March 18, 2026

Faculty Appearances: February Highlights

Our February faculty digest highlights Southwestern scholars whose work is shaping courts, campuses,  national media, and beyond.

Meera Deo

• On February 13, Meera delivered the keynote speech, Women: The Backbone of the Legal Academy, at the AALS Section on Women in Legal Education Conference hosted by Boston University School of Law. More than 100 attendees participated in the two-day event. Meera shared national findings from the SELFS study, highlighting gender disparities in service, teaching, and research, as well as means of better supporting faculty.

Andrea Freeman

• On February 23, Andrea sat for a live radio interview for KALW Public Media’s daily call-in program, Your Call, hosted by Rose Aguilar. The episode is entitled The Politics of Food, From the Trail of Tears to School Lunch.
• On February 18, Andrea was a (virtual) guest lecturer in a Food Policy course at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she spoke with students concentrating on food systems, public health, sustainability, and other disciplines.
• On February 16, Andrea was a guest on the UK podcast, Eat the System, where she discussed her latest book. The episode is entitled Food Justice and Food Oppression in the USA.

KJ Greene

• On January 26, KJ attended the 3rd Annual Filmmakers & Screenwriters Legal Forum at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where he offered a legal perspective regarding issues facing filmmakers on a panel sponsored by the Sports & Entertainment Risk Management Association.
   
  

Hila Keren & Danni Hart

• Over many months, Hila and Danni organized a roundtable to interrogate the relationship between contract law and injustice. They invited leading contract law scholars to discuss the myths that contracts are equitable tools, and that contract law serves justice. The Inaugural Association of Law and Political Economy Conference took place on February 6-7 in Richmond, Virginia, where Hila and Danni participated in generative conversations that unearthed the many ways in which contract law constructs, legitimizes, perpetuates, and (sometimes) resists injustice.

Faisal Kutty

• On February 25, Faisal participated in a Newsweek roundtable analyzing the State of the Union address: Abigail Spanberger ‘Offered Substance’: Newsweek Writers’ SOTU Verdicts. Faisal argued that Governor Spanberger’s response resonated with ordinary Americans because it focused on affordability, accountability, and constitutional guardrails, rather than relying on spectacle.
• On February 21, Faisal published an Op-Ed in Newsweek: “Sharia Law” Witch Hunts Are Un-American. In this piece, Faisal examines the resurgence of political campaigns warning of a supposed “Sharia threat,” arguing that such claims have no legal basis and primarily serve to stoke cultural panic and target Muslim communities.
• On February 9, Faisal published an Op-Ed in The Toronto Star: Two major cuts by Carney are testing the limits of community trust. Faisal examines the Canadian government’s decision to eliminate dedicated envoys on Islamophobia and antisemitism, arguing that dismantling specialized leadership risks weakening trust with affected communities and undermining progress against hate and discrimination.

Nydia Johnson & Jessica Barclay-Strobel

• On February 27, Jessica and Nydia attended the Pedagogy in Tumultuous Times conference at UC Law San Francisco (co-sponsored by AccessLex Institute). They both presented on the panel, Food for Thought: A Recipe for Responding to California and NextGen Bar Exam Changes. The panel examined how law schools are redesigning bar readiness curricula in response to the evolving California Bar Exam and the forthcoming NextGen Bar Exam, focusing on integrated skills instruction, formative assessment, and strategies to support diverse student populations preparing for multiple licensing jurisdictions.

John Tehranian

• On February 27, John attended the University of Akron School of Law, IP Policy Institute's Copyright Roundtable: An Unhurried View of the Future of Copyright in Orlando, FL. There, John participated in an invitation-only roundtable on copyright law reform with a group of approximately twenty industry leaders, creatives, and academics.

Rachel VanLandingham

• On February 13, Rachel published an Op-Ed in MS Now: Pete Hegseth’s Campaign Against Mark Kelly is Extraordinary. And this Federal Judge Just Noticed. Rachel argues that the Trump Administration’s “witch hunt” against Senator Kelly “is a threat to all military retirees’ freedom of speech and our unique ability to contribute to U.S. national security through that exercise.” In discussing the federal order blocking Hegseth’s punitive course of action, Rachel explains that “Judge Leon met the moment by clearly outlining its breathtaking consequences for those of us who served our nation in uniform.”
• In February, Rachel continued to engage in national media appearances to educate the public through her expert analysis of the Trump Administration’s various military actions:
  • On February 18, Rachel was quoted in a Business Insider article discussing the Pentagon’s decision to sever ties with Harvard and place dozens of other colleges under review.
• On February 13, Rachel was quoted in a CNN article in which she discussed whether the use of an unmarked military plane to bomb an alleged drug boat was an act of “perfidy” (i.e., “an act that invites the confidence of the enemy to believe they are entitled to protection, with the intent to betray that confidence”).
• On February 11, Rachel was spotlighted in an ABA Journal article, for which she also offered substantive contributions, discussing how military lawyers are being “used, abused, and sidelined.”
• On February 6, Rachel was interviewed for a televised PBS News segment regarding a federal judge’s decision blocking the Pentagon from taking punitive action against Senator Mark Kelly for his participation in a video made by democratic lawmakers calling for troops to disregard illegal orders.