School of Law

​Anti-abortion groups are well known for demonstrating and sidewalk counseling at women’s reproductive health facilities, but a Massachusetts statute criminalizes even peaceful expression on public sidewalks near these clinics. An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case will determine the constitutionality of Massachusetts’ selective exclusion law, which applies only to streets and sidewalks near reproductive health-care facilities. “If Massachusetts can close off the sidewalks surrounding reproductive health centers to peaceful expressive activity, then the government can prohibit expression in a wide range of circumstances,” says John Inazu, JD, First Amendment expert and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.​

Kent D. Syverud, JD, dean of Washington University’s School of Law and the Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor since 2006, has been selected as the 12th chancellor and president of Syracuse University. He will begin his tenure as chancellor Jan. 13.

No student arrives at Washington University planning to cheat. And yet, 15 to 40 academic integrity cases are adjudicated every semester. A new video produced by the Office of Student Conduct explores the university’s academic integrity policy and why such a policy matters.

Washington University faculty and administrators with ideas for improving the campus environment for women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and other diverse groups are encouraged to apply for a Diversity and Inclusion Grant. The deadline is Oct. 29. Professor Gerald Early (right) speaks at a discussion on the “Delmar Divide,” one of the winning Diversity and Inclusion Grant proposals last year.

The Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Work and Social Capital at Washington University School of Law is sponsoring the “Black Sexual Economies: Transforming Black Sexualities Research”conference Sept. 27-28 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

The Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University’s School of Law will host the International Law Weekend – Midwest Regional conference Sept. 19-21. The theme for this year’s conference is “The Legal Challenges of Globalization: A View from the Heartland” and the panels presented at this conference will address a broad range of topics, emphasizing the impact of international law and globalization on the Midwest.

A panel discussion, titled “Conversations on Gender and Blackness in the Age of Trayvon Martin,” will open WUSTL’s African and African-American Studies fall colloquium series at 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. WUSTL faculty will lead the discussion, which includes a coffee reception at 10 a.m.

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in the continuing series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars held biweekly on the Danforth Campus beginning Monday, Sept. 9, and running through Dec. 2. All lectures take place at noon in Seigle Hall, Room 348. The series begins with a lecture by Derek Neal, PhD, professor in economics at the University of Chicago titled “Designing Accountability Systems and Incentives Schemes for Educators.”

Rob Reich, PhD, associate professor of political science at Stanford University, has been named the 2013-14 Wells Fargo Advisors Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship by the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. An expert on political theory, he will make four visits to WUSTL over the course of the 2013-14 academic year.

Donald B. Verrilli Jr., the 46th solicitor general of the United States, will deliver the 2013–14 Tyrrell Williams Lecture at 4 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom (AB Hall, No. 310). He will speak on “The Solicitor General and Civil Rights Law: Historical Perspectives. Read more about Solicitor General Verrilli and RSVP for the event here.