YEAH!!! We are so excited that Prof. Meares is joining us...

May God bless and preserve her, in her descent into PC headquarters, Democratic Talking Point City. What a horrible place. Name a numskull, devastating legal or political trend of the last 100 years, it came from Yale.

Beyond the supercilious horror, they are unoriginal. They summer in Germany and France, bring back all the intellectual eurogarbage they can cram into their small luggage.

I hope her empiricism upgrades.

I tend to be conflicted when faced in modern times with Black firsts. On one hand, I of course am always gratified when a talented person of color receives what they've rightfully earned. On the other hand, I find it absurd that Yale is just now getting around to hiring a Black woman -- and part of me is offended even by the notion that Black folk should celebrate this kind of achievement.

Of course, as DuBois teaches us, being Black and America is to wrestle perpetually with discontinuity, so I suppose I should be used to this by now.

Huh?

YLS: I am curious if in your topnotch law education, you were told of the lawless origins of the supernatural doctrines on every page of every Hornbook? You are a victim of the indoctrination of a criminal cult enterprise. It is so good, you do not even know what I am talking about.

Were you told that every subject of the law is in utter failure even if measured by each subject's self-professed goals? Naturally, minorities suffer ghoulish and crushing consequences, more than anyone. However, the minority lawyer has far more loyalty to the cult than to their suffering people.

The sole success of the law? Lawyer criminal cult enterprise rent seeking.

You may verify this claim by any substantive act against the interest of the cult hierarchy. I don't mean asking stupid questions. I mean some act. You will be crushed. The lawyer is as oppressed as the public by these out of control treasonous criminals.

It is a bit interesting (I could replace that with frustrating, sad, or comepletely expected) that it has taken Yale almost a full decade longer than Harvard to integrate its faculty in this way -- although it has had a woman of color on the tenured faculty for a few years. It is interesting that as the so-called leader in the production of black faculty, that Yale never seemed to be able to identify a black woman from within to hire.

A question for those in the know is which law school is the leader in placing black graduates in academia? If the editors of this blog is any suggestion, it would seem that Harvard is far and away the leader of the pack. Any ideas about how this breaks down for black academics?

David C.,

Based purely on anecdotal evidence, I believe you are correct -- Harvard puts more black graduates into academia. That said, they start with a much larger pool than YLS. Harvard's BLSA has roughly 100 members vs. Yale's 60.

Your post raises a more intriguing question -- why can't Yale (by most accounts, the most successful producer of academics) generate more minority (especially black and latino) profs?

From my own experience as a Yale alum, I think that there is a real mentorship issue for prospective minority academics at Yale. The mentorship problem stems in part from the low numbers of black and Latino faculty at YLS -- when I was a student, there were three black men (most of whom were not available as mentors for a variety of reasons), two Asian men (one also was unavailable as a mentor b/c of govt service). Perhaps this is changing with the advent of Amy Chua, Richard Brooks, and now, Tracey Meares.

Relatedly, another problem was that minority students often sought mentors of color exclusively. That this should happen is not surprising, but at a school like YLS, it is problematic given the low numbers of minority faculty available (and willing) to mentor students. Minority students could (and should!) improve their opportunities for mentorship by seeking out mentors among the rest of the (non-minority faculty). Based again on anecdotal evidence, those minority Yalies who have successfully entered academia have relied on mentorship from non-minority professors.

I think YLS also needs to examine its own methods of identifying and nurturing would-be academics. My own academic aspirations were nurtured by a very generous YLS mentor, but I know other students you were not so lucky. One professor openly scoffed at a student who expressed academic aspirations. Others were discouraged because, unlike other classmates, they were not "anointed" early on by professors as likely academic prospects.

Finally, we should also consider the broader social context in which this question arises. Breaking into academia is not easy -- learning to walk the walk and talk the talk takes time. This is especially true for those of us who are first generation law school grads. It is not surprising that many successful legal academics are themselves the children of legal academics, or are 2d and 3d generation lawyers. These people have grown up hearing the talk and understanding how the game is played. Perhaps law schools like Yale and its peers could do more to address this structural issue as well.

YLS will be made better by Professor Meares.

There is something that intrigues me. It is 2006, and one of the top three most iconic law schools in the world finally embraces an African American female faculty member. Yet, YLS, one of our nation’s great resources, existing to serve ALL her people, has lost little influence as a result of its inability or unwillingness to do this until 2006, and has still managed to attract many of the very finest Black students in the world. One wonders what Otis Cochran thinks of his alma mater and those who allowed this wait to be so long.

Congratulations!

This seems obvious to me but I'll say it anyway.

From most of the postings you would think that Yale could have just gone out and grabbed a black woman off the street.

This is obviously not the case.

First, the canidate has to meet Yale's standards; second they have to have the skills and interests to fill the opening (if most recent faculty openings are in corporate/tax law, for instance, hiring a critical race theorist is not going to happen); third, they have to be willing to move to New Haven (or close by anyway); etc.

All that said Yale still might have overlooked outstanding black female law professors who have the required skills and are willing to move. My point is that most of the postings seem to lose sight of these factors.

I will pray for Tracey Meares' happiness and influence in YLS. Undoubtedly she is walking into an incredibly hostile environment against women of color.

Planet Mars,

Just wondering on what basis do you conclude that Prof. Meares is "undoubtedly . . . walking into an incredibly hostile environment against women of color"? What evidence from this conversation allows you to make that assertion?

I too would like to state something I think seems obvious. Professor Meares’ appointment is a very special achievement. I suspect most of us who chose to comment on matters peripheral to her achievement are nonetheless impressed by and proud of her achievement. We should also be impressed by and proud of the current leaders and faculty at YLS for getting this done—even if hiring its first African American female faculty member was not a factor in this decision. Meares certainly could have won a race and gender blind contest based on merit alone.

DM:

I was and I am aware of the factors you mentioned in your posts. I am also aware of other factors. Other top law schools deal with similar factors. Yet, I can think of none with the resources and prestige of YLS that chose or was forced by the paucity of sufficiently talented and interested Black female law professors to wait until 2006.

I believe YLS could have done this sooner—perhaps this reveals my respect for the vast resources this iconic institution, its supporters, and its alumni can bring to bare when they choose to. I believe YLS should have done this sooner—perhaps this exposes my ignorance with respect to how racially impartial and meritocratic the YLS faculty selection process has been or is. And, I think brave students like Otis Cochran have a way of pushing issues like this to the fore powerfully and all but forcing an institution to take action—perhaps here too I demonstrate ignorance with respect to the strength of the desire for at least one African American female faculty member or the level of influence of YLS students during the post-Cochran era.

huh?

I would be curious to know the salary. Is is a positive or negative integer?

Ed: The YLS people I know are Democratic Party hacks, damaged victims of indoctrination by the Party of the KKK. The Republicans I have heard of from there are real Momma's boys and dumbasses, the Bushes, soft on our enemies, hard on our people. Now, we will have Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton. Yale, the waking nightmare.

The place needs to be defunded, lose its tax exemption, and be shut down by troops. It is a horrible Hate America think tank for the development of Democratic Party talking points.

Name a national disgrace. HMO's. Judicial Realism. Structuralism. PC. Zimbabwe style eminent domain decision. All products of that treasonous horror.

It was formed after some Harvard profs felt Harvard was not pious enough. That holier than thou, slow talking, so even mental midgets like the public, can understand the lofty ideas, has remained ever since.

Listen to Hillary Clinton speak, YLS alumnus/a, e-v-e-r s-o c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y, ... a-n-d ... s-l-o-w-l-y ... f-o-r y-o-u-r w-e-l-f-a-r-e ... a-n-d f-o-r y-o-u-r ... b-e-n-e-f-i-t.

Tell me if she doesn't make you want to jump from the 5th floor window, to stop the pain.

YLS students learning by doing to betray our besieged nation:

http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=24296

YLS faculty learning a lesson in appellate advocacy, that they are not meant for it.

An 1L from a third tier school could have done a better job of convincing at least one person.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-1152.ZS.html

What an embarassment, at 8-0.

SJ:

I understand your ambivalence - it is absurd that Yale Law School has taken this long to tap into a vibrant network of African-American female scholars and this particular hiring decision should not be celebrated as an end to the absurdity. But if you look at the teaching awards Prof. Meares has already received, her scholarship and her reputation as a mentor, as a YLS student, I can't help but look forward to her first class here.

YLS has always said that their inability to hire a woman of color to the tenure track faculty has hinged on the fact that there are no women of color who meet its rigorous standards; or that those who do are unwilling to relocate to New Haven.

I agree that New Haven may be a tough sell over other locales (although the resources and prestige that attend a YLS appointment might make up for this somewhat), but the pipeline argument is, frankly, insulting. For the last 15 years there was not a single black or latino woman who met YLS's high standards? Angela Harris and Anita Allen, both of whom visited at Yale (Harris in 1998 and Allen in 2001) and both of whom are well-known in their respective fields, are substandard? Again, this sort of thinking is insulting.

Moreover, the pipeline argument raises a more compelling question: who sources the pipeline? Undoubtedly, as the most prolific producer of academic talent, YLS plays a large role in stocking the pipeline with talented people. If there are no talented minorities in the pipeline, maybe YLS should consider how (and with whom) it stocks its pipeline in the first place.

YLS Alum: Please, tell us more about the prestige of YLS. What prestige is that?

What makes a black woman special enough? Pardon any spelling mistakes:

Patricia Williams
Kimberle Crenshaw
Anita Allen
Lani Guinier
Angela Davis
Regina Austin
Adrien Wing
Dorothy Roberts
Linda Greene
Angela Harris
Peggy Smith
Dayna Matthew
Mechele Dickerson
Winnie Taylor
Taunya Banks
Imani Perry
e. christi cunningham
Marsha Echols
Michele Goodwin
Beverly Moran
Dorothy Brown
Hope Lewis
Angela Harris
Katheryn Russel-Brown
and many many many more...

Observer: Nice list of Hate America Commie termagants. Perfect for Yale. Hate America horrible people perfectly matched to a horrible place.

The town is also an one party, Democrat run, high crime, corrupt, low productivity, educational basket case, PC, diversity in action, uninhabitable, parasite dominated armpit, a laboratory of what would happen to the entire nation if the ideas of these women geniuses were to prevail. More sentence to a penal colony, than promotion.

Stay safe, out there, Hon.

Observer:

Your list of black female legal scholars--give or take a few--demonstrates that there have long been black women who actually write prolifically and place well that Yale could have chosen. Both the timing of its choice, and the specific candidate chosen, invites questions as well as congrulations.

The Yale mistake most relevant here is called Legal Realism. This is a thinly veiled, redistributionist masking ideology of lawyer rent seeking.

It came from Germany via a vector of a Yale law professor of great contract fame, an immigrant from Germany.

Germany had a hypertrophied, overly legalistic, civil code jurisprudence. A will was void because the signature was not the last writing, a date laying beside it. In reaction, the Free Law Movement sprang up. Values overtook the writing. The intent was to do justice around the sclerosed codes. The result was hideous and horrific.

We are still plagued by arbitrary, lawless, insurrectionist, unConstitutional jurisprudence, where Justices feel free to ignore the "writing" to promote their "values."

The Free Law Movement spawned a cousin to Legal Realism: the Nazi Judiciary. And this assertion is not an instance of Godwin's Law. This is Yale, Germany, and the plague of current jurisprudence.

In the Nazi judiciary, certainly, values ran roughshod over the writing, but big time. Germany has learned its painful lesson, and is back to its civil code methods.

Just as left wing extremist economic doctrines remain predominant only in the American academy, so does the Free Law Movement and Legal Realism prevail only here.

Why? It is lucrative in lucre and in power. This is a big problem for the public.

Thank Yale for serving as the vector of this legal euroinfection, still endemic afer almost 100 years.

Observer: I am troubled by the undifferentiated nature of your list, as if any black woman will do. Not so, and we do not (I hope) want people to think that way. There are surely a few people on your list would could easily be on the Yale Law faculty, but not the entire list. And any black, female scholar is not just as good as any other black, female scholar -- some are indeed better than others. Black folk have at least got to be honest about that. We are not simply inter-changeable, are we? Terry Smith's post rightly railed against that kind of thinking, at least in part.

I agree with Adam.

Congratulations Tracey!

Congratulations Tracey!

why is everyone leaving the university of chicago law school?

I find it quite pathetic that Yale didn't have at least one black female professor.

We need not buy into all this BS--which it is-- about "not being able to hire someone having their 'rigorous' standards, etc." It is just another way for these creeps to weed out the folks. It happens all the time. Same crap, different location. The same story is told by firms when they have no black associates, partners, etc. The same pathetic excuse.

I didn't attend Yale, but chances are white men control the selection/tenure process. When you can control the game, you are capable of changing the rules to get the results you desire.

CONGRATULATIONS TRACEY!!! WE'RE PROUD OF YOU, HERE AT HOME!!

Congratulations to her, and best of luck in the new digs!

Though I don't quarrel with the conclusion -- Yale needs to do better than this -- I think many of the YLS bashers who have commented are making the wrong argument. The argument, especially in the Black Man Esq post, seems to be that the absence of black female profs at Yale, given that there are many great black female profs generally, indicates that Yale favors white professors. This is a non sequitur. The number of great black female profs *relative* to great non-black-female profs is vanishingly small. Assuming for the moment that YLS is race-neutral, it would not at all be surprising that YLS would not end up with a black female professor under such constraints. The chances that one of the 50 (let's say) top professors (using traditional measures) at any given time is a black woman is already not especially large -- add to that the chance that such a person is ready, willing, and able to join the faculty at YLS (absent an affirmative effort by Yale to identify the person by race/gender) and the chances become quite small, especially given that women tend to be a bit less mobile on average.

The real argument, which has been implicit in some posts, is (and must be) that YLS should affirmatively seek out black female professors, since racial, gender, and racio-gender diversity has benefits in its own right (mainly to students). As a general supporter of such arguments as applied to elite academic settings, I have no problem with this justification, but let's be explicit about it. YLS's problem is not (in my view) that it is racist or discriminatory. Its problem is that too many of its voting faculty members have failed to appreciate the benefits of a diverse faculty and have, for that reason, inaccurately measured the benefit of a black female prof to the institution.

The University of Chicago was the first top 5 law school to hire a black female on its faculty. Guess who that black female was? Tracey Meares, in 1994.

Another YLS Alum,

I don't think that anyone was saying the YLS is/was racist and discriminatory. Nevertheless, because it is the #1 law school in the nation, it has a fair amount of drawing power, and could bring just about any academic it sought to its tenure track faculty (it lured Judith Resnik from sunny LA to not-so-sunny New Haven; ditto for Bob Post and Reva Siegel, who left Berkeley (!) to live in New Haven).

Over the years, the scholl has said that the reason there has been no black woman on the faculty is b/c there is no one who meets its rigorous standards. This raises questions about what sort of scholarship is valued at Yale, and why not one black woman (until now) has been able to produce at this level.

Another problem, which I alluded to in my prior post, but which has been discussed by other posters, is Yale's own agency in sourcing the pipeline for academic talent. Yale is widely acknowledged as the leading supplier of academic talent, yet produces a fraction of Black and Latino candidates going on the market. What does this say about the academic and mentoring culture at Yale?

Congratulations Tracey!!!!!
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