The Baton Rouge Brotherhood & Sisterhood Award Committee of 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge has named LSU Law Center Chancellor Jack M. Weiss as one of two recipients of the prestigious Brotherhood & Sisterhood Award for 2010. Chancellor Weiss was honored during the 48th Annual Awards Dinner held November 11th, at the Hilton Capitol Center in Baton Rouge. Derek Gordon, President and CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, was also honored.
Introducing the Chancellor were Scott Sternberg (’10) and 3L student Ashley Mayes.
“I am deeply grateful to the award committee for this extraordinary community honor. One can only hope to measure up to the high standards of the award and its prior recipients,” said Chancellor Weiss upon receiving news of the award.
Prior recipients of the award include many of the area’s prominent civic and community leaders, including most recently Ernest Gaines, Mary Ann Sternberg, Jacqui Vines, Mayor “Kip” Holden, Jerry Stovall and Paula de la Bretonne. Former LSU Law Chancellor Paul M. Hebert was a recipient of the award in 1970.
The Brotherhood Sisterhood Award is given annually to two individuals who have devoted their professional, philanthropic, and volunteer capacities to humanitarian service. “In advancing the mission of joining hands across racial, socioeconomic, ethnic, and religious lines, the honorees of the Brotherhood Sisterhood Award have worked to break down the barriers that divide the community and prevent its citizens from working and living together in harmony,” noted the official release.
The award program was started in 1963 under the leadership of the Baton Rouge Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ). “In 2006, the 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge assumed the legacy of this event from the NCCJ, which closed its doors in Baton Rouge that same year. In 2009, 100 Black Men recognized the need to include Baton Rouge’s young leaders in the sponsorship of the Brotherhood Sisterhood Award, and invited Forum 35 to partner with them in this effort,” according to the organizations website.
Awards Committee members for 2010 included Stephen Toups, Shelton Dennis Blunt, Earl Butler, Russell Carter, Heather Day, Jessica Foley, Ernie T. Hughes, Kizzy Payton, Donna Saurage, Joseph G. Simmons, John Smith, Walter T. Tillman, Jermaine Watson, Erin Monroe Wesley, and Vanisia Thomas Winston.
For more than 30 years, Chancellor Weiss has served as a passionate defender of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. He is recognized as one of the nation’s leading defenders of the rights of a free press.
Prior to his appointment as Chancellor of the LSU Law Center in 2007, Mr.Weiss was a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LL.P, where he served as the principal outside publication counsel to Dow Jones Company, Inc., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s , and their respective online editions.
From 1975 to 1998, Mr. Weiss practiced law in New Orleans and served as lead counsel to the Times-Picayune and numerous other major publishing and broadcast clients. Additional state and national clients during his years of practice included Capital City Press, The Washington Post Company, CBS Inc., Cable News Network, Inc., Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and The Associated Press. In both Louisiana and New York, Mr. Weiss advised these leading media organizations on a wide variety of sensitive publication matters and played a leading role in defending the nation’s media in significant First Amendment litigation. In 2006, Weiss was named a Traphagen Distinguished Alumnus of Harvard Law School in recognition of his work on behalf of press freedom.
Weiss became Chancellor and Professor of Law at the LSU Law Center in 2007. He continues his defense of the First Amendment through teaching and national speaking engagements. He brings a passion for free speech and important firsthand knowledge to his courses in Media Law, Comparative Media Law, and First Amendment Rights of Expression and Association.
Under the leadership of the Chancellor, the LSU Law Center has undertaken a broad range of initiatives to increase diversity on the campus and to provide greater service to the community and state. Chancellor Weiss is proud of the accomplishments of the Law Center under his leadership, and also credits the faculty, staff, and student body for implementation of these initiatives.
Funds raised through the event go to support programs and services in the Baton Rouge area that help to advance the acceptance of racial, socioeconomic, ethnic, and religious ideas throughout the local community.