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RICK HALPERIN'S BIO
EDUCATION
**1968-1969 Sorbonne
Paris, France
B.A. 1971 George Washington University
Washington, D.C.
Southern U.S. History and Philosophy
M.A. 1974 Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas
Southern U.S. History
Ph.D 1978 Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
Southern U.S. History
**I spent my 2nd year in college, 1969-1969 in Paris, studying at the
Sorbonne, and was an eyewitness in Jan. 1969, in Prague, to the
self-immolation martyrdom of Jan Palach
**I spent the summer of 1966 as an exchange student in Santiago, Chile
(Note - 3 family members were subsequently killed by Augusto Pinochet's
security forces)
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT - SMU -- TEACHING/FACULTY MEMBER
1985-present History Dept.
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas
I teach undergraduate courses in "U.S. History to 1865", "U.S.
History Since
1865", and the "Civil War and Reconstruction." In 1990, I
developed a Human
Rights course, cross-listed both in history and as a cultural formations
course. Since 1991, I have taught the class, "America's Dilemma: The
Struggle for Human Rights", at the undergraduate level, each semester.
This class is also offered every other semester at the graduate level.
In this class, students have the opportunity to participate in community
service projects working with victims and survivors of global human rights
violations.
CURRENT ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Since 1996, I have been visiting, photographing, and videotaping Holocaust
and other World War II sites across Europe. I am also conducting oral
history interviews with Holocaust survivors, World War II participants, and
the descendants of both groups. I bring this research and documentation
into my classrooms as part of my on-going efforts to humanize, personalize,
and raise awareness of that tragic era.
PRIOR SMU ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
1981-1984 Auburn University
Auburn, Ala.
1979-1981 University of Mississippi
Oxford, Mississippi
1978-1979 Tulane University and Delgado College
New Orleans, Louisiana
SMU - AWARDS
2002 Robert O.
Cooper Peace and Justice Fellowship Award
2001 Outstanding Faculty Teacher Award
1994-1995 "M" Mustang Award recipient; this is SMU's top
award for outstanding contributions to the University
1989 Outstanding Faculty Teacher Award
1987-1988 Willis Tate Award for Outstanding Faculty
Contributions for service to the student body
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Human Rights Organizational Affiliations:
1971-present Amnesty International USA
1985-present National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP)
1990-present Texans Against State Killing (TASK)
1993-present Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation (MVFR)
1994-present Abolitionist Action Committee (AAC)
1996-present Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP)
1997-present Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(CUADP)
2001-present Capital Punishment Investigation and Education Services
(recent) Grass Roots Activism:
1990 Participant, National Pilgrimage for Abolition of
the Death Penalty
1991 Founder, Participant, Texas March for Abolition
1992-present Organized and participate in monthly anti-death
penalty protests in downtown Dallas
1993 Participant, Journey of Hope March, Indiana
1994-present Founder and participant in an annual 4-day hunger
fast and vigil on the steps of the US Supreme Court
to commemorate the (June 29th) 1972 suspension and
the (July 2nd) 1976 re-legalization of capital
punishment in America
1997- present Administrator of Death Penalty News and Updates
web
page (see: http://web.cis.smu.edu/~deathpen);
this
site is used as an information source by
representatives of the media, and both the US
Departments of State and Justice
1997 Organized and participated in the largest nonviolent
civil disobedience action against the death penalty
at the US Supreme Court
1998 Organized a nation-wide civil disobedience and
protest in recognition of the 500th execution in the
USA--vigils and protests were held in 28 states and
17 countries around the world
2002 Organized and participated in a civil disobedience
action against the death penalty at the US Supreme
Court
(recent) Human Rights Leadership Roles:
1981-1984 Amnesty International USA Alabama state anti-death
penalty state coordinator
1988-1992 Member, executive committee NCADP
1989-1995 Member, Board of Directors, Amnesty International
USA
elected to 3 consecutive terms
1992-1993 Elected Chair of Amnesty International Board of
Directors
1994-present AIUSA Texas state anti-death penalty coordinator
1996-present Member, Advisory Task Force of Center for Survivors
oF Torture, Dallas, Texas
1996-present Member, Board of Directors, Jefferson-Titus Refugee
Foundation, Arlington, Texas
1998-present Member, Board of Directors, Texas Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty
1999-2001 Member, AIUSA National
Resolutions Committee (So.
Reg. Representative)
2000-present Member, AIUSA National Death Penalty Advisory
Committee
2000-present President, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty
2001-present Member,
Board of Directors, Capital Punishment
Investigation and Education Services
2001-present
Member, Board of Directors, National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
(NCADP)
2002
Chair, AIUSA National Death Penalty Steering
Committee
Human Rights Monitoring:
1988 Participated in human rights delegation in San Salvador,
El Salvador; inspected 2 morgues and viewed remains of
victims of El Salvadoran death squads
1993 Visited Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza Strip and West
Bank; met with members of Palestinian and Israeli Human
Rights committees; provided input for AI report
1994 Participated in AI delegation and inspected H-Unit,
Death row facility, MacAlester, Oklahoma; provided input
for AI report
1997 Participated in AI delegation and monitored conditions in
Ellis I--death row, Huntsville, Texas; provided input
for AI report
1998 Participated in Human Rights delegation and inspected
prison conditions in Dublin, Ireland and Belfast,
Northern Ireland; basis for report issued by Irish
Prison Commission (IPC).
2001 Participated in AI delegation and monitored conditions
in Livingston - death row Texas; provided input for AI
report
(recent) Human Rights Addresses/Presentations:
1992 Addressed human rights communities in Norway, Sweden and
Finland with emphasis on US death penalty
1993 Addressed Australian Parliament
Addressed human rights communities in England, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Israel
about the US death penalty
1994 Met with members of the French government and addressed
European Parliament about and against the death penalty in
the US
1995 Met with human rights communities in Belgium and Switzerland
concerning US death penalty issues
1997 Met with human rights activists in Dublin, Ireland
concerning US death penalty issues
1998 Traveled throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland meeting
with Human rights activists about US death penalty
issues; met with Mary Robinson, United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, concerning human
rights violations in USA
1999 Addressed Lifelines' annual meeting, in England; Traveled
throughout Italy meeting with Italian human rights
activists and members of Italian government on US
death penalty issues
2000 Addressed International Bannister Foundation, in Denmark;
met with human rights activists in Goteborg,
Sweden; Traveled throughout Switzerland and
Austria meeting with human rights activists
concerning US death penalty
issues; Panel member
and presenter at an international death penalty
conference, Palermo, Sicily
2001 Addressed Italian Senate, Rome; traveled throughout Italy
meeting with Italian human rights activists and
members of city governments on US death
penalty and other human rights issues
2002 Met with human rights activists at international meeting
in Nuremberg, Germany, concerning US death penalty
Human Rights Awards and Recognitions:
1996 Dallas Peacemaker of the Year (awarded by Dallas peace
and justice community)
1997 National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Community
Grassroots Activism Award
2000 (Amnesty International USA) Frederick Douglass
Abolitionist
Award
2001 Amnesty International William Saga Human Rights Award
2002 Robert O. Cooper Peace and Justice Fellow Award
PERSONAL STATEMENT
My entire life has been spent defending and advocating the idea that there
is no such thing as a lesser person, and that all persons, regardless of
whatever they have done, still have and remain worthy of their inherent
dignity and must not, for any reason, be tortured or be put to death.
I was exposed to the realities of segregation at an early age and I
saw firsthand the terrible consequences of its legacy. As a high school
student in 1966, I spent three months in Santiago, Chile where I witnessed
abject poverty, human misery and political upheaval. I was fortunate to
spend my sophomore year (1968-1969) in college at the Sorbonne in Paris,
France. On January 16, 1969, I was an eyewitness to the self-immolation and
martyrdom of the Czech medical student, Jan Palach in Prague,
Czechoslovakia. A few weeks later while traveling through London, England,
I heard about Amnesty International. I joined AI in 1971 when they opened
an office in Washington, D.C.
Since 1972, I have been actively involved in the effort and struggle
to abolish the death penalty in the United States. I work with many
anti-death penalty (abolitionist) organizations, capital defense attorneys,
representatives of various communities of faith, newspaper editorial boards,
victims' rights groups, members of the families of the condemned, and many
death row inmates throughout the country. I regularly visit the condemned
and have been on international missions to monitor the facilities in which
they are incarcerated. In 1998, I witnessed an execution in the death
chamber in Huntsville, Texas. I now convey that experience both in my
classroom and to human rights audiences, which I regularly address. My
passion for activism has led me to participate in numerous non-violent civil
disobedience demonstrations, some of which have resulted in my being
arrested and jailed.
In addition to my work against the death penalty, I am also active in
other areas of human rights. I work with a variety of organizations
which seek improvements in human rights on behalf of women, children, gays
and lesbians, indigenous persons, survivors of torture, imprisoned political
prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders, journalists, and
healthcare professionals who are under non-stop assault by governments
around the world.
It became my singular pursuit to become very active in the global human
rights movement and community and to pursue my career as a human rights
educator. Since 1985, I have been actively working in the field of human
rights education. I have helped to develop appropriate curricula and
programs, which foster the spread of human rights at all levels of higher
learning. I am engaged in ongoing research about the Holocaust and I teach
about its relationship to the modern human rights movement. As a member of
the history department at Southern Methodist University, I have been able
to offer graduate and undergraduate courses in human rights. Many of my
students are preparing for law school and are just now coming to grapple
with ideas of law, human rights, justice, responsibility, victims and
perpetrators, and, impunity and reconciliation.
My students also involve themselves in working directly with these
issues, volunteering to work throughout the semester with capital defense
attorneys, refugee and asylum-oriented organizations and attorneys, and
the Dallas Center for Survivors of Torture.
As a past chairperson of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International
USA, I still travel widely and speak and monitor a variety of human
rights concerns around the world. I welcome all opportunities to work
with my peers, both in and out of the classroom, in furtherance of this
cause and its ideals - namely, to help bring about a world without
torture, without suffering, without executions and without victims.
Dr. Rick Halperin
Southern Methodist University
rhalperi@mail.smu.edu
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