African Americans long ago coined a term for the supposed offense for which they are stopped in disproportionate numbers by police: DWB, or Driving While Black.
On January 27 in Flynn Auditorium, the implications of the heightened security following 9-11 on police profiling were discussed by a panel that included Chris Slobogin, who holds Vanderbilt’s Milton Underwood Chair in Law; ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Reggie Shuford; and David Singleton, Executive Director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center. Panel members presented their experiences litigating profiling cases and answered questions about the conflict between security concerns and individual rights posed by Tarik Downie, president of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), which sponsored the discussion, and by audience members.
Most Hyatt events occur at noon, and some lure audience members by serving lunch. Although the BLSA-organized panel discussion, "Profiling, Policy and Police Conduct in Post-9/11 Society,” was scheduled at 6 p.m., it attracted a large audience.
BLSA’s profiling panel was one of nine events during the 2010-11 academic year funded in part or entirely by the Hyatt Student Activities Fund, created by Wayne Hyatt (JD’68, BA’65), and his late wife, Amanda Hyatt (MA’74, BA’67), to enable student organizations to bring high-profile speakers of their choosing to campus. Students apply for funding for events they wish to organize to Student Affairs Dean Julie Sandine, who administers the fund.
“The Hyatt Fund has been an invaluable resource for our student organizations, enabling them to bring in well-respected experts from all over the country as speakers and enrich the intellectual life of the law school,” Sandine says. “The Fund also fosters collaboration among our student organizations as they work together to plan and implement these programs. For example, OUTLaw and the Law Students for Veterans Affairs worked together to bring Emily Hecht to discuss the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Our Women Law Students Association, Black Law Students Association, and the Law Students for Social Justice worked with the Provost’s Office, the Bishop Johnson Black Cultural Center, the sociology department, the Undergraduate Speakers Committee and Trevecca Nazarene University to make the “Picking Cotton” program possible.”
C.J. Stimson, who will graduate from Vanderbilt with both J.D. and M.D. degrees in 2010, started working with other members of the Health Law Society to bring William Corr ’73, Deputy Secretary at the Department of Health & Human Services, to the law school soon after Corr’s appointment was confirmed in fall 2008. Corr will speak at the law school on March 25, thanks in part to the Hyatt Fund. “We’re excited this came together,” Stimson says. “The Hyatt Fund has a big impact on the quality of the speakers student groups can bring in.”
In addition to Corr’s talk, upcoming spring Hyatt events include a talk on executive power during wartime by former Bush legal advisor John Yoo presented by the Federalist Society and a panel discussion of Title IX Reform on March 23.
“The Title IX panel is a good example of how our student organizations work with other organizations on campus,” Sandine says. “It was organized by the Women Law Students Association and the Entertainment and Sports Law Society with support from the Hyatt Fund and from Vanderbilt’s Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center.” Panelists will include former Senator Birch Bayh, drafter of the Title IX bill, and Vice Chancellor David Williams, sports law professor at Vanderbilt, and the discussion will focus on whether regulations created to enforce Title IX compliance, such as the proportionality requirements, are in need of reform.
Hyatt events during Fall 2010 included:
- Emily Hecht, co-director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, who discussed the current status and potential repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” in a talk cosponsored by the Law Students for Veteran Affairs and OUTLaw.
- The Death Penalty, an Oxford-style debate featuring Dr. Ken Hass of the University of Delaware and Joshua Marquis, District Attorney for Clatsop County, Oregon, presented by the Law Students for Social Justice. Andrew Cunningham, Class of 2010, proposed this program, which more than 200 people attended.
- “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption,” a presentation by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton about Cotton’s wrongful accusation and incarceration for the rape of Thompson-Cannino, presented by the Women Law Students Association (WLSA), BLSA and Law Students for Social Justice.
- “Justice for All: An Introduction to Animal Law,” a talk by Jonathan Lovvorn, Chief Counsel for Animal Protection Litigation and Research for the Humane Society of the United States, presented by the Animal Law Society.
- “Freedom from Religion: National Religious Policy, Extremism, and the War on Terror: A Comparative Perspective,” a lecture by Amos Guiora, professor of law at the University of Utah, sponsored by the International Law Society.