JAMESTOWN, N.Y.—The Robert H. Jackson Center Inc. and Bowling Green State University have signed an agreement giving Bowling Green students the opportunity to conduct research at the center in Jamestown, N.Y. It is the first time the center has entered into such an agreement.

The Jackson Center is dedicated to preserving the memory and advancing the ideas of Robert H. Jackson, a former U.S. Supreme Court justice and chief American prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. While on the Supreme Court, Jackson also participated in the unanimous decision in the pivotal 1954 desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education.

The agreement, signed by BGSU President Sidney Ribeau and Jackson Center President Gregory L. Peterson, will help promote the center as an archival resource for the study of Jackson's influence as well as provide research opportunities for BGSU students.

Representing the University at the signing ceremonies (June 20) were Dr. Heinz Bulmahn, vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate College, and Dr. Douglas Neckers, McMaster Research Professor of Photochemical Sciences and executive director of the Center for Photochemical Sciences.

Private funding will be sought to develop an internship program for undergraduate students, and BGSU will establish a graduate assistantship to promote thesis or dissertation research related to Jackson.

In return, the Jackson Center will benefit from Bowling Green's help with evaluating and archiving the collected documents and artifacts to make them more accessible to scholars, educators and students. BGSU will also act as an outlet for dissemination of scholarly publications based on materials assembled at the Jackson Center.

Officials from both organizations say they see many possibilities arising from the partnership.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity for our students, and it should provide some useful work in developing the center as it unfolds," said Neckers, who is from the Jamestown region of New York and brought the center's existence to the attention of his BGSU colleagues. "We're very excited about the opportunities we think will result from this for all concerned. We're hoping this academic/historical center collaboration will be the first of many to come.”

Bowling Green graduate students in history, political science, German and Russian will be able to work at the center as they develop their master's theses or Ph.D. dissertations, Neckers explained. Also, BGSU students participating in the exchange program with the University of Salzburg, Austria, have easy access to Nuremberg to investigate the archives there, he pointed out. Already, a graduate student majoring in both German and political science has expressed interest in developing a thesis related to materials at the Jackson Center.

In addition to the departments of German, Russian and East Asian languages, history and political science, others that will especially benefit include philosophy and theatre and film. BGSU's Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, with its ability to facilitate dialogue across disciplines and its research cluster focused on the Holocaust, will be a natural partner in the collaboration, according to Bulmahn.

Jackson Center President Peterson noted, “This is the Jackson Center’s first collaboration with a nationally renowned institution of higher education for the joint study of Robert H. Jackson and international law.”

“By far the most exciting possibility of working through Bowling Green,” continued Peterson, “is to explore Russia’s involvement at the Nuremberg trials.”

Jackson, a prominent trial lawyer, also served as U.S. Attorney General and Solicitor General in the first two Roosevelt administrations but viewed his crowning achievement in public service to be the new standards in international law that were created when he served as the chief American prosecutor before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg following World War II.

"That individuals who commit war crimes or crimes against humanity could be tried by an international tribunal and be found personally responsible was new law in 1946," says Rolland E. Kidder, executive director of the Jackson Center. "Jackson's brilliance and courage in bringing Nazi war criminals to justice set a new standard in the field of international law. It remains the standard to which the world looks today."

Founded in 2001, the Jackson Center is located in the former justice's hometown. Center President Peterson is a partner in the law firm of Phillips Lytle LLP. Executive Director Kidder is also an attorney as well as a former state legislator.

(Posted June 21, 2005 )