What do DEI efforts look like in the sports and entertainment industry? How do mandates like the NFL's Rooney rule impact diversity and inclusion at the highest levels of leadership? And what priorities should minorities looking to break into sports and entertainment consider? On this episode of the DEI Podcast, we revisit a conversation with Black alumni leaders in the sports and entertainment industry from last month's “Staying in the Game,” sports and entertainment panel hosted by the Notre Dame Black Law Students Association. Panelists included: Max Siegel ’86, ’92 J.D., CEO of USA Track ..read more

“Innocent people should not be in prison.” (Anna McGinn, Notre Dame Law School ‘22). Exoneration justice is the tireless effort to free innocent people imprisoned after being wrongfully convicted of crimes, and to provide them with rehabilitative services. Jessa Webber and Anna McGinn, Notre Dame Law School’s Bank of America Foundation Fellows, have dedicated their legal careers to this work. This episode of the DEI Podcast is part-one of a three-part series on public interest law. We talk with Jessa and Anna to explore the systemic problems that have led to a backlog of wrongful convictions d ..read more

Judicial clerkships are typically characterized as an unadulterated good—lifelong mentor-mentee relationships between judges and law clerks that confer professional benefits. But little information exists to help law students identify positive work environments and avoid judges who mistreat their clerks. At the Legal Accountability Project, Aliza Shatzman works to ensure that law clerks have positive clerkship experiences, and to provide resources to those who do not. In this conversation, Aliza describes her personal experiences with gender discrimination, harassment, and retaliation by a for ..read more

Have you ever felt like an imposter? Unqualified for the job, less intelligent than your classmates, or undeserving of your accomplishments, and that somehow you managed to convince others you were more capable than you really are? In this episode of the DEI Podcast with Max Gaston, we revisit Max's conversation with Dr. Kevin Cokley, a psychologist at the University of Michigan who studies the imposter phenomenon. Dr. Cokley researches the relationship between imposter feelings, mental health, and academic outcomes among students from underrepresented communities. Listen as he discusses his r ..read more

In this episode, three students from the Notre Dame Black Law Students Association join Max for a lively discussion on the power of representation in law school, the complexity and pervasiveness of stereotypes, and contemporary social issues in the Black community, the legal profession, and beyond ..read more

This episode of the DEI Podcast is part-two of our discussion on perspectives of Black men in the legal profession with Notre Dame Law School 3Ls Joshua Mannery, Jakim Aaron, and Jamal Wilson. Topics covered with timestamps: 2:43 – Culture add vs culture fit: discussing being yourself in the workplace versus trying to blend in with your peers and fit in with the law firm culture to find success. 12:02 – Exploring the importance of the mentee-mentor relationship for Black men in the legal profession and what it takes to be a good mentor. 17:14 – Discussing the distinction between mentorship and ..read more

In his best-selling book, The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein demolished the de facto segregation myth that Black and White Americans live separately by choice, providing the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation. Aware that twenty-first-century segregation continues to promote entrenched inequality and underlie our most serious social problems, Richard has partnered with housing policy expert Leah Rothstein to write JUST ACTION: How to Challenge Racial Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law ..read more

In recent years, the business case for diversity has emerged as the go-to argument for why organizations should prioritize diversity in their recruiting efforts. Though most organizations don’t feel the need to explain why they care about core values such as innovation, resilience, or integrity, when it comes to diversity, lengthy justifications on the value of hiring a “diverse workforce” have become the norm. At Boston University's Questrom School of Business, Dr. Oriane Georgeac researches how individuals respond to organizations’ messages about diversity and their justifications for why th ..read more

According to research, bias is a habit that begins to take shape at an early age. As we form our own social identities surrounding things like ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion, and gender, we start to identify as members of a specific group of people. These identities in many ways can shape how we see and treat others — and how others see and treat us. At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Dr. William Cox, Dr. Patricia Devine, and their colleagues developed the bias habit-breaking intervention, an evidence-based approach which builds on more than 30 years of scientific research ..read more

Have you ever heard the phrase “I don’t see color,” when talking about race or ethnicity? Color blindness is the idea that ignoring or overlooking racial and ethnic differences promotes racial harmony and helps us treat people equally. But research shows that color blindness does just the opposite and can actually cause more harm in our interactions with people of different backgrounds. At the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, Dr. Evan Apfelbaum researches color blindness and uses behavioral science to reveal the challenges and potential of diversity and social change. In 2012 ..read more