From Dr. Haley Duschinski
Director of the Center for Law, Justice & Culture
Aug. 31, 2015
Welcome to the Center for Law, Justice & Culture, a vibrant space for the critical study of law and society at Ohio University!
Dr. Haley Duschinski
The Center has expanded significantly over the past two years through support from the College of Arts & Sciences. Our administrative staff consists of myself and Larry Hayman (B.A. ’03), Ohio University’s Pre-Law Specialist and Advisor who joined us in September 2014.
Our academic community now consists of 20 faculty affiliates, three cohorts of exceptional undergraduate certificate students, and an energetic student organization — all of whom share a fundamental commitment to examining law from a liberal arts perspective. We anticipate a great deal of further expansion in the coming years, and we warmly welcome OHIO students, faculty, alumni, and friends to become part of the CLJC community.
In 2014-2015, we launched the Making and Breaking the Law curricular theme – a coordinated set of law-related undergraduate courses across the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities.
Through the theme, we introduced a new innovative first-year co-taught course called Breaking the Law; a new Law, Justice & Culture Learning Community for incoming freshmen; new law-related courses in History, Plant Biology, Political Science, and other departments; and a new project-based capstone course called Culture, Energy, Environment.
We offered the third annual spring break study abroad program with more than 20 students on Human Rights, Law & Justice in Northern Ireland. We also introduced the CLJC Research Externship Program through a student-faculty summer field research with partners in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Three graduating students completed law-related honors thesis research projects under the supervision of CLJC faculty.
In collaboration with Students for Law, Justice & Culture, we held a year-long series on Critical Resistance to Mass Incarceration featuring talks by Sheila Bedi of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Northwestern University School of Law; Paul Hirschfield of the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University; Mark Godsey of the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Director of the Ohio Innocence Project; the coordinators of the Lifeline Re-Entry Program at Marion Correctional Institution; and the Redbird Prison Abolition group.
We kicked off the year with a panel at the Athena on Racism, Policing, and Struggles for Justice in Ferguson, and we finished the year with a panel at the Athena on Marriage Equality at the Supreme Court featuring the case plaintiffs, including named plaintiff Jim Obergefell.
In the coming academic year, we are continuing to develop our undergraduate curriculum for students across the College of Arts & Sciences on the theme of law and justice. We are offering the theme gateway course Breaking the Law for the second year to 90 students, as well as a new Pre-Law Learning Community and a new one-credit course for participation in the annual speaker series.
Our fall application cycle for the Law, Justice & Culture Certificate Program is now open, for students who wish to pursue more specialized training in law and society studies. Our Northern Ireland program will run in spring 2016, and faculty are developing new study abroad programs and research externship partners in Los Angeles and Iceland. We are also expanding the number of summer law internships for undergraduate students interested in law-related careers.
Larry Hayman and Grant Garber, Associate General Counsel in the University’s Office of Legal Affairs, are launching a new Ohio University Mock Trial Team. This student organization includes competition, practice, meetings, and lectures to assist students interested in law and the legal system.
CLJC is also offering a series of pre-law programs including law school application workshops, LSAT practice tests, and visits from law school admissions officers throughout fall semester. Our annual Law Fair is will be held on Oct. 14, and our annual Pre-Law Day featuring panels of alumni lawyers will be held on Nov. 5-6. Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill will deliver the keynote address.
This year, the Center and Students for Law, Justice & Culture are sponsoring a series of public lectures for the campus community on the topic of Critical Resistance through Legal Activism. Inspired by the spring marriage equality event, we will focus on how legal activism operates through law to bring about social change, across history and also across contemporary societies. You can learn more about our upcoming events through the Center Newsletter and our Facebook and Twitter pages.
We are pleased to welcome Ohio University Glidden Visiting Professor R. Mark Kantrowitz (B.A. ’72, M.A. ’74) as CLJC Jurist in Residence in fall 2015. Marc very recently retired from his position as Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. He is teaching a course on Famous Trials in the History Department, and he has an office in the Political Science Department.
We are also pleased to welcome three undergraduate students – Kaleb Carter (Journalism), Selina Nadeau (Journalism major with certificates in Law, Justice & Culture and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies), and Casey Tisdale (Psychology and Sociology-Criminology majors with a minor in French) – who will be working with us in the CLJC office on event planning, public relations, and alumni relations.
The Center is open on the ground floor of Bentley Hall every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We encourage everyone to please drop by to visit us, and to browse our new Law, Justice & Culture collection of books and videos. We also offer an extensive collection of law school and LSAT preparation materials. Larry Hayman offers walk-in advising hours every Wednesday from 1 to 4 p.m.
We invite all members of the CLJC community to join us for our two Constitution Day Lectures in September. On Sept. 10, Carol Greenhouse, the Arthur W. Marks ’19 Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Princeton University, will speak on Citizens United / Citizens Divided at Baker Theater at 5 p.m.
On Sept. 17, Marc Kantrowitz will speak on Supreme Court Cases That Have Not Withstood the Test of Time at Baker Theater at 5 p.m.
We hope that you will be able to join us, so that we will have the opportunity to talk in person. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to call, email, or visit us in Bentley Hall.
Warmest wishes,
Haley Duschinski
Director
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