Friday 2/13/09, “Rutgers School of Law–Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law”
Recollections of the day:
This all-day symposium at Rutgers Law School-Newark on 2/13/09 became emotional and powerful. On all our minds was the health of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had planned to give the day's keynote address. Instead, she had gone a few days earlier to a New York hospital for emergency surgery. All of us who were planning to honor Justice Ginsburg in her presence were thinking about how best to honor her while she was recovering strength and health. With these thoughts in mind, the law school had prepared poster-sized get-well cards, on which dozens of us had been writing messages. Professor Wendy Webster Williams of Georgetown Law, whom Justice Ginsburg had asked to deliver her keynote, was planning to deliver the cards to Justice Ginsburg soon afterward in the hospital.
The morning's panelists were extraordinary -- witty, moving, and laugh-creating. Most were students or colleagues from the 1970s of then-Professor Ginsburg, back when she was a 30-something professor at Rutgers Law School-Newark and was just starting her major work as a teacher and litigator: to eliminate what she called "gender lines in the law." Her students and colleagues told remarkable stories, including some never told before.
But the 200 or so people who had gathered were spending the morning under a sort of pall, thinking of Justice Ginsburg in the hospital only a few days after cancer surgery. Then shortly before noon the law school's dean, Stuart Deutsch, was called out of the room. A few moments later, he returned and asked if he could speak as the first panel was ending. Here is what Dean Deutsch told everyone in the lecture hall:
This all-day symposium at Rutgers Law School-Newark on 2/13/09 became emotional and powerful. On all our minds was the health of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had planned to give the day's keynote address. Instead, she had gone a few days earlier to a New York hospital for emergency surgery. All of us who were planning to honor Justice Ginsburg in her presence were thinking about how best to honor her while she was recovering strength and health. With these thoughts in mind, the law school had prepared poster-sized get-well cards, on which dozens of us had been writing messages. Professor Wendy Webster Williams of Georgetown Law, whom Justice Ginsburg had asked to deliver her keynote, was planning to deliver the cards to Justice Ginsburg soon afterward in the hospital.
The morning's panelists were extraordinary -- witty, moving, and laugh-creating. Most were students or colleagues from the 1970s of then-Professor Ginsburg, back when she was a 30-something professor at Rutgers Law School-Newark and was just starting her major work as a teacher and litigator: to eliminate what she called "gender lines in the law." Her students and colleagues told remarkable stories, including some never told before.
But the 200 or so people who had gathered were spending the morning under a sort of pall, thinking of Justice Ginsburg in the hospital only a few days after cancer surgery. Then shortly before noon the law school's dean, Stuart Deutsch, was called out of the room. A few moments later, he returned and asked if he could speak as the first panel was ending. Here is what Dean Deutsch told everyone in the lecture hall:
"I was just called out of the room--and I'm sorry that I missed part of Esther's remarks [Professor Esther Canty-Barnes]--because a US marshal wanted to speak to me.
"And when I picked up the phone, Justice Ginsburg was on the phone. [In the room came sounds of aaawh in many voices, as if awe could be vocalized, and then applause followed.]
"She is actually at Teterboro Airport now. She has been released from the hospital, and is waiting for the plane to fly her back to Washington, DC, this afternoon. Her voice is very strong.
"She said she is feeling good enough that she tried to talk the marshals into driving her over to the conference so that she could say hello to everyone, and join us for a little while. Unfortunately, the marshals are not going along, and so she can't join us.
"She specifically asked me to tell Fred that: Your book is marvelous, and that she considers it a great book--that it is the most accurate telling of her story.
"And she also has faxed a speech that she gave here at Rutgers in 1995, that she asked me to use as part of the introduction to her keynote address later, after we have lunch. So not only will Wendy Webster Williams be channeling Justice Ginsburg. I will do my best to channel her as well. But it's wonderful. I expressed the delight that I know everyone here will feel, knowing that she is out of the hospital. She said that she expects to have a steady and slow recuperation, but that she is doing as well as she possibly could have hoped, at this time, after surgery.
"So if you haven't already signed her card, please sign it now, with a note about how delighted you are that she is out of the hospital. . . .
"But what a wonderful surprise, and what a nice thing for Justice Ginsburg to have done at this time."
"And when I picked up the phone, Justice Ginsburg was on the phone. [In the room came sounds of aaawh in many voices, as if awe could be vocalized, and then applause followed.]
"She is actually at Teterboro Airport now. She has been released from the hospital, and is waiting for the plane to fly her back to Washington, DC, this afternoon. Her voice is very strong.
"She said she is feeling good enough that she tried to talk the marshals into driving her over to the conference so that she could say hello to everyone, and join us for a little while. Unfortunately, the marshals are not going along, and so she can't join us.
"She specifically asked me to tell Fred that: Your book is marvelous, and that she considers it a great book--that it is the most accurate telling of her story.
"And she also has faxed a speech that she gave here at Rutgers in 1995, that she asked me to use as part of the introduction to her keynote address later, after we have lunch. So not only will Wendy Webster Williams be channeling Justice Ginsburg. I will do my best to channel her as well. But it's wonderful. I expressed the delight that I know everyone here will feel, knowing that she is out of the hospital. She said that she expects to have a steady and slow recuperation, but that she is doing as well as she possibly could have hoped, at this time, after surgery.
"So if you haven't already signed her card, please sign it now, with a note about how delighted you are that she is out of the hospital. . . .
"But what a wonderful surprise, and what a nice thing for Justice Ginsburg to have done at this time."
Those words from Dean Stuart Deutsch, relaying Justice Ginsburg's words and good news to the symposium, lifted the entire day. All our spirits rose.
Speakers continued, all day, to tell stories I believe had never before been told--most linked to Justice Ginsburg and a few to parts of Equal.
At the lunchtime talk, Wendy Webster Williams delivered Justice Ginsburg's keynote with verve and passion, and Wendy added rich detail based partly on the biography of Justice Ginsburg that she is now writing. Wendy also added another generous message about Equal, which Justice Ginsburg asked her to relay: "I had so wanted to be with you to celebrate Fred Strebeigh's magnificent achievement. His book contains far and away the most accurate account of my endeavors in the 1970s of any published work to date." [For full text of Justice Ginsburg's comments of 2/13/09, click here for the website of the Supreme Court.]
Multiple other talks by people who play important roles in Equal continue to resonate for me, including impressive presentations by Diane Serafin Blank, Sally Burns, Sally Goldfarb, Jan Goodman, Diana Guza-Wells, Catharine MacKinnon, Victoria Nourse, Susan Deller Ross, Lynn Hecht Schafran, and, speaking on a panel as well as in the keynote, Wendy Webster Williams. [For online video of all the day's talks, click here for the website of Rutgers Law.]
Even some of the day's hard parts had grand qualities. Bad weather and high winds had made travel almost impossible for some speakers. Catharine MacKinnon, for example, had fought her way through delayed flights, a sleepless night in an airport hoping a plane would carry her across the continent to Rutgers, and nearly 48 hours of low-sleep travel to deliver her two talks. She concluded with a "love letter to Ruth Bader Ginsburg," which argued (through detailed readings of Ginsburg's writings) that the "growth potential that the Equal Protection Clause has had is largely a credit to the genius of Ruth Bader Ginsburg." MacKinnon's reading of Ginsburg was dazzling for its rhetorical power and its deep esteem, and also for the evident fact that MacKinnon was rallying to deliver, while running on fumes, a talk that still blazed.
However memorable parts of the day may have been, its lift came just before noon with the phone call from Justice Ginsburg saying that she was traveling away from the hospital and back toward home and days of renewed strength.
Speakers continued, all day, to tell stories I believe had never before been told--most linked to Justice Ginsburg and a few to parts of Equal.
At the lunchtime talk, Wendy Webster Williams delivered Justice Ginsburg's keynote with verve and passion, and Wendy added rich detail based partly on the biography of Justice Ginsburg that she is now writing. Wendy also added another generous message about Equal, which Justice Ginsburg asked her to relay: "I had so wanted to be with you to celebrate Fred Strebeigh's magnificent achievement. His book contains far and away the most accurate account of my endeavors in the 1970s of any published work to date." [For full text of Justice Ginsburg's comments of 2/13/09, click here for the website of the Supreme Court.]
Multiple other talks by people who play important roles in Equal continue to resonate for me, including impressive presentations by Diane Serafin Blank, Sally Burns, Sally Goldfarb, Jan Goodman, Diana Guza-Wells, Catharine MacKinnon, Victoria Nourse, Susan Deller Ross, Lynn Hecht Schafran, and, speaking on a panel as well as in the keynote, Wendy Webster Williams. [For online video of all the day's talks, click here for the website of Rutgers Law.]
Even some of the day's hard parts had grand qualities. Bad weather and high winds had made travel almost impossible for some speakers. Catharine MacKinnon, for example, had fought her way through delayed flights, a sleepless night in an airport hoping a plane would carry her across the continent to Rutgers, and nearly 48 hours of low-sleep travel to deliver her two talks. She concluded with a "love letter to Ruth Bader Ginsburg," which argued (through detailed readings of Ginsburg's writings) that the "growth potential that the Equal Protection Clause has had is largely a credit to the genius of Ruth Bader Ginsburg." MacKinnon's reading of Ginsburg was dazzling for its rhetorical power and its deep esteem, and also for the evident fact that MacKinnon was rallying to deliver, while running on fumes, a talk that still blazed.
However memorable parts of the day may have been, its lift came just before noon with the phone call from Justice Ginsburg saying that she was traveling away from the hospital and back toward home and days of renewed strength.
What follows is early information, from the planning stages of the event:
Rutgers School of Law-Newark is holding an all-day symposium 2/13/09, “Rutgers School of Law–Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law.” Thanks to the work of Professor Suzanne Kim and to the continuing generosity of many people who already assisted generously when I was reporting the narratives that appear in Equal, Rutgers will be hosting about a dozen of the attorneys and judges whose path-making work is narrated in Equal. Because Ruth Bader Ginsburg was teaching at Rutgers Law when she began her work to eliminate what she called "gender lines in the law," Rutgers plays a pivotal role at numerous points in Equal, and this event is part of the centennial celebration of Rutgers School of Law–Newark.
Professor Wendy Webster Williams will deliver the keynote address prepared by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Law professors and other attorneys who played major roles in all parts of Equal will speak on multiple panels. I'm scheduled to give brief opening remarks. Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon, as well as speaking on a panel, will give closing remarks. This symposium provides a chance to hear stories from Equal as told by the attorneys and judges who were immersed in those stories and often made those stories happen. Thanks to the addition of panelists beyond those whom I interviewed for the book, I know that dramatic stories will emerge that I'll wish I had known when the book was in progress.
Registration is easy and open to all at the Rutgers website for the symposium
Rutgers is welcoming attendees at no charge. The only cost is $20 (due by check to Rutgers Law by 2/6/09) for those who wish to join the luncheon--to which all are invited--at which Justice Ginsburg speaks. For registration and full information, please click above or here for the Rutgers website for the symposium.
Information for journalists is on the Rutgers press release of 12/18/2008:
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Will Keynote February 13 Symposium on the Role of Women and Rutgers–Newark Law School in Reshaping American Law
Newark, NJ, December 18, 2008 – United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the keynote speaker for the symposium “Rutgers School of Law–Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law” on Friday, February 13, 2009. The all-day symposium, organized by Associate Professor Suzanne Kim, is one of a series of events celebrating the school’s Centennial and its enduring commitment to teaching, scholarship, service, and opportunity.
It was at Rutgers–Newark that Justice Ginsburg, who taught at the law school from 1963 to 1972, began to think about the issue of gender discrimination and to develop into a leading scholar and advocate for women’s rights. The contributions of Justice Ginsburg and other lawyers to addressing gender discrimination by the legal system and the profession are told in the new book Equal: Women Reshape American Law (Norton, February 2009). Opening remarks at the symposium will be delivered by the book’s author, Fred Strebeigh, a Yale University professor of non-fiction writing. He will discuss his research and the integral role of Rutgers School of Law–Newark in advancing gender equity for women.
The morning panel will focus on the pioneering contributions of women at the law school. Speakers will be: Diane Crothers, Esq. ’74, co-founder of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter and Deputy Commissioner for Citywide Equal Employment Opportunity, New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services; Janice Goodman, Esq., former director, Rutgers Women’s Rights Litigation Clinic; Diana Guza-Wells (Rigelman) ’72, J.D., M.D., who, as a Rutgers law student, was involved with Justice Ginsburg’s first gender discrimination work on behalf of Nora Simon; and Professor Emerita Annamay Sheppard ’58, faculty member in the Women’s Rights Litigation Clinic.
Two panels will follow Justice Ginsburg’s keynote luncheon address. In the first, women who feature prominently in Equal: Women Reshape American Law will discuss their successful litigation and legislative efforts in the areas of pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, and violence against women. Speakers will be: Professor Sarah E. Burns, New York University School of Law; Professor Sally F. Goldfarb, Rutgers School of Law–Camden; Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon, University of Michigan Law School; Professor Victoria Nourse, Emory University School of Law and University of Wisconsin Law School; Professor Susan Deller Ross, Georgetown University Law Center; and Professor Wendy Webster Williams, Georgetown University Law Center.
The second panel will focus on the history of women in the legal profession. Speakers will include: the Hon. Marilyn H. Loftus ’61 (Ret.), Appellate Division, New Jersey Superior Court, chair of the first judicial gender bias task force in the country; Diane Serafin Blank, Esq., the named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit challenging Sullivan and Cromwell’s hiring practices as discriminatory against women; Ann Berger Lesk ’77, a partner of Fried Frank and president of the New York County Lawyers’ Association; Professor Twila Perry, Rutgers School of Law–Newark; Lynn Hecht Schafran, Esq., senior vice president and director, National Judicial Education Program, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense Fund); and Associate Professor Diana Sclar, Rutgers School of Law–Newark.
Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon will deliver the closing remarks.
More information about the symposium, including how to register, will be announced in early January.
###
Rutgers School of Law-Newark
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
123 Washington Street • Newark, NJ 07102-3026
www.law.newark.rutgers.edu
Contact: Janet Donohue
Manager of Public Relations
[email protected]
t: 973-353-5553, f: 973-353-1717
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RLS-Newark – 51/08; version 12/18/2008; for a printable copy of the 12/18/08 press release, please click here, and for the 12/18/08 press release on the Rutgers website please click here.
Preliminary information at the website of Rutgers School of Law-Newark:
Information as of 12/19/2008 at <http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/news_and_events.html> reads:
Feb 13: "Rutgers School of Law-Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law," all-day symposium with keynote by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and opening remarks by Fred Strebeigh, author of Equal: Women Reshape American Law (Norton, 2009)."
Rutgers School of Law-Newark is holding an all-day symposium 2/13/09, “Rutgers School of Law–Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law.” Thanks to the work of Professor Suzanne Kim and to the continuing generosity of many people who already assisted generously when I was reporting the narratives that appear in Equal, Rutgers will be hosting about a dozen of the attorneys and judges whose path-making work is narrated in Equal. Because Ruth Bader Ginsburg was teaching at Rutgers Law when she began her work to eliminate what she called "gender lines in the law," Rutgers plays a pivotal role at numerous points in Equal, and this event is part of the centennial celebration of Rutgers School of Law–Newark.
Professor Wendy Webster Williams will deliver the keynote address prepared by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Law professors and other attorneys who played major roles in all parts of Equal will speak on multiple panels. I'm scheduled to give brief opening remarks. Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon, as well as speaking on a panel, will give closing remarks. This symposium provides a chance to hear stories from Equal as told by the attorneys and judges who were immersed in those stories and often made those stories happen. Thanks to the addition of panelists beyond those whom I interviewed for the book, I know that dramatic stories will emerge that I'll wish I had known when the book was in progress.
Registration is easy and open to all at the Rutgers website for the symposium
Rutgers is welcoming attendees at no charge. The only cost is $20 (due by check to Rutgers Law by 2/6/09) for those who wish to join the luncheon--to which all are invited--at which Justice Ginsburg speaks. For registration and full information, please click above or here for the Rutgers website for the symposium.
Information for journalists is on the Rutgers press release of 12/18/2008:
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Will Keynote February 13 Symposium on the Role of Women and Rutgers–Newark Law School in Reshaping American Law
Newark, NJ, December 18, 2008 – United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the keynote speaker for the symposium “Rutgers School of Law–Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law” on Friday, February 13, 2009. The all-day symposium, organized by Associate Professor Suzanne Kim, is one of a series of events celebrating the school’s Centennial and its enduring commitment to teaching, scholarship, service, and opportunity.
It was at Rutgers–Newark that Justice Ginsburg, who taught at the law school from 1963 to 1972, began to think about the issue of gender discrimination and to develop into a leading scholar and advocate for women’s rights. The contributions of Justice Ginsburg and other lawyers to addressing gender discrimination by the legal system and the profession are told in the new book Equal: Women Reshape American Law (Norton, February 2009). Opening remarks at the symposium will be delivered by the book’s author, Fred Strebeigh, a Yale University professor of non-fiction writing. He will discuss his research and the integral role of Rutgers School of Law–Newark in advancing gender equity for women.
The morning panel will focus on the pioneering contributions of women at the law school. Speakers will be: Diane Crothers, Esq. ’74, co-founder of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter and Deputy Commissioner for Citywide Equal Employment Opportunity, New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services; Janice Goodman, Esq., former director, Rutgers Women’s Rights Litigation Clinic; Diana Guza-Wells (Rigelman) ’72, J.D., M.D., who, as a Rutgers law student, was involved with Justice Ginsburg’s first gender discrimination work on behalf of Nora Simon; and Professor Emerita Annamay Sheppard ’58, faculty member in the Women’s Rights Litigation Clinic.
Two panels will follow Justice Ginsburg’s keynote luncheon address. In the first, women who feature prominently in Equal: Women Reshape American Law will discuss their successful litigation and legislative efforts in the areas of pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, and violence against women. Speakers will be: Professor Sarah E. Burns, New York University School of Law; Professor Sally F. Goldfarb, Rutgers School of Law–Camden; Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon, University of Michigan Law School; Professor Victoria Nourse, Emory University School of Law and University of Wisconsin Law School; Professor Susan Deller Ross, Georgetown University Law Center; and Professor Wendy Webster Williams, Georgetown University Law Center.
The second panel will focus on the history of women in the legal profession. Speakers will include: the Hon. Marilyn H. Loftus ’61 (Ret.), Appellate Division, New Jersey Superior Court, chair of the first judicial gender bias task force in the country; Diane Serafin Blank, Esq., the named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit challenging Sullivan and Cromwell’s hiring practices as discriminatory against women; Ann Berger Lesk ’77, a partner of Fried Frank and president of the New York County Lawyers’ Association; Professor Twila Perry, Rutgers School of Law–Newark; Lynn Hecht Schafran, Esq., senior vice president and director, National Judicial Education Program, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense Fund); and Associate Professor Diana Sclar, Rutgers School of Law–Newark.
Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon will deliver the closing remarks.
More information about the symposium, including how to register, will be announced in early January.
###
Rutgers School of Law-Newark
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
123 Washington Street • Newark, NJ 07102-3026
www.law.newark.rutgers.edu
Contact: Janet Donohue
Manager of Public Relations
[email protected]
t: 973-353-5553, f: 973-353-1717
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RLS-Newark – 51/08; version 12/18/2008; for a printable copy of the 12/18/08 press release, please click here, and for the 12/18/08 press release on the Rutgers website please click here.
Preliminary information at the website of Rutgers School of Law-Newark:
Information as of 12/19/2008 at <http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/news_and_events.html> reads:
Feb 13: "Rutgers School of Law-Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law," all-day symposium with keynote by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and opening remarks by Fred Strebeigh, author of Equal: Women Reshape American Law (Norton, 2009)."