Monday, Dec. 13 marks the eve of the 200th anniversary of George Washington's death. To commemorate the bicentennial, Columbia will host several of the nation's leading Washington scholars for a discussion on the American president's life and legacy and his views on death, religion and afterlife.

The program, open to the public, in Columbia's historic Low Library Rotunda is part of a year-long nationwide salute to Washington 200 years after his death. The Columbia program is recognized by Mount Vernon as an official bicentennial event. The distinguished historian Edmund Morgan, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University, and author of The Genius of George Washington (1980), will host the program and conduct a question and answer session at the conclusion of the program.

The program will start with a fife and drum pageant on the steps of Low Library at 4 p.m., followed by short lectures by:

-- Peter Henriques, Associate Professor of History, George Mason University, and author of the forthcoming He Died as He Lived: the Death and Funeral of George Washington. His talk, "He Died As He Lived," will address Washington's personal and private life and his views about death, religion and an afterlife.

-- Don Higginbotham, Dowd Professor of American History, University of North Carolina, and author of The War of American Independence (1983) and George Washington and the American Military Tradition (1985). He will discuss Washington and national unity -- the cause of Union.

-- Dorothy Twohig, Associate Professor Emeritus of History, University of Virginia, and editor in chief of The Papers of George Washington from 1992 to July 1998. Her talk, "George Washington and the Legacy of Character," will address Washington's legacies and the importance of his writings.

Live period music will be performed including, "The Wayworn Traveler," one of Washington's favorite songs, which will be sung by Jennifer Coates, accompanied by Emily Bruskin on violin and Julia Bruskin on cello.

The top 10 books about Washington, as voted by the Association of American Historians, will be displayed in the Rotunda. A reception will end the event at 6:30 P.M.

The event was organized by Justin Homkow, a Columbia College sophomore and native New Yorker who is a longtime admirer of Washington. Homkow put together the program and sought financial support from various organizations, including the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Fraunces Tavern Museum, the Manhattan Institute of Policy Research, the American Flag Institute, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Foundation for American Standards and Tradition.