Humanities & Society

What changes and trends could we see this year? WashU experts in areas from artificial intelligence to climate to fashion share their insights.

A proposed rule that would restrict minors’ access to public library books without parental consent “would make Missourians less free and less informed,” said Greg Magarian, a professor of law and a First Amendment expert.

A proposed federal commercial surveillance rule would be an important and overdue change in U.S. consumer protection, said Neil Richards, a privacy law expert at the Washington University School of Law.

Daniel Harawa, an associate professor of law and director of the School of Law’s Appellate Clinic, has been selected to receive the 2023 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award, given by the Association of American Law Schools’ Minority Law Teacher’s Section.

Washington University School of Law in St. Louis will offer full-tuition scholarships for admitted JD students whose family’s income is less than 200% of the federal poverty level, announced Russell K. Osgood, dean of the School of Law.

Leila Sadat, a law professor and founder of the Initiative on Gun Violence & Human Rights at Washington University in St. Louis, equates the U.S. government’s failure to prevent and reduce gun violence with violating children’s human rights. “America’s kids are not okay. As gun violence surges and politicians dither, school shootings are traumatizing a generation of youth,” Sadat wrote in a recent essay. “While only one manifestation of America’s gun violence crisis, school shootings are shocking in their ferocity, the senseless and random nature of the violence, and their impact upon millions of young, captive and vulnerable individuals.”

Public dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s rulings and its performance has been growing. New research by political scientist James Gibson in Arts & Sciences suggests the controversial Dobbs decision may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Kim Thuy Seelinger, research associate professor at the Brown School, participated in a United Nations General Assembly event, “Ensuring Accountability for Sexual Violence and Other Violations of International Humanitarian Law,” Sept. 21 in New York.

Economist Andrew Jordan in Arts & Sciences uses data analytics to uncover potential bias in the criminal justice system by studying the decisions made by courts, police and prosecutors.

Elizabeth Katz, associate professor of law at Washington University School of Law, has been selected as the 2021-2022 Haub Law Emerging Scholar in Gender & Law by Pace University for her paper “Sex, Suffrage, and State Constitutional Law: Women’s Legal Right to Hold Public Office.”