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COMMENCEMENT FEATURES LEAD COUNSEL IN LANDMARK CASE |
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March 10, 2008
GROVE CITY, Pa. – Grove City College President Richard G. Jewell ’67 has announced the speakers for the 2008 Baccalaureate and Commencement ceremonies on the Grove City College campus May 16 and 17, respectively.
Attorney and College Trustee David M. Lascell, chief counsel for Grove City College during the landmark Supreme Court case in the 1980s, will address approximately 576 graduates at 10 a.m. May 17 in an outdoor ceremony on the Quad between Harbison Chapel and Crawford Hall. The Rev. Robert Thune will offer words of wisdom to students at a 7 p.m. Baccalaureate ceremony on May 16, also planned for the Quad. He is senior pastor at Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells, Calif., and preaches weekly to a congregation of approximately 3,000.
In the case of inclement weather, both events will be moved to the Arena of the Physical Learning Center.
Lascell specializes in litigation, intellectual property, higher education and not-for-profit organizations. In 1984, he led the College through Grove City College v. T.H. Bell, Secretary of Education and made headlines in the first court case where an educational institution fought for the right not to accept federal or state funds. Since then, Grove City College has remained truly financially independent in not accepting these government funds.
“That landmark court case,” Jewell said, “brought national prominence to the College, and its outcome ensured that we continued to be truly independent.”
Lascell has nearly 40 years of litigation experience and has achieved a national reputation in higher education law. He has served as counsel to numerous universities and colleges throughout the nation and has acted as lead counsel for several major corporations in employment litigation, toxic tort litigation and intellectual property litigation, including a variety of lawsuits involving patents and trade secrets for glass technology and ceramic material. Lascell also has extensive background in major antitrust litigation, including the termination of antitrust consent decrees that had been entered against Eastman Kodak Company in 1921 and 1954. He has appeared in the United States Supreme Court, several federal district and circuit courts and various state courts.
Lascell has published material dealing with trustees’ fiduciary duties, legal guidelines for college and university administrators and comparing nonprofit and business corporation Boards of Directors.
He was also instrumental in founding an insurance company creating expressly for educators – United Educators Insurance – and in helping to operate an investment management company – Commonfund – both of which have served the needs of universities and colleges nationally.
United Educators Insurance is a licensed insurance company owned and governed by more than 1,160 member colleges, universities, independent schools, public school districts, public school insurance pools and related organizations throughout the U.S. Members range from small, private schools to multi-campus public universities.
Commonfund is the leading active manager of endowment and treasury funds for America’s educational institutions, including universities, colleges and independent schools. It manages approximately $42 billion for more than 1,800 nonprofit clients.
Lascell graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College in 1963 and earned his law degree at Cornell Law School in 1966. He serves as vice chair of the Grove City College Board of Trustees and is an honorary trustee and former chair of the Board of Trustees at Wells College.
He is also a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, a fellow of the American Law Institute, a member of the Defense Research Institute, former master of the Rochester Chapter of the Inns of Court, and a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association and Monroe County Bar Association. He has also chaired the litigation section of the National Association of College and University of Attorneys and is listed in the Appellate Law, Product Liability Litigation and Commercial Litigation categories of the Best Lawyers in America and in the Business Litigation Law and Schools & Education Law categories of Super Lawyers. In 2006, Grove City College conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree.
Lascell and his wife, Donna, reside in Rochester, N.Y., and have three grown children and two grandchildren.
Thune is a native of South Dakota and graduated from Biola University in 1969 with a degree in humanities. After graduation, he attended Talbot Seminary, graduating in 1972 with a Master of Divinity in Practical Theology degree. There, he also received the Lehman Strauss Award in Homiletics. Coming out of seminary, he was recognized as one of the most promising and exciting preachers in his graduating class.
In ministry for 35 years, Thune’s first pastorate was the Huntington Beach Evangelical Free Church, where he served as senior pastor from 1972 to 1982. The church grew under his leadership from one to five staff members and from 190 to 550 parishioners. In August of 1982, Thune accepted the call to serve as senior pastor of Christ Community Church (formerly known as the Omaha Gospel Tabernacle), a church with an illustrious history dating back to the early 1920s. Under Thune’s leadership for 22 years, the church grew to approximately 4,500 members and adherents with approximately 3,000 attending Sunday services.
Thune and his wife, Ruthie, have two grown sons, and four grandchildren.
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