OPINION: Merit-based choosing should not be controversial; rather, it should be the rule.
It’s motivating to see how faculty challenge the accepted idea of identity politics.
On The Faculty Lounge, a website run by about a few law professors from different U.S. universities, there was one such occasion over the weekend during which two law professors exchanged. The “issue” was the number of adult speakers at the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel’s Fall 2025 Conference, hosted by the George Mason Law Review.
Bridget Crawford, a law professor at Pace University ( pictured left ), questioned why so few women were chosen to be the “leading scholars” in a post on Friday.
Only one ( 7.1 % ) of the 14 speakers is a woman and” shares a speaking slot,” according to Crawford, a regular contributor to the blog.
Additionally, she noted that only three women were members of the 12-member board at George Mason University in 2024, which was sponsored by the same organization.
Crawford insisted that” we can accomplish better,” while making the case that she herself, a part of the ACTEC, might have been one of the speakers.
Crawford did not clarify what “better” meant. Do a 50 % female population suffice? Or perhaps 75 % as a means of” correcting” existing injustices?
The girl professor did place the symposium’s organizer, George Mason law professor Thomas Gallanis, in the name of one individual.
Gallanis claims that she never reached out to him to inquire about the circumstances. And she made it impossible for him to answer by closing the comments area under her post.
Thus he wrote his own host article on the site on Sunday to defend his actions.
He wrote that” I made efforts to get a wide range of potential listeners, including people speakers, to submit summaries for these activities.” I tried to think of a wide range of possible listeners and email them to ask for an abstract in addition to posting calling for publications on AALS Section listservs.
He claimed Crawford, who is listed on the addresses where he sent the news, did not self-submit something. And just a select some other female academics succeeded.
” Not that it matters, but if my records are accurate, I accepted all three of the women professors ‘ abstracts for the 2024 event and all three of the women professors ‘ abstracts for the 2025 event, whichever comes first. Professor Crawford may have gotten these details if she had spoken with me, he wrote.
Gallanis made it clear that racial and gender factors influence decisions in some current legislation schools, writing:
” I’ve seen ( and heard ) that some hiring committees for law schools consider an individual applicant’s sex or race when deciding whether to invite them for an interview. To arrive at a list of interviewees that the committee deems to be properly diversified, these committees evaluate each applicant on the basis of a guarded characteristic. I’m not sure if Professor Crawford encourages the hiring council at her law school to do this, but from her blog post, I’d assume the response is equitable. This is, in my opinion, illegal.
His personal approach is based on merit.
According to Gallanis,” I evaluate each philosophical on its specific merit, not the author’s protected characteristics.” In order to curate a board or meeting with some or all of this or that guarded demographic, I did not put a finger on the size in favor of or against any individual based on their secured characteristics.
The issue is that Gallanis ‘ merit-based approach is well-known. It ought to be the accepted standard instead. In contrast, criticisms like Crawford’s are frequently taken for granted.
Their swap is yet another sign that, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling, a person’s sex or skin color also fare poorly in terms of academic value.
Less: University of Austin’s “merit-first admissions” policy debuts
Bridget Crawford, a professor of law at Pace University, and Thomas Gallanis, a professor of law at George Mason University, discuss image capturing and payment. George Mason University, and Peace University
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