Ohio Northern University’s Gamma Upsilon chapter of Phi Beta Delta, the ONU Department of History, Politics and Justice and CASE (Committee on the Arts and Special Events) will present a forum on “Drone Welfare: Legality, Morality, Utility” in the Dicke Forum on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m.

The event will feature an excerpt from the recent documentary film “Unmanned America: Drone Wars,” followed by commentary and debate by guests Michael W. Lewis, professor of law at ONU’s Pettit College of Law, and John B. Quigley, professor emeritus from the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. Michael Loughlin, ONU professor of history, will moderate the program. The evening will conclude with a question and answer session.

Lewis, who teaches commercial law, international law, a law of war seminar and torts, joined the ONU faculty in August 2006. Lewis flew F-14s for the United States Navy in Operation Desert Shield, conducted strike planning for Desert Storm and was deployed to the Persian Gulf to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq. After his naval service, Lewis graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, was a management consultant with McKinsey and Company, and served as a litigation associate with McGuireWoods LLP in Norfolk, Va.

Lewis has published more than a dozen articles and essays on various aspects of the law of war and the conflict between the U.S. and Al Qaeda. He has testified before Congress on the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen and on the civil liberties tradeoffs associated with trying some Al Qaeda members or terrorist suspects before military commissions. His op-eds have appeared in numerous media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Post, and he has appeared on Public Radio International to discuss the increasing use of armed drones in warfare.