Category Archives: Academia

Krawiec on Law Schools and Institutional Goals

“‘We all contribute in our own ways’ is not a valid institutional goal.”  That’s the title of Feminist Law Prof Kim Krawiec’s post here at the Faculty Lounge.    “It’s an excuse for poor management,” she says.  Here is an … Continue reading

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How to Have Better Faculty Meetings

Over at Slate, Gretchen Rubin describes her “Fourteen Tips for Running a Better Meeting” (here).  One of her tips is, “If some people hesitate to jump in, find a way to draw them out.”  I must admit that I immediately … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia | 1 Comment

Gendered Qualification for Public Office

Should Middle-Aged Men Hold Public Office? That’s the title of an engaging essay by Barbara O’Brien over at salon.com here. O’Brien not only answers those who have wondered aloud about Sotomayor’s qualifications given possibilities such as menstruation and menopause, but … Continue reading

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Reading Writing on Writing Instead of Writing

From Flashlight Worthy, a list of “10 Great Books on Writing” (here):   The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative  by Vivian Gornick Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life  by Anne Lamott (one of … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia | 2 Comments

Where are the women blast from the recent past: In the “Demisesquicentennial” issue of the University of Chicago Law Review, fourteen out of fourteen authors are dudes, and for bonus points, the secondary authors noted are male too!

5 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW REVIEW, NO. 2, SPRING, 2008. Demisesquicentennial. 75 U. Chi. L. Rev. 603-883 (2008). Nagareda, Richard A. Class actions in the administrative state: Kalven and Rosenfield revisited. 75 U. Chi. L. Rev. 603-648 (2008). Rothstein, Jesse … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Law Schools, The Underrepresentation of Women | 1 Comment

Landmark Domestic Violence Judgment by European Court of Human Rights

In a landmark decision, the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously found that a state violated the human rights of the applicant and her mother in failing to protect them against domestic violence. In Opuz v Turkey, the applicant … Continue reading

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Breast Enhancement as an Employment Incentive?

The NYTimes reports (here)  on unusual employment incentives being offered by hospitals and clinics in the Czech Republic: When Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse, was considering whether to renew her contract at a private health clinic here, special perks helped … Continue reading

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Martha Minow Next Dean of Harvard Law School

HLS press release here. Awesome pick. More at The Situationist. –Ann Bartow

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The Age of Digital Convergence

This conference is off to a wonderful start, with a presentation by Dr. Melissa deZwart an Associate Professor at the University of South Australia School of Law. Spent yesterday touring Hong Kong, starting off with a hike up to the … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Technology, Travels | 1 Comment

How Will E-Texts Fare in the Law School Market?

I’m not a technology expert, but I’m open to trying new gadgets and thinking about how to use them in law teaching.  So with all the buzz about the Kindle DX, I wonder how (how soon?) e-texts will make their … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia | 1 Comment

Pace Environmental Law Review Announces Shift to Peer Review

Here’s a great announcement from one of the journals at my home institution: As of August 1, 2009, Pace Environmental Law Review (PELR)  will use a new Peer Review process to select articles for publication.  Submissions will be reviewed internally … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and the Environment | 1 Comment

Women are under-represented in clinical cancer research published in high-impact journals, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Citation and Abstract: Under-representation of women in high-impact published clinical cancer research Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil 1 *, Amy R. Motomura, BSE 1, Sudha Amarnath, BS 2, Aleksandra Jankovic, MS 3, Nathan Sheets, BS 2, Peter A. Ubel, MD 3 … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Medicine, Feminists in Academia, The Underrepresentation of Women, Women's Health | Comments Off on Women are under-represented in clinical cancer research published in high-impact journals, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Corrupted-Files.com offers a service — recently noted by several academic bloggers who have expressed concern — that sells students (for only $3.95, soon to go up to $5.95) intentionally corrupted files. Why buy a corrupted file? Here’s what the site says: “Step 1: After purchasing a file, rename the file e.g. Mike_Final-Paper. Step 2: E-mail the file to your professor along with your ‘here’s my assignment’ e-mail. Step 3: It will take your professor several hours if not days to notice your file is ‘unfortunately’ corrupted. Use the time this website just bought you wisely and finish that paper!!!”

That is the second paragraph of this story at Inside Higher Ed.

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Posted in Academia | Comments Off on Corrupted-Files.com offers a service — recently noted by several academic bloggers who have expressed concern — that sells students (for only $3.95, soon to go up to $5.95) intentionally corrupted files. Why buy a corrupted file? Here’s what the site says: “Step 1: After purchasing a file, rename the file e.g. Mike_Final-Paper. Step 2: E-mail the file to your professor along with your ‘here’s my assignment’ e-mail. Step 3: It will take your professor several hours if not days to notice your file is ‘unfortunately’ corrupted. Use the time this website just bought you wisely and finish that paper!!!”

Sonia Sotomayor’s Personal History: Why It Matters

There has been much made of Sonia Sotomayor’s life, her Puerto Rican background, her modest, if not poor, childhood, her mother, what her Latina-ness means to her, her involvement in civil rights organizations, etc.   It’s both a big part … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Courts and the Judiciary, Feminism and Law, Firsts, Law Schools, Legal Profession, Race and Racism | Comments Off on Sonia Sotomayor’s Personal History: Why It Matters

Audacious Man

At the University of Baltimore’s second annual  Feminist Legal Theory conference in March 2009, Mae Quinn, Jennifer Hendricks and Karla McKanders did a fantastic workshop on creating space for feminist scholarship.  They encouraged all of us to be audacious (in … Continue reading

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Another installment of you can’t make this stuff up: College edition

For nearly a decade, Westmoreland County Community College, which is located outside of Pittsburgh, PA, has included “sexual orientation” and “union membership” among the list of specifically protected characteristics in published statements concerning its nondiscrimination policy. Naturally, the college’s lesbian, … Continue reading

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Via.

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Where the Men Are (and Women Aren’t): GW Law Review Edition

If the dearth of female contributors to major law reviews weren’t so distressing (see, e.g., here and here and here), I’d think that this issue of the GW Law Review — with ZERO articles by women — was a joke. … Continue reading

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William and Mary Law Review – the All William and No Mary Edition

Issue 50:6 (May 2009) Articles Andrew Koppelman, Corruption of Religion and the Establishment Clause Thomas A. Lambert, Dr. Miles is Dead. Now What?: Structuring a Rule of Reason for Evaluating Minimum Resale Price Maintenance Robert T. Miller, The Economics of … Continue reading

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“Professor Sotomayor” – A View of the New Justice from Columbia Law School

Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by President Obama to the U.S. Supreme Court, has taught a course on Federal Appellate Court advocacy at Columbia for several years.   While President Obama’s adjunct teaching job at the University of Chicago is often cited … Continue reading

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So it’s feminism that’s making me unhappy–who knew?

Your headslap moment of the day, courtesy of Ross Douthat and the New York Times,  here.   –Leigh Goodmark

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Posted in Academia | 1 Comment

Essay of Interest: Michael DiChiara’s A Case of First Impression: The Third Circuit Recognizes That Having An Abortion Is Protected By Title VII

Over the last few months, I have been working on a Submission Guide for Online Law Review Supplements. While doing my research for the Guide, I came across an interesting volume of the  Rutgers Law Record, the online supplement to … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and the Workplace, Reproductive Rights | 2 Comments

The Law and Economics of the Backlash

Back in my early days of teaching I thought it might be interesting to present a feminist legal theory paper at an annual meeting of the American Law & Economics Association (ALEA). At least at that time, you had to … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Economics, Feminism and Law, If you're a woman, Women and Economics | Comments Off on The Law and Economics of the Backlash

Michigan Law Review Where Are The Women Redux: Fifteen articles, sixteen if you count the Foreword, only one written by a woman?

Michigan Law Review, Issue 107:8 (June 2009) (Past issues are available on our website.) FAULT IN CONTRACT LAW FOREWORD Omri Ben-Shahar & Ariel Porat, Fault in American Contract Law, 107 Mich. L. Rev. 1341 (2009) ARTICLES Richard A. Posner, Let … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law, The Underrepresentation of Women | 2 Comments

Another NYU Law Review Edition of: Where Are The Women?

Volume 84 May 2009 Number 2 ARTICLES Categoricalism and Balancing in First and Second Amendment Analysis Joseph Blocher A Theory of Taxing Sovereign Wealth Victor Fleischer Toward Procedural Optionality: Private Ordering of Public Adjudication Robert J. Rhee NOTES A Relational … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law, The Underrepresentation of Women | 2 Comments

Take Action Against Exploitive Sex Tourism

Equality Now has just issued Women’s Action Update 12.4 / 27.2 Sex Tourism: Big Apple Oriental Tours Acquitted of State Criminal Charges:Federal Action Needed to Prosecute G.F Tours and other U.S.-Based Sex Tour Operators calling on the US Government to … Continue reading

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Does Becoming a Father Make You a Feminist?

New research from Britain (here) suggests a strong correlation between having a daughter and holding feminist views, particularly for fathers.  While this may have been slow in coming for my own father, who only recently stopped (at my urging) referring … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia | 4 Comments

Ellen DeGeneres Commencement Speech at Tulane University – May 16, 2009.

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Can Grading Cause Brain Damage?

That and other exam questions amusingly posed here. See also this (and be sure to read the appended comments). –Ann Bartow

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Posted in Academia | 1 Comment

Book review: Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families Under the Law

Nancy Polikoff’s book is a wonderful survey of the ways in which marriage will not solve the problems of all who identify as family. Polikoff argues that if our goal is to provide equality for all families, looking to the … Continue reading

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“What Gender is Trusts and Estates?”

Al Brophy asks that question here.

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How many women authors are in your syllabi?

After observing that: … a quick tally of the authors represented on my syllabi (10 courses so far) reveals that 12% of the articles or books I was required to read were written by women. Now in my third quarter … Continue reading

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“Oldest depiction of female form shows that modern archaeologists are pornsick misogynists”

Dr. Violet Socks lays it down here.

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Where Are the Women? Duke Law Journal Edition

The April 2009 issue of the Duke Law Journal is chock full of interesting looking material. The gender ratio calculation is complicated by the fact that some authors made more than one contribution, but even counting them only once, the … Continue reading

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Don’t Let a Magazine Help You Pick a College

I received a mass marketing email captioned, “Let Ms. help you pick a college.”  Here’s a portion of the text: Dear feminist activist, Picking a college? Or have a sister, friend, daughter or granddaughter who is? To help you make … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminists in Academia | 2 Comments

Reading (Law) Like a Graduate Student

In Tuesday’s Chronicle of Higher Education (pay site – sorry; day passes available),  an assistant professor of creative writing describes “Reading Like a Graduate Student” (here).    Rachel Toor (Eastern Washington University) asks,  “Why do graduate students tend to be … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia | 1 Comment

“… it’s okay to opt out of toxic situations and conversations. Opting out doesn’t mean that you’re weak, nor does it make you a bad person. Sometimes, the most advantageous position is, in fact, one in which you don’t resist, in which you don’t explain, in which you don’t try to justify your position, in which you don’t bother trying to help others see your point of view. Or, conversely, in which you don’t try to be inclusive, to give antagonists a forum, or to apologize to diffuse a situation.”

More Lessons for Girls here at Historiann.

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off on “… it’s okay to opt out of toxic situations and conversations. Opting out doesn’t mean that you’re weak, nor does it make you a bad person. Sometimes, the most advantageous position is, in fact, one in which you don’t resist, in which you don’t explain, in which you don’t try to justify your position, in which you don’t bother trying to help others see your point of view. Or, conversely, in which you don’t try to be inclusive, to give antagonists a forum, or to apologize to diffuse a situation.”

Gendered Parenthood On Mother’s Day

[I originally posted this on my own blog, Related Topics, yesterday–when it really was Mother’s Day.     On reflection, I wanted to post it here as well.   So it’s a bit late, but here it is.] It’s Mother’s … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Families, Feminism and Law | 3 Comments

Congratulations to the University of South Carolina School of Law’s Class of 2009!

Most all of our students are wonderful, but the Class of 2009 is especially dear to me. I’ll miss those students a lot. –Ann Bartow

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The Broken Windows of Law School Faculties

I’ve discovered the Positive Coaching Alliance  through volunteering with my local youth Little League.  That organization uses the “broken windows” concept in training coaches, parents and players to take a holistic (my word, not theirs) approach to sports — as … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Law Teaching | 1 Comment

On the Underrepresentation of Women In Elite Law Reviews

Thank you for noticing that women are grossly underrepresented among authors who publish in elite law reviews. You simply checked out the tables of contents. What accounts for the shortfall? I’m amazed by the pretzel-like knots that people : liberals, … Continue reading

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Pharmaceutical company Merck paid an undisclosed sum to academic publisher Elsevier to produce several volumes of a publication that had the look of a peer-reviewed medical journal, but contained only reprinted or summarized articles:most of which presented data favorable to Merck products:that appeared to act solely as marketing tools with no disclosure of company sponsorship.

From Bioethics.net: The Scientist has reported that, yes, it’s true, Merck cooked up a phony, but real sounding, peer reviewed journal and published favorably looking data for its products in them. Merck paid Elsevier to publish such a tome, which … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Women's Health | Comments Off on Pharmaceutical company Merck paid an undisclosed sum to academic publisher Elsevier to produce several volumes of a publication that had the look of a peer-reviewed medical journal, but contained only reprinted or summarized articles:most of which presented data favorable to Merck products:that appeared to act solely as marketing tools with no disclosure of company sponsorship.

What do Hooters and the Supreme Court Have in Common?

According to some, there’s an appearance test to qualify for employment by both–at least for women. See Paul Campos’ article (but not his opinion!) on why “fat” women need not apply for Souter’s job. –Leigh Goodmark

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Culture | 3 Comments

Gender, Race and Stereotype Threat: Study finds California’s high school exit exam is keeping disproportionate numbers of girls and non-whites from graduating, even when they are just as capable as white boys on every other measure.

From the LA Times: California’s high school exit exam is keeping disproportionate numbers of girls and non-whites from graduating, even when they are just as capable as white boys, according to a study released Tuesday. It also found that the … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Race and Racism, The Overrepresentation of Women | 2 Comments

Mark Anthony Neal on HBCUs

Here at his blog, NewBlackMan. Via Anxious Black Woman.

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Then and Now – Replacing Justice Souter

We learned late last week that David Souter plans to step down from the Supreme Court at the end of this term.   Nominated by President George H. W. Bush in July of 1990 on the expectation that he would … Continue reading

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Delaware Chief Judge emails “soft porn” to former clerks

 Myron Steele, Chief Judge of the Delaware, is reported here to have used his government email account to forward a “suggestive video”  which “depicts a professional-looking young woman in a bar competing with a glamorous blonde for the attention of … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Courts and the Judiciary, Justice?, Legal Profession | 1 Comment

“I urge you to help by practicing preventive measures, such as covering your mouth and nose with your sleeve when you cough or sneeze and washing your hands frequently, which can prevent the spread of germs.”

So said an e-mail I received today from Harris Pastides, President of the University of South Carolina, to fully inform the University community about (as if you haven’t already guessed) swine flu. It also goes on to say: “Students who … Continue reading

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Where are the women? Another post about gender disparities at elite law journals.

In disciplines outside law, faculty appointments and promotions (including tenure) are not in the hands of student journal editors. Of course, they do not depend entirely on student-editors in law either – but they do in part. Coming from Canada … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law, Feminists in Academia, The Underrepresentation of Women | 3 Comments

Where are the women? Not in the most recent issue of the Columbia Law Review, that’s for sure.

Columbia Law Review, Volume 109 Issue 3 (March 2009) Article Contracting for Innovation: Vertical Disintegration and Interfirm Collaboration Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel & Robert E. Scott Notes Paradox of Presumptions: Seller Warranties and Reliance Waivers in Commercial Contracts … Continue reading

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