Assistant Professor Rachel VanSickle-Ward
Claremont, Calif. (February 27, 2013) — Pitzer College Assistant Professor Rachel VanSickle-Ward has co-founded the Southern California Law and Social Science Forum. The forum’s inaugural conference, Law at the Fault Lines, will be co-hosted by Pitzer College and Pomona College on Friday, March 1.
The Southern California Law and Social Science (SoCLASS) Forum brings together scholars from Southern California to share and discuss their research in American, comparative and international law with fellow scholars, students and community members. The forum will be held at a different Southern California academic institution each spring. VanSickle-Ward co-founded the forum with Amanda Hollis-Brusky, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College; Manoj Mate, assistant professor of law at Whittier College; and Diana Kapiszewski, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine.
“We realized that there were a number of socio-legal and law and policy scholars in the region doing incredibly interesting work,” VanSickle-Ward said. “We wanted a forum to bring these scholars in conversation with each other, and to share their work with the broader intellectual community.”
The Law at the Fault Lines conference will examine how the law informs, transcends and is shaped by “fault lines” between social and political groups, marginalized and privileged communities, and national identities. The conference will address how the law can bridge or exacerbate cleavages, as well as divide, strengthen or reconstitute coalitions. Robert A. Kagan, professor emeritus of political science and law of the University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the keynote address.
