EUGENE–Richard Salem, a former federal mediator who helped defuse a potentially violent confrontation between a small group of neo-Nazis and American survivors of the Holocaust, will explore the implications of that case in an April 4 lecture at the University of Oregon.

Salem will speak on the topic, "Should We Mediate with Neo-Nazis?" The free public lecture begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4, in Room 175 of the Knight Law Center, 1515 Agate St. A discussion will follow the talk.

In 1976 Frank Collin, leader of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of America, was refused a permit to hold a demonstration in a park in Skokie, Ill., until he posted a $350,000 bond. Holocaust survivors living in America, the Jewish Defense League and the Anti-Defamation League demanded that the permit be denied.

The American Civil Liberties Union represented Collin in a legal dispute that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1978 that requiring a $350,000 bond interfered with Collin’s constitutional free speech rights.

In the midst of intense media coverage in 1976, the Village of Skokie requested that the Community Relations Service of the United States Department of Justice mediate the dispute. The department assigned Salem and Werner Petterson who, just days before the Skokie demonstration was to take place, persuaded Collin to move his demonstration to a free speech plaza in Chicago.

"The Skokie Nazi case demonstrates how mediation can play a role in helping communities handle conflict in a society where freedom of speech allows people to say hateful and harmful things which can spur violence and unrest," says Lisa Kloppenberg, director of the UO Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Program.

"The forum offers an opportunity to explore how mediation can offer benefits in such tense situations and to address concerns about the best ways to handle similar conflicts facing communities daily," she says.

The UO School of Law’s Appropriate Dispute Resolution Program is sponsoring the event. For more information, contact Judy Sprauer, ADR program director, (541) 346-3042.

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