The Law and Society Annual Lecture Series presents American scholar Laura Beth Nielsen, who will deliver a lecture titled, “Rights, Reinscription, and Racial Inequality” on Oct. 22, from 2:30 to 4 p.m., in room 701 South Ross Building.
Nielsen is a research professor at the American Bar Foundation, professor of sociology and the director of the Center for Legal Studies at Northwestern University.
She is the author or editor of five books, including License to Harass: Law, Hierarchy, and Offensive Public Speech (Princeton University Press, 2004). In this book, Nielsen studies racist and sexist street speech, targets’ reactions and responses to it, and attitudes about using law to deal with such speech. Another notable book is Rights on Trial: How Employment Discrimination Law Perpetuates Inequality (Chicago, 2017) examines the litigation system of employment civil rights in the United States.
In addition to her scholarly publications in the UCLA Law Review, Law and Society Review and Law and Social Inquiry, she has participated in Congressional briefings about federal hate crime legislation and the role of speech in hate crime. Coverage of her scholarship and her own commentary have appeared in the New York Times, Time Magazine, the LA Times, on FOX News, Morning Edition (NPR), ABC Radio, Al-Jazeera English, the Huffington Post, USA Today, and the Nation.
Nielsen has a PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from UC Berkeley, which she received in 1999 and her law degree, also from Berkeley, in 1996.
This special and very timely guest lecture is free and open to the community. No pre-registration is required.