Once again, exam time is right around the corner. Be sure to caffeinate, meditate, and be polite to your fellow students! While studying in the library, please remember that sound travels across the library. Please be courteous by keeping conversations brief and as quiet as possible. If you enjoy background music or other sounds while you study, remember that you can borrow headphones at the…
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In November 2019, when a national array of experts converged at Roger Williams University School of Law to discuss Title IX and the adjudication of sexual misconduct on campus, one of the most authoritative voices on hand was that of, Amanda Walsh ’11, , who – as Senior Attorney at the Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC) in Boston – provides training and technical assistance in the field to colleges and universities across the country., Walsh made headlines a few years ago as the first Title IX Program Officer at Brown University, where she implemented the school’s sexual and gender-based harassment and violence policy and complaint procedures, built its flagship Title IX Office, and oversaw complaint investigations. We recently talked with Walsh about her work:, RWU Law: How did you first get drawn to your career path? “Title IX coordinator” wasn’t yet a common position in higher ed at the time you graduated, ., Amanda Walsh:, My first exposure to Title IX happened when I worked on a K-12 case at a civil rights firm out in Oregon in 2009, the summer after my first year at RWU Law – and that’s what sort of got me hooked. But you’re right, Title IX wasn’t really talked about anywhere at that time, and Title IX coordinators barely existed. It was usually just another hat that administrators wore in addition to their full-…, RWU Law: As I understand it, your first position out of law school was as a staff attorney at the VRLC in Boston – the same organization you’ve now returned to as Senior Attorney?, AW:, That’s right, though it wasn’t my original plan. For most of my time at RWU Law, I thought I’d probably end up working for a firm out in Oregon. Then I had a sort of “end-of-law-school change of heart” [while working on the Title IX case] and decided to take the Mass. Bar and pursue this career path instead. My first role was actually as an AmeriCorps attorney, a position I took in hopes of being…, RWU Law: It seems to have worked out., AW:, Yes, I got my placement at the VRLC, and stayed on there as a staff attorney from the end of the summer of 2011 through the beginning of 2015. My primary focus was on Ed. cases, both K-12 and campus., RWU Law: Then you moved on to Brown University – which didn’t really have a Title IX program yet. You were basically tasked with building it, is that right?, AW:, Yes, Brown had never had a dedicated Title IX program officer or coordinator up to that point. (Again, it was sort of an additional role that another senior administrator took on, in addition to being the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.) But the university had put together a task force that came up with a series of recommendations to improve the university’s response to…, RWU Law: Why did Brown choose you? What made you the right person for the job?, AW:, Brown was specifically looking for somebody with legal expertise, as opposed to any background that was victim-advocacy specific. The idea was to find a person who understood the needs of the students, reporting, , but balanced that with the need to implement a fair process for the students, responding, . It’s a delicate balance in cases involving campus sexual assault – really, in, all, cases involving two students in an adjudication on campus. But I think that the student activists at Brown really wanted to see a person in the role who understood the specific needs of the reporting parties., RWU Law: Were you happy to be back in Rhode Island?, AW:, Yes! Transitioning into an administrative role was sort of a natural fit for me at the time. My husband [, Kurt Rocha ’11, , whom Walsh met at RWU Law] practices in Rhode Island, and our family lives in Providence. So I was happy to get rid of the commute!, RWU Law: But now you’re back at the VRLC, this time as Senior Attorney. Does that mean you're back to commuting again?, AW: , No, I’m happy to say. I transitioned back as a Senior Attorney, but in a remote position – this was at a time when I had a toddler and knew I was going to have another child. So it was definitely a family-dynamic thing., RWU Law: But is your new job just as interesting as the others?, AW:, Oh yes, it kind of combines the best of both worlds. I get to work with more than 150 colleges and universities, doing a lot of the policy work and helping to implement some of what I did at Brown – but also some of what I did at the VRLC as a staff attorney. There are just so many different institutions with such a wide range of identities and cultures – community colleges, tribal institutions,…, RWU Law: What sort of interactions?, AW:, I continue to supervise the Ed. attorneys’ cases, that’s a part of it. But I also provide technical assistance and consulting expertise in the education realm, for colleges and universities. In fact, the main reason I came back to the VRLC was because they had received a Department of Justice grant as part of their Campus Grant program, to help student-conduct administrators, deans of students,…, RWU Law: So you’re now in a position where you can work with a large number of institutions rather than just one. Was that part of the appeal?, AW:, Very much so. The VRLC was transitioning to taking the lead on that grant and they needed somebody to spearhead those efforts. That allowed me to, as you said, impact a great number of institutions as opposed to one single institution – as well as, again, offering me a lot of work-life flexibility that I simply didn’t have in my role as an administrator. Title IX coordinators do not have easy…, RWU Law: You were a panelist at the Title IX conference that RWU Law’s Law Review held here in November. What did you perceive as the value of the symposium?, AW: , It was wonderful. It offered a lot of very high-level, nuanced conversation. There were really important speakers who had incredible things to say – and there was a lot of value added by the people who attended the symposium as well, through the thoughts and the comments they shared. The keynote address [by Professor Nancy Chi Cantalupo] was extremely nuanced, for example. Nancy talked a lot…, RWU Law: Does that state of affairs handicap your work?, AW:, Well, there’s definitely a lot of uncertainty about where things are headed, and how much flexibility individual institutions will have in implementing whatever regulations eventually do come out of the Department of Education. The RWU Law forum allowed people to raise those questions and talk in detail about the challenges that the unknown has brought to light on campus., RWU Law: Could you share an example?, AW:, Sure. Colleges and universities have, for example, traditionally responded to sexual assault incidents that occur between two students off-campus. That may be something that changes under the new regulations – will off-campus incidents, no longer, be considered under the purview of Title IX? We just don’t know yet. If it happens, that would be a huge shift for, say, community or predominantly commuter colleges. For institutions that are highly residential, on the other hand, there would be less impact. At the Roger Williams conference, there were administrators in the room representing both perspectives, which allowed for some very…, RWU Law: You mentioned an “end-of-law-school change of heart” that made you decide to practice in this area. Besides your time working on a Title IX case, were there any experiences at RWU Law that impacted your decision to practice in this area?, AW:, Yes, Liz Tobin Tyler’s Medical-Legal Collaborative program was a transformative experience for me, because it explored the idea that the law is not necessarily an adequate remedy all of the time. But instead of just dismissing it as, “Okay, so this is not a legal issue,” Liz's course brought in a medical partner and said, “Lawyers and doctors, can, collaborate in order to find a more holistic and adequate response to the problem.”, RWU Law: How did that impact your approach to Title IX cases?, AW:, It allowed me to see the value of an organization like the VRLC – which has a very similar mission of looking more holistically at a client, as opposed to just trying to fit them into whatever box happens to be within my legal expertise. Sticking with the example we just discussed, let’s say you’re a student at a university, but you’re off-campus and you’re sexually assaulted in your apartment…, RWU Law: That makes a lot of sense., AW:, I’d add that my RWU Law-related connections have been invaluable in this regard. I’ve never even practiced in Rhode Island, yet I’m lucky enough to know a lot of people in the community here. I still have the ability to get resources and support when I need it – because Rhode Island is small and someone I graduated with inevitably practices in the areas I need help with. Most of my VRLC…
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While this season is generally associated with gratitude and peace, around law schools this time of year is associated with stress and exams. It can be a difficult time for law students and those that love them. This blog post is just a reminder to stop and Breathe! Deep breathing is a good way to lower stress in the body . “ Deep breathing also goes by the names of diaphragmatic breathing,…
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Hosted by the Minister’s Alliance of Rhode Island. Speaker: Carlon Howard, Executive Director, Breakthrough Providence; Co-Leader, EduLeaders of Color RI Seating is limited., RWU Law students, faculty and staff may contact Ralph Tavares at rtavares@rwu.edu for tickets.
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A Conversation with Robin Steinberg, Founder and CEO, The Bail Project, Robin Steinberg, is the founder and CEO of The Bail Project, an unprecedented national effort to combat mass incarceration by transforming the pretrial system in the U.S. Over a 35-year career as a public defender, Robin represented thousands of low-income people in over-policed neighborhoods and founded three high-impact organizations: The Bronx Defenders, The Bronx Freedom Fund, and Still She Rises. Robin is a…, The New York Time, s, The Marshall Project, and, USA Today, . Her scholarly work has appeared in leading law and policy journals, including the, NYU Review of Law & Social Change, , the, Yale Law & Policy Review, , and the, Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy, . She has also contributed book chapters to, How Can You Represent Those People?, (Palgrave, 2013) and, Decarcerating America, (The New Press, 2018). She is a Gilbert Foundation Senior Fellow of the Criminal Justice Program at UCLA School of Law. Join us for what promises to be a riveting conversation. RSVP | lawevents@rwu.edu, Special Accommodations, Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for an event should contact the Office of Programs & Events, as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be made. lawevents@rwu.edu
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RWU Law is again teaming up with the Rhode Island Urban Debate League (RIUDL) and members of the Rhode Island legal community to host a series of competitions among participating high school policy debaters who will engage with judges, attorneys, law school administrators, law faculty, and law students working together to diversify the pipeline to the legal profession. Generously supported by the…, RWU Law students, alumni, faculty and staff are specially invited to come and judge a debate round!
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A Roger Williams University School of Law Virtual Symposium Did the Founders intend the United States of America to be a Christian nation? Does it violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution to have a Latin cross on a World War One memorial on a public highway or a crèche on the front lawn of a town hall, or to open a meeting of a public body with the Lord’s Prayer? How should history be…, Meet the Presenters, Bejan, Teresa M. Bejan, is Associate Professor of Political Theory at Oxford University. She was previously a research fellow at Columbia University and a member of the political science faculty at Toronto University. She is the author of, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration, (Harvard University Press), which compares views about civil discourse by Roger Williams, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes, as well as articles and book chapters about the philosophies of those three men on religious freedom and toleration. Her TED Talk, “Is civility a sham,” has more than 1.6 million views. She received a B.A. from the University of Chicago, a M. Phil. from Cambridge University,…, Mary Anne Case, is the Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. She has also taught at Columbia University Law School, Princeton University, American Academy Berlin, New York University School of Law, and the Virginia School of Law. She is the author of dozens of articles and book chapters about religious freedom, gender equality, feminism, and other topics. Her work has appeared…, Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, Supreme Court Review,, and other leading journals. She received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Chemerinsky, Erwin Chemerinsky, is Dean and the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California Berkeley School of Law. He was previously the Founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of the University of California Irvine School of Law, where he also held a joint appointment in the Political Science Department. Prior to that, he taught at Duke, UCLA, USC, and DePaul law schools. He is the author…, We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century, (Picador Macmillan). Dean Chemerinsky is one of the most prominent legal scholars and public intellectuals in the nation. He was named one of “top 20 legal thinkers in America” by, Legal Affairs, , and twice named the Most Influential Person in Legal Education by, National Jurist, . He received a B.S. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Green, Steven K. Green, is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of History and Religious Studies, and the Director of the Willamette Center for Religion, Law and Democracy. He is the author of seven books, including most recently, The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, and American Culture, 1940-1975, (Oxford University Press), and dozens of book chapters and articles about religious freedom. From 1992 to 2002, he was Legal Director and Special Counsel for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He received a B.A. from Texas Christian University, a J.D. from the University of Texas, and both an M.A. in American Religious History and a Ph.D. in History from the University of North…, Marci A. Hamilton, is the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program Professor of Practice, and Fox Family Pavilion Resident Senior Fellow in the Program for Research on Religion at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the founder, CEO, and Academic Director of CHILD USA, a nonprofit academic think tank at the University of Pennsylvania dedicated to interdisciplinary research on child abuse and neglect. Her writings…, God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty, (Cambridge University Press), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She was a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Professor Hamilton received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. in English (Fiction Writing) from Penn State, and both an M.A. in Philosophy and a J.D. from the University of the Pennsylvania. Ragosta, John A. Ragosta, is a historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. He has taught law and history at University of Virginia, George Washington University, Oberlin, Hamilton, and Randolph College. He is the author of three books, including, Religious Freedom: Jefferson’s Legacy, America’s Creed, (University of Virginia Press), which was selected as a featured alternate of the History Book Club, as well as articles and book chapters about the Founders and religious liberty. He has, over the course of his career, worked not only as an historian but as a beekeeper and practicing lawyer. He has been a member of the Advisory Committee for the U.S. Court of International Trade and the American…, Jay D. Wexler, is a Professor of Law at Boston University. He is the author of six books, including most recently, Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Wiccans, and Others are Demanding Their Place in American Public Life, (Stanford University Press/Redwood), and is presently at work on a seventh book about marijuana policy, which will be published by the University of California Press. He has also written more than two dozen law review articles about church-state relations and other topics, which have been published by, Stanford Law Review, Texas Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review,, and other leading journals, as well as commentary and humor articles in popular publications. Professor Wexler received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. in Religious Studies from University of Chicago Divinity School, and a J.D. from Stanford University. Associate Dean Jared Goldstein and Professor Carl T. Bogus will moderate the symposium., Rhode Island MCLE Credit, This program has been approved for 6.5 CLE hours in Rhode Island., Registration Fees, $25 includes all symposium sessions and 6.5 Rhode Island MCLE credits. RWU students and members of the judiciary may attend the symposium complimentary but registration is required. The last day to register is Tuesday, September 22, 2020. Registration, Special Accommodations, Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for an event should contact the Office of Programs & Events, as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be made. lawevents@rwu.edu, This symposium is supported by a generous grant from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
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The holiday season is upon us again! This year, instead of focusing on solely on Christmas, we want to share some holiday traditions that take place throughout the world. Let’s start in Europe! In Austria, the night before the Feast of St. Nicholas the Krampus appears. The Krampus, a half-goat, half-demon swats at naughty children. It is believed that Krampus was created to counter St.…
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It is a new year and a new decade, at least according to some , but the library is still here to help you with your study and research needs. Some highlights of what’s coming this semester: Classes for LP, clinics, and other courses Hot cocoa and tabling in the bistro National Library Week , April 19-25 A new person at the reference desk, an RWU alum is returning to RWU Law to help us out. Come…
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