The University of Illinois College of Law posts its Annual Report here, listing many good things happening at that school. The online materials include a two-page spread, with photos, touting the school’s “Significant Lectures” in 2012-2013. Notice anything?
Apparently the organizers of the lecture series and the marketing folks at Illinois did not notice the lack of diversity among its lecturers OR they think it is worth advertising that the school’s “Significant Lectures” are delivered by white men. Did any of the speakers think to ask about the diversity of those delivering a “Significant Lecture” at the school, either?
How about the “Significant Lectures” at Illinois more recently? Here’s what I found in the “News” section of the College of Law’s website:
Chai Feldbaum (EEOC Commissioner) delivered the Vacketta-DLA Piper Lecture on the Role of Government and the Law on October 29, 2014.
Daniel J. Solove (George Washington University Law School) delivered the David C. Baum Lecture on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights on October 14, 2014.
Kenneth Mack (Harvard) delivered the David C. Baum Lecture on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights on March 28, 2014.
Lawrence Gostin (Georgetown) delivered the Ann F. Baum Memorial Elder Law Lecture on March 3, 2014.
Tom Daschle (Senator, South Dakota) delivered the Vacketta-DLA Piper Lecture on the Role of Government and the Law on October 25, 2013.
That adds one white woman and one African-American man to the list of eleven who delivered a “Significant Lecture” at Illinois College of Law in two academic years. If there were others, the lectures aren’t publicized in the “News” section of the school’s website. Corrections and additions welcome.
-Bridget Crawford
