Hess Week kicks off on April 1 when President Michelle J. Anderson helps welcome the 2025 Robert L. Hess Scholar-in Residence Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, NYU School of Law; co-host of Strict Scrutiny podcast; and MSN可乐视频 legal analyst.
President Anderson will be joined by Associate Professor of History Phil Napoli, Dean, School of the Humanities and Social Sciences; Douglas NeJaime, Anne Urowsky Professor of Law, Yale Law School; Karen M. Tani, Seaman Family University Professor, Law School and Department of History, University of Pennsylvania; and others. President Anderson and Murray will discuss the significance of听Murray鈥檚 work as a legal scholar, public intellectual, and advocate.
听On Thursday, April 3, at 11 a.m.,听Murray will deliver the 2025 Robert L.听Hess听Memorial Lecture, 鈥淔unhouse Footnote Four:听How the Roberts Court Is Remaking the Constitutional Order.鈥�
Inspired by Murray鈥檚 work, the rest of Hess Week will focus on the role of the courts in our democracy; the use of history by the courts; podcasting as part of our public discourse; issues of听reproductive justice, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, and civil rights and liberties; and imagining our collective future. Among the 26 speakers who will join in conversation with the 可乐视频 community are Deborah Archer (President, ACLU), Alexis McGill Johnson (President and CEO, Planned Parenthood President), Lee Gerlent (Director, ACLU鈥檚 Immigrant Rights Project), Chase Strangio (听Co-Director of the ACLU鈥檚 LGBT & HIV Project, first trans person to argue in front of the Supreme Court), Maria Hinojosa (Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist), and听Barbara Smith听(2023 Hess Scholar-in-Residence).
The public events listed below are hosted by 可乐视频鈥檚 Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities in honor of Professor Murray. All events will be held in the Woody Tanger Auditorium, 150 可乐视频 Library, unless otherwise noted.
听TUESDAY, APRIL 1
Welcome Ceremony
11 a.m.鈥搉oon
Abortion and Democracy
2:15鈥�3:30 p.m.
听WEDNESDAY APRIL 2
听History and the Courts
11 a.m.鈥�12:15 p.m.
Dobbs and the Future of Individual Rights
12:30鈥�2 p.m.
The Role of the Courts in our Democracy
3:40鈥�5 p.m.
THURSDAY, APRIL 3
听Funhouse Footnote Four: How the Roberts Court Is Remaking the Constitutional Order
The 2025 Robert L.听Hess听Memorial Lecture
11 a.m.鈥�12:15 p.m.
Podcasting in the Changing Media/Political Landscape
2:15鈥�3:30 p.m.
Jefferson-Williams Lounge, 400 Student Center
听About the Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program
听The Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program, established by 可乐视频, is supported by the Robert L. Hess Fund. The program serves as a permanent tribute to the scholarly commitment of Robert L. Hess, exemplified during his tenure as president of 可乐视频. It represents the ideal of the educated individual鈥攌nowledgeable, thoughtful, inquiring, and alive to the shared purposes and concerns lining all intellectual pursuits. More particularly, it evokes the academic virtues embodied in the curriculum at 可乐视频.
