James A. Gardner, vice dean for academic affairs at the UB Law School,
looked at the American election system days before what many experts
call one of the most important elections in recent history during a
public discussion held Oct. 30.
Gardner, who has been quoted
extensively by national and regional media, shared his experience
and research on voter fraud and crucial voting procedures. Do we still
have the ability to run a fair, democratic election? Did we ever?
Although
Gardner has warned against political propaganda exaggerating voter
fraud, he also has said election law and procedure still merit close
scrutiny. A recent Supreme Court decision upholding voter ID
requirements in Indiana provides legal support for the aggressive use
of anti-fraud measures, even though voter fraud was "essentially a
non-existent problem."
"This raises the specter, as it did
during the last election cycle," Gardner says, "of Republicans invoking
anti-fraud measures improperly to suppress legitimate voting, often by
the elderly, blacks, the poor and other groups that might have a
tendency to lean Democratic."
Professor James
Gardner is the Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad
Professor of Civil Justice, and Director of the Law School's Edwin F.
Jaeckle Center for State and Local Democracy. This was a public event, held in the Conference Center, 509 O'Brian Hall in UB's Law School.
Welcome to
UBLaw Conversations, a production of University at Buffalo Law School
and the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Today is October 23,
2008, and I'm James Milles, Professor of Law and Director of the Law
Library.
Our guest today is Professor Leo Lucassen. Professor
Lucassen holds the chair of Social History at Leiden University and is
attached to the Institute of Ethnic and Migration Studies (IMES) in
Amsterdam. He is a former fellow of the New School for Social Research
in New York and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS). He
is a specialist in the migration history of Europe and has also worked
extensively on gypsies and itinerant groups. His recent publications
include: Migration; Migration History; History: Old Paradigms and New Perspectives (1997, 1999, and 2005) (ed. with Jan Lucassen); Gypsies and other Itinerant Groups. A Socio-Historical Approach (1998), The Immigrant Threat: The Integration of Old and New Migrants in Western Europe since 1850 (2005); Paths of Integration. Migrants in Western Europe (1880-2004) (2006) (ed. with J Oltmer & D Feldman); and the forthcoming Migration in Europe: An Encyclopedia (2009) (ed. with K Bade, P Emmer & J Oltmer). He is interviewed here by Professor David Gerber, of the University at Buffalo Department of History.
Abstract: This paper compares the propensity to intermarry of various migrant
groups and their children who settled in Germany, France, England, Belgium,
and the Netherlands in the post-war period, using a wide range of available
statistical data. Professor Lucassen explains the different intermarriage patterns within
the framework of Alba and Nee’s assimilation theory and pays special
attention to the role of religion, colour and colonial background. He
then compares colonial with non-colonial migrants and within these categories
between groups with "European" (Christian/Jewish) and non-European
(Islam, Hinduism) religions.
Thank you for joining us today. The theme music is "Brazilian Nights" by Jack Jezzro, and is available through the Podsafe Music Network. Please join us again next time for another conversation from University at Buffalo Law School.
Our guest today is Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann. Professor Howard-Hassmann is Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights at Wilfrid Laurier University,
where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of Global Studies
and the Balsillie Schoool of International Affairs. She is the author
of numerous articles and books, including most recently The Age of Apology and Reparations to Africa. Her presentation, "Why the Jews, Why Not Us?": the African Social Movement for Reparations, is drawn from Chapter 4 of Reparations to Africa. Professor Howard-Hassmann is interviewed here by Professor Rebecca French, Director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, at the University at Buffalo Law School.
Our guest today is Nancy Staudt. Professor Staudt is Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law
at Northwestern University School of Law. Her paper, "Does the Court
Cycle?", co-authored with Lee Epstein and Thomas Brennan, is an
empirical study of the correlation between economic upswings and
downturns and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision-making in cases
relating to economic policy. Professor Staudt is interviewed here by Professor Errol Meidinger, of the University at Buffalo Law School. Thank you for joining us today. The theme music is "Brazilian Nights" by Jack Jezzro, and is available through the Podsafe Music Network. Please join us again next time for another conversation from University at Buffalo Law School.
Welcome
to UBLaw Conversations, a production of University at Buffalo Law
School and the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Today is August
27, 2008, and I'm James Milles, Professor of Law and Director of the
Law Library.Our
guest today is Hadar Aviram. Professor Aviram is Associate Professor at
UC Hastings College of the Law. Her research interests include
sociology of law, criminology and criminal justice, and social
movements. Her article, "How Law Thinks of Disobedience: Perceiving and
Addressing Desertion and Conscientious Objection in Israeli Military
Courts," appears in Law & Policy, Volume 30, Issue 3 (July 2008). Professor Aviram is interviewed here by Professor Colin Scott, Professor of EU Regulation and Governance at University College Dublin, and co-editor of Law and Policy. Abstract:
The study transcends the dichotomy "law in the books"/"law in action"
by taking law's knowledge-production mechanisms seriously. It examines
how the Israeli military justice system perceives and addresses
disobedience toward the mandatory military service duty by deserters
and conscientious objectors. Both groups resist the military service
ethos but differ in the offenders' demographics and motivations. The
findings show how law co-opts the socio-political problems, assimilates
them, and transforms them to narrow its framework. The legal system can
be cognitively open to external frameworks introduced by powerful and
resourceful defendants; it remains, however, normatively closed to
alternative rules and perspectives.
Thank you for joining us today. The theme music is "Brazilian Nights" by Jack Jezzro, and is available through the Podsafe Music Network. Please join us again next time for another conversation from University at Buffalo Law School.
Welcome
to UBLaw Conversations, a production of University at Buffalo Law
School and the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Today is July 3,
2008, and I'm Jim Milles, Professor of Law and Director of the Law
Library.Our guest today is Andrew Goldsmith. Andrew is Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. He teaches in the
law and criminal justice programs, including an honors topic on Crime and Public Policy.
His most recent book (coedited with James Sheptycki), is entitled, Crafting Transnational Policing: Police
Capacity-building andGlobal Policing Reform (2007, Oxford:
Hart). The conversation today is about his latest article, “The Governance of
Terror: Precautionary Logic and Counterterrorist Law Reform After September 11,”
Law & Policy 30: 141-167. Professor Goldsmith is interviewed here by Professor Nancy Reichman, Associate
Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Denver, and co-editor of Law and Policy.
The theme music is "Brazilian Nights" by Jack Jezzro, and is available through the Podsafe Music Network. Please join us again next time for another conversation from University at Buffalo Law School.
Welcome
to UBLaw Conversations, a production of University at Buffalo Law
School, The State University of New York. Today is March 21, 2008,
and I'm Jim Milles, Professor of Law and Director of the Law Library.
Our guests today are Isabel Marcus and Stephanie Phillips. Professor
Marcus' research interests have been in the area of family law,
domestic violence, and international women's human rights. Her current
research project is a comparative analysis of the implementation of
criminal code provisions regarding domestic violence in Eastern Europe
and the former Soviet Union. She has taught extensively in universities
in Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic) and
Asia (People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and Thailand).
Professor Marcus currently teaches family law, international human
rights law, and feminist theory. She is interviewed here by Professor Stephanie Philllips.
Thank you for joining us today. The theme music is Baja Taxi by Brain Buckit, and is available through the Podsafe Music Network. Please join us again next time for another conversation from University at Buffalo Law School.
Welcome to UBLaw
Conversations, a production of University at Buffalo Law School, The
State University of New York. Today is February 16, 2008, and I'm Jim
Milles, Professor of Law and Director of the Law Library.
Our guests today are
Samina Raja and Lauren Breen. Samina Raja is Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning in
the UB School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Clinical Professor
Lauren Breen is Director of the UB Law School Community Economic
Development Clinic. They will be discussing Professor Raja's paper, "Racial Disparities in Food Access: Lessons from Erie County, NY."
The
metaphor "food deserts," used to describe neighborhoods with few
supermarkets, has captured both public and academic attention in
recent years. Planning solutions designed to alleviate food insecurity
and promote food justice may be misguided without a nuanced
understanding of disparities in food environments. Professor Raja
empirically examines racial disparities in food environments. She
investigates how food access in neighborhoods of color differs from
those in other neighborhoods, using Erie County, New York as a case
study. Professor Raja tests the hypothesis that access to different
types of food retail destinations, located within a five minute travel
time, in predominantly black and mixed-race neighborhoods differs from
that in predominantly white neighborhoods, while controlling for other
factors such as income, population, and area. Raja finds an absence of
supermarkets in neighborhoods of color when compared to white
neighborhoods. However, the study reveals an extensive network of small
grocery stores in neighborhoods of color. Professor Raja's research
suggests that supporting small, high quality grocery stores, rather
than soliciting large supermarkets, may be a more effective strategy
for ensuring access to healthful foods in neighborhoods of color.
Trained
as a civil engineer and an urban planner, Professor Samina Raja's
research, teaching, and community engagement focuses on planning and
designing communities that promote food justice, and facilitate healthy
living for all residents. Her recent projects have examined racial
disparities in food environments and their implication on health
outcomes. Professor Raja works with local community groups to design,
implement, and evaluate strategies to strengthen Buffalo's community
food system. Her research is funded by the National Institute of Health
and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Welcome to UBLaw
Conversations, a production of University at Buffalo Law School, The
State University of New York. Today is February 11, 2008, and I'm Jim
Milles, Professor of Law and Director of the Law Library.
Our guests today are Joshua Dyck and Jim Gardner. Joshua Dyck is Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo Department of Political Science. Jim Gardner is Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Joseph
W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad Professor of Civil Justice at the
University at Buffalo Law School, and director of the Edwin F. Jaeckle Center for Law and Democracy. They will be discussing Professor Dyck's paper, "Who is Mobilized by Direct
Democracy?"
Abstract: A
number of recent studies find that direct democracy increases voter
turnout. Whom does direct democracy mobilize to vote? From one
perspective, voters mobilized by ballot initiative campaigns may
reflect the partisan tenor of many ballot initiative elections.
Alternatively, ballot initiatives might allow disaffected voters to
fully express their policy preferences. Using a unique research design
that incorporates neighborhood contextual variables with the California
registered voter list, Professor Dyck examines the strong partisan
effects that social context exerts on participation in ballot
initiative elections. Additionally, he clarifies the way citizens are
educated by initiatives. The findings demonstrate how partisan context
mitigates the potential for direct democracy to mobilize from the
middle.
The theme music is Baja Taxi by Brain Buckit, and is available through the Podsafe Music Network. Please join us again next time for another conversation from University at Buffalo Law School.
Our guests today are Nancy Reichman and Joseph Sanders. Nancy Reichman is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at University of Denver, and co-editor of the journal Law & Policy. Joseph Sanders is A.A. White Professor
of Law at the University of Houston. He holds a
J.D. and Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University. Professor Sanders teaches
torts, products liability,
law and society, and scientific evidence. His scholarly interests include
research on
juries, the attribution of responsibility, mass torts, and scientific
evidence. He is
currently visiting professor at Florida State University College of
Law. They will be discussing Professor Sanders' article, “A Norms Approach to Jury ‘Nullification:’ Interests,
Values, and Scripts,” forthcoming in Volume 20, Issue 1 of Law & Policy 30(1):
12-45.
Thank you for joining us today. The theme music is Baja Taxi by Brain Buckit, and is available through the Podsafe Music Network. Please join us again next time for another conversation from University at Buffalo Law School.
Our guest today is 
