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Al,
AALS's Associate Director, Prof. Linda Jellum, has made some improvements to the visiting register of late including sending those of us on the list a query as to whether we'd taken a position.
As you know, I'm visiting in Ireland this year. Since I leased my Denver house out for two years, I decided to add my name to the visiting register and see if a school needs a Torts or Contracts professor, particularly for evening students. (I'd never count on getting a Legal History class.) This might presage an effort on my part to go back to California, where my parents live and where my son is now a freshman. ;-)
Tom Russell
AALS Visiting Faculty Register and Lateral Movement
I'm heard some discussion of late that one way to explore a lateral move is to sign up with the AALS Visiting Faculty Register. This register lists experienced faculty members interested in visiting for a semester or two in the next academic year. Associate deans and hiring chairs often check...
I love the "No Contracts" signs that some cell phone dealers have above their stores. Those signs, plus a heavy dose of Stewart Macaulay, should cause us all to be more than a bit skeptical about how and why we emphasize contracts as we do.
Subversion At The Margin
After teaching Contracts for nearly 15 years I've gradually come more to question the extent of its place in contemporary American life. Regardless of our theoretical justification for contract law--vindication of personal autonomy or increasing net social welfare--the increasing depth of penetr...
No need to speculate, there's a good way to research this issue. Britain has criminalized some workplace injuries. What has the impact been there?
And, let's not be naive and think that (mere) civil liability causes tortfeasors to swing their doors and files open to investigators of any type.
Does the Criminalization of Tort Inhibit Safety Investigation?
Thank you, Dan, for the kind words and giving me the chance to join you here. With the recent news that BP has agreed to plead guilty to 14 criminal counts, including manslaughter, and pay to DOJ more than $4 billion to resolve all criminal charges stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowou...
This is the first that I have heard of a "personality" theory of property. I'd like to say, though, that when I teach about the history of the South, I feel that I spend a lot of time teaching against Gone with the Wind. Among the things to teach against is the myth that southerners were as extreme in their attachment to the soil as depicted in the movie. Southern plantation owners, in particular, used up the soil and then moved themselves west in search of other lands. There are good studies of this, none of which I can site because I'm in Ireland getting ready to visit, of all places, the Hill of Tara--the site where ancient Kings of Ireland did something or other.
Scarlett, Tara, and the Personality Theory of Property
Like Al, I also watched several hours of “Gone With The Wind” on Thanksgiving Eve (don't judge - there was a marathon!). GWTW has fascinated me for as long as I can remember, but this time, I was most struck by Scarlett's pitch perfect demonstration of the personality theory of property. This ...
Al,
I've been meaning to let you know about a terrifically interesting monument I saw in Belfast just a few weeks ago. As you know, I'm visiting in Ireland this year. I had visited the Titanic Museum, which is very interesting but I felt that it paid insufficient attention to negligence and, more importantly, to those who lost their lives.
As part of the Belfast Festival, a Brazilian artist named Nele Azevedo produced what she calls a "minimum monument." Members of the public, including my family and I, helped her install 1,517 little ice sculptures of sitting figures on the steps of the Custom house. (See the linked BBC story below.) The figures all sat together on the steps and then melted away, leaning into each other and making a little bit of noise as they disappeared.
This was remarkably powerful and interesting. Azevedo's minimum monument made me feel better about Belfast its history of Titanic.
For the BBC story, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20020498 I also have a picture up on my FB page.
Tom Russell
A Monument that Incorporates by Reference ....
I was just sitting here coding some of my Sussex County records and thought I'd take a break and look at some pictures from my trip to Sussex County's courthouse. And I realized that the Confederate monument incorporates by reference the names of the soldiers from Sussex County who fought for...
My 17-year-old son has recently started watching Deadwood on HBOGo. I made sure to warn him that there's a lot of gambling depicted in that show. ;-)
Expletives, Nudity and Violence
After watching the “Hunger Games,” I was reminded how society can get things backwards when worrying about harms to children. Despite the graphic scenes of teenagers slaughtering each other, the movie has a PG-13 rating. In contrast, movies are supposed to receive an R rating if they include se...
Ruth Simmons was a great president. LIstening to her speak about Brown and slavery made me want to have a president like her.
Economist Christina Paxson Named President Of Brown
Christina Hull Paxson, a Swarthmore and Columbia grad, will take over as the new president of Brown University on July 1. She replaces Ruth Simmons, who has served in that role since 2001. Paxson, an economics professor at Princeton, is currently dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public a...
Admire your contraction of that and are.
I don't think I have ever seen that done.
Southern Constitutional Thought Trivia
I'm spending a lot of time these days dealing with southern constitutional thought before the Civil War. Never ceases to surprise me how much one can bend constitutional interpretation to suit a particular viewpoint -- especially if it's done consistently and by a bunch of people over the cours...
The Regents mus still act, but I believe that they will decide that they should stop honoring the Klansman Simkins.
It's interesting, Al, that you say this happened quickly. For a historian, this was quick. For my friends in the public relations business, UT took an eternity to act.
Anyone interested in more of the media and blog coverage of this issue should see http://simkins.houseofrussell.com
And please contact me with your thoughts about the issue if you choose not to comment here.
Tom Russell
Simkins Dormitory to be Renamed
Well, this was a fast resolution to the controversy surrounding the Simkins dormitory on the UT Austin campus. It was just at the end of March that Tom Russell's paper on Simkins began circulating. UT's president William Powers announced today that he will recommend to the trustees that the do...
Al,
Warren Emerson was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to comment on his blog about this issue, but the flood of media has kept me from my Contracts exams and I am down to the wire with those. So, I have not yet taken time to comment on that blog.
Let me say briefly, though, if UT stops honoring Prof. Simkins by taking his name off the dormitory, plenty of opportunities to discuss race, history, and law will remain on UT's campus. For starters, a portrait of Simkins hangs in the law library; I'm fine with that. There is Painter Hall and the Sweatt Campus. There's a statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee and Pres. Jefferson Davis; buildings named after confederate soldiers; the Darrell Royal stadium, and a host of other monuments, none of which I think should be removed or renamed.
On the flip side, there's also no reason to believe that The University of Texas would in fact turn Simkins Hall into the history lesson that it might be. The history of the university's administration suggests the opposite.
Finally, I do not believe that those who are harmed or insulted by Simkins's undeserved honor in having his name on the building should have to continue to experience insult or injury in order to provide a possible history lesson to whomever is subjected to a plaque, lecture, or website post. I'm looking for the right metaphor to describe this--something along the lines of "We won't set your broken arm because it's a good teaching opportunity."
I look forward to continuing our disagreement about this matter. Those who would like to read more about the controversy may wish to consult http://simkins.houseofrussell.com
Cheers,
Tom Russell
trussell@law.du.edu
Simkins Dormitory installment 4
Over at theliterarytable, Warren Emerson is talking about the Simkins dormitory (earlier coverage here , here, and here). Warren argues against renaming, among other reasons, because the name reflects the history of the University and a particular moment in time. He's concerned that in removi...
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