Archive; Eve Burton, vice president and general counsel, Hearst Corp.; and Leonard Niehoff, U-M Law School, First Amendment specialist. The two panels will meet in a joint program.
The conference, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation with support from the Law School and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. For more information call 998-7666.

Displays celebrate Stearns collection centennial
The Allure of Collecting—Mollusks & Maritime Life, Musical Instruments and Manuscripts: A Centennial Celebration of Frederick Stearns (1831-1907) showcases Stearns’ unique collection of musical instruments presented to the University.

Highlights of his life and donations are featured in the lower lobby of Hill Auditorium during the academic year 2006-07 and in the north lobby of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library through January 2007.

After retiring from the pharmaceutical manufacturing business in 1887, Stearns spent the remainder of his life traveling around the world acquiring art, natural history specimens and musical instruments. His purchases from Asia alone amounted to about 16,000 Japanese and Korean curios, pottery, lacquer, swords, Japanese, Korean and Chinese costumes, enamels, bamboo work and embroideries. From the Middle East, Stearns secured coffins, amulets, mummies and scarabs. Among his most sensational objects was a life-size sculpture of Japanese wrestlers, and of his many musical instruments, a taiko drum with cloisonné stand, a 16th-century French ivory oliphant, a Nuremberg natural trumpet and a mother-of-pearl goblet drum from Algeria.

Permanent exhibitions of the Stearns Collection also can be seen at the Towsley Wing of the Moore Building, School of Music, Theatre and Dance, 1100 Baits Drive. For tours, leave a voice message at (734) 936-2891 or e-mail stearns@umich.edu. The free exhibit is presented in collaboration with the Special Collections Library and Museum of Zoology.