LSRJ Staff (L to R):  Jill Adams, Mariko Miki, Shanelle Morgan, Sabrina Andrus, Liz Kukura.

Hello, Shanelle...

In September, we welcomed Shanelle Morgan, Development and Administrative Associate, to the national office.  Prior to that, Shanelle worked as a freelance journalist, contributing to nonprofit media such as Women's eNews and The Women's Media Center. Shanelle earned her degree in New & Online Media from the Manship School of Mass Communications at Louisiana State University where she served as president of the Conscious Black Society and National Organization for Women, VP of both Women Organizing Women and Voices for Planned Parenthood, and an op-ed columnist for the school newspaper. Upon graduation, Shanelle was recognized as one of 225 Magazine's Top People to Watch, selected as the Showtime Legend for LSU's chapter of the NAACP, and given "The Voice" award from LSU's chapter of Association of Black Communicators. In 2007, Shanelle was also recognized by CNN for her mobilization efforts during the Jena 6 trials in Jena, Louisiana.

We are thrilled to have Shanelle in the LSRJ family.  She has already strengthened, enriched, and invigorated the office with her flair, fortitude, and manifold faculites!

Farewell, Liz... 

It is impossible to imagine the past year at LSRJ without the competence, creativity, cleverness, conquests, and countless contributions of Liz Kukura, Legal Fellow.  She completed a multi-year survey of all ABA-approved law schools and their course offerings, analyzing the results and compiling them into a groundbreaking report.  (Read below).  She guided 12 LSRJ chapters campaigning for new courses in Reproductive Rights Law & Justice and supported Regional Coordinators from coast to coast.  Liz brought her intellectual talents to bear on LSRJ's educational resources, including 26 fact sheets, and the forthcoming Reproductive Rights & Justice Legal Reader.  She has represented LSRJ at various coalition meetings and conferences and visited chapters on campuses throughout the Northeast and Midwest.  As a blogger, Liz has enlightened readers of RepoRepro and RH Reality Check.  Through it all, Liz has continuously demonstrated her passion for justice, commitment to the movement, and fierce academic prowess.  Finally, as a member of this small but mighty team, she increased our collective productivity and pride. 

We will miss Liz dearly, but we know she will stay close as an active and devoted LSRJ alumna.             

In a recently released study, LSRJ has found that fewer than one-fifth of ABA-approved law schools offered a reproductive rights law & justice course over the last seven years--just 37 separate courses and instructor-led reading groups at 32 different schools. 

 

The study offers a mix of troubling and reassuring news for those who believe that reproductive rights and justice have an important place within mainstream legal education.  In addition to the fact that the vast majority of law schools still lack a reproductive rights law course, nearly half of existing courses have only been offered once. 

 

At the same time, the study suggests that law schools may slowly be heeding the call for more repro-related course offerings:  41% of all courses were first introduced during the last two years, and more than one-third of known classes have resulted from advocacy by LSRJ chapters.

 

LSRJ continues to support student-led campaigns for new courses through the Course Campaign Working Group, whose members are poised to make 2010-11 the most successful year of new course victories yet!

 

For more about the importance of training and the great work LSRJ members are doing, check out Defending Your Rights? Study Finds Few Law Schools Offer Training in Reproductive Justice on RH Reality Check.  Please also visit RepoRepro for LSRJ Legal Fellow Liz Kukura's take on the course survey results.

A big thanks to our wonderful fall semester interns, Jeryl Hayes (Washington University '11) and Sarah Gosling (UC Hastings '12), who will both be continuing their work with the National Office during the spring of 2011. Jeryl will continue to lead the Reaching and Recruiting Law Students of Color (RRLSOC) Initiative, and Sarah will help develop a new Easy-Event-in-an-Envelope teaching module based on the book, Before Roe v. Wade by Linda Greenhouse and Reva Siegel.

It's not too late to get involved! If you are interested in interning for LSRJ's National Office during the upcoming spring semester, please email Mariko@LSRJ.org. 

The Emory University School of Law LSRJ chapter in Atlanta, Georgia, led by Co-Chairs Ruth Dawson and  Shivana Jorawar, has hit its stride after winning a hard-fought battle to gain official recognition on their campus.  

 

After being denied a charter, the chapter's founding members decided not to back down. Instead, they used this hurdle as an opportunity to voice, as Ruth says "that reproductive justice is not just a women's issue, it is not just a public interest issue, and it is certainty not a partisan issue. Reproductive justice operates at the intersection of various issues and identities, and thus merits its own space and recognition." 

 

By presenting personal testimonies, a petition with over 130 signatures, and letters of support, they gained close to unanimous SBA support for their charter and funding.

 

Since its inception, Emory LSRJ held a two-day satellite of the Clothesline Project, a display of t-shirts made by survivors of sexual, domestic and gender based violence. They also have a bi-monthly new zine that highlights the "inspiring, the frustrating, and the downright outrageous" happenings in the reproductive justice world. They even managed to receive the second highest registration rate for LSRJ's Webinar Wednesdays. Ruth says, "I have been continuously impressed by and proud of our industrious board members, passionate general membership, and supportive faculty and staff."

 

In the works are numerous events around topics such as comprehensive sex-education, parenting, and birthing. They also plan to work with grassroots groups such as SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and the Harriet Tubman Free Women's Clinic, which provides reproductive health care for homeless women in Atlanta.

 

In helping to found this chapter, Ruth says she was able to find the "vibrant activist atmosphere" she had enjoyed so much in her undergraduate years and found lacking in law school.  She says, "LSRJ is a strong support and affirmation that what I have decided to do with my life is not only worthy, but extremely important."  Similarly, Shivana says "I ached for a feminist space on campus where I could bond and get support from like-minded women."  Shivana adds, "LSRJ gives me the opportunity to share my opinions and experiences with people who will soon be legal professionals shaping the law."

 

 Congratulations Emory LSRJ!  We look forward to  the  amazing work you will provide in support of the larger reproductive justice movement!