Robert B. Porter, professor of law and director of the Tribal Law and Government Center at the University of Kansas, will present a lecture, "Resolving Iroquois Land Claims," Monday, Oct. 23, at 4:30 p.m. in 290 Myron Taylor Hall.

Porter will also participate in a roundtable discussion about land claims to be held at Akwe:kon Residence House Oct. 22 between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. The public is invited to both events.

After earning his J.D. at the Harvard University School of Law, Porter served as the first Seneca Nation of Indians attorney general from 1991 to 1995 and became a leading authority on tribal governance and Indian policy in New York state. In 1995 he began teaching at the University of Kansas School of Law and founded the Tribal Law and Government Center. Currently directed by Porter, the center is the only program of its kind devoted exclusively to the development of indigenous nation lawyers and the study of indigenous nation law and governance. Since 1997 Porter has also served as chief justice of the supreme court of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri.

The author of many scholarly articles on American Indian sovereignty, law and government, Porter is a member of the Seneca Nation who has expressed forceful criticism of New York state's handling of Iroquois land claims. "It is hard to imagine another issue," Porter wrote on The New York Times op-ed page last May, "that forces Americans to confront their sinful past quite like an Indian land claim."

Porter's visit to Cornell is co-sponsored by the American Indian Program, the American Indian Law Students Association, Cornell Law School and Akwe:kon Residence House.