Author: Neil Schoenherr

On April 5, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law House Bill 1523, a controversial “religious freedom” bill, which says that the state government cannot punish public employees, social service providers and businesses that refuse to provide services to people because of a religious opposition. The law is unconstitutional, said Elizabeth Sepper, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.

The School of Law will celebrate the outstanding achievements of five individuals on April 7 at its 43rd annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner.

The August 2014 death of unarmed Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer captivated the nation and touched off a heated debate about the nature of law enforcement in the United States. A new book edited by Washington University in St. Louis’ Kimberly Norwood explores the underlying fault lines that cracked and gave rise to the eruption in Ferguson, Mo.

One year after the launch of “Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis,” members of the university community will gather April 5 to focus on “Research, Reflection and Responses.” The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 4-7 p.m. in the Emerson Auditorium at Knight Hall on the Danforth Campus.

The 33rd annual Brown School Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented in the Clark-Fox Forum of Hillman Hall. Six awardees were honored for their exceptional commitments to the fields of social work and public health.

Language. Though many of us take it for granted, it’s a vital and essential part of Native American cultural identity. To celebrate its importance, the theme of this year’s Pow Wow is “Honoring Our Language to Strengthen Our Future.” The 26th annual event, a celebration of American Indian cultures, will be held Saturday, April 9, in the Washington University Field House.

The Brown School’s Center for Social Development has launched a new initiative aimed at examining how racism and inequality affect quality of life in the U.S. The Collaboration on Race, Inequality, and Social Mobility in America will examine the impact of inequality and structural racism on people of color.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry this week said that the United States has determined ISIS’ actions against Yazidis and other minority groups in Iraq and Syria constitute genocide. The allegations of genocide by the United States government reinforce similar findings made last year by United Nations bodies and provide a clear path for ISIS leaders to be tried in international and domestic courts for their crimes, said Leila Sadat, an expert on crimes against humanity in the School of Law.

President Barack Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland, could make Senate Republicans think twice about stonewalling the nomination process, especially as the presidential election nears, said Greg Magarian, constitutional law expert at the School of Law.

The American health care system must do a better job of systematically detecting and treating mental health problems within outpatient primary care clinics, especially those that serve vulnerable populations, finds a study led by Darrell Hudson, assistant professor at the Brown School.