El poder de los títulos en la academia jurídica
En esta época donde los abogados surgen -dependiendo del cristal desde donde se los mire- como "defensores" o "mercenarios" de la democracia, les recomendamos la lectura del siguiente post de Kevin Jon Heller quién se desempeña como profesor de Derecho Internacional y Seguridad de la Universidad de Copenhagen y en la Australian National University.
"My first academic position, now 15 long years ago, was at the University of Georgia. I was one of two Assistant Professors hired that year; the other was Erica Hashimoto, who is now a Professor at Georgetown. We were about the same age, quickly became close friends, and taught similar courses — Prof. Hashimoto, criminal law; me, evidence. Yet our experience with students couldn’t have been more different. I was automatically referred to as “Professor Heller,” despite my friendliness with students and categorical refusal to wear anything more formal than khakis and a button-down shirt. I even had to convince my own research assistant to call me Kevin — and I’m pretty sure she never really got used to it. I knew students gossiped about my personal life, and there was a flattering rumour going around that I was gay. (“Because you’re really clean, came here from L.A., and are so openly pro-woman in class,” my RA explained — which says more about men in the South, I think, than about me.) But no student was ever openly disrespectful to me. Not one.
Prof. Hashimoto’s experience was, shall we say… not the same. Despite not being informal with students and always wearing a suit to work, she was routinely referred to by male students — directly and to me — as “Erica.” Men used to ogle her openly, and at least one asked her out. A few male students even gossiped to me about her private life, requiring a mini-lecture on respect. I was genuinely shocked by how Prof. Hashimoto was treated by students (a minority of them, to be sure), and I’m not easy to shock about such things.
I shouldn’t have been shocked, of course. The explanation was obvious: white male; Asian woman. Therein lay the (sole) difference.
This self-indulgent personal reflection is by way of recommending to readers a very important short article by Drexel’s Rachel E. Lopez, “Unentitled: The Power of Designation in the Legal Academy.” Here is the abstract: (...)
El artículo ha sido publicado originalmente en el Blog Opinio Juris en 10 de junio del 2021.
Puedes revisar el artículo completo en el siguiente enlace:
http://opiniojuris.org/2021/06/10/the-power-of-titles-in-the-legal-academy/