Whether or not she wins New York state's hotly contested U.S. Senate seat in the upcoming November election, Hillary Rodham Clinton's historic campaign will be examined by scholars not only for its electoral outcome but for what her candidacy and commentary about her reveal about American culture and values.

Cornell scholars will provide analysis of Clinton's meaning and significance at a panel Monday, Oct. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. The program is free and open to the public.

"Hillary: Feminist Perspectives" is sponsored by the Women's Studies Program and will include noted author Joan Jacobs Brumberg, professor of human development and of women's studies, as moderator. Panelists will be Kathryn Abrams, professor of law; Daryl Bem, professor of psychology; Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations; Mary Katzenstein, professor of government; Ann Lane, professor of history and director of women's studies at the University of Virginia and a Telluride Visiting Faculty Fellow at Cornell; Theodore J. Lowi, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions; and Michele Moody-Adams, director of Cornell's Ethics and Public Life Program.

"In putting together the program, I was stimulated by the historic nature of Hillary's candidacy, the polls that say she is not popular with women voters and National Enquirer headlines about Hillary's lesbian lover, one week, and how she is hurt and throwing Bill out the next," Brumberg said. "The purpose of the panel is to try to educate students about how to think about a woman like Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has become such an incredible lightning rod for so many issues in contemporary life."

Brumberg added the panelists will try to explain how perceptions of Clinton evolved and what they reveal about American culture.