2021 Inaugural Morelli Colloquy

It is my great pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, to participate in the Inaugural Morelli Colloquy, the start of recurring interdisciplinary convenings about persistent inequities in American life caused by structural racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and/or ableism.

We launch this series by focusing on “Belonging and Difference: Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” a particularly fitting theme as common ground seems to be more elusive now than at any point in modern history.  Our invited speakers from law, the humanities, and social sciences will examine belonging and difference through the lens of such topics as immigration; policing; Indigenous law and policy; the history of the queer, Black, Migrant, and Refugee Movements of the 1980s Netherlands and their relevance to the present day; scientific racism; and colonialism.

I am proud to host this dazzling array of scholars who will lead us in imagining new ways of addressing trenchant inequality and inequity.  Finally, my thanks go to alumnus Bill Morelli (’78) for making this topical event possible. 

Thank you for bringing your expertise to Cincinnati Law to expand our knowledge and connections to the global community of scholars, activists, and others dedicated to social justice.

Verna Williams
Dean and Nippert Professor of Law

Invited speakers in law, the humanities, and social sciences will discuss their work on a wide array of topics including: immigration; policing; Indigenous law and policy; the history of the queer, Black, Migrant, and Refugee Movements of the 1980s Netherlands and their relevance to the present day; scientific racism; and colonialism. Asking each of the speakers to frame these issues in terms of belonging and difference, these interdisciplinary conversations will open up new ways of thinking about how to address issues of trenchant inequality and inequity. 

The colloquy will open with a keynote “conversation”—to establish an ethos of talking with instead of talking at others—between historian Dr. Tiffany N. Florvil and Professor of Law Natsu Taylor Saito. Two panels will follow, each made up of a mix of law and humanities, and social science scholars. At the end of the day, Dr. Rucker-Chang and our law faculty colleague Professor Yolanda Vázquez will bookend the program with a summary conversation that, hopefully, also includes discussion of possible next steps.

The Colloquy is presented by the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice, in collaboration with the European Studies Program in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Arts and Sciences Department of German Studies.

• Tiffany N. Florvil (University of New Mexico College of Arts & Sciences)
• Natsu Taylor Saito (Georgia State University College of Law)

• Jeannine Bell (Indiana University Maurer School of Law)
• Manuela Boatcă (Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg Institute for Sociology)
• Matthew L.M. Fletcher (Michigan State University College of Law)

• Sahar Aziz (Rutgers Law School)
• Chandra Frank (University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences)
• Khary Oronde Polk  (Amherst College, Departments of Black Studies and Sexuality, Women’s & Gender Studies)

• Sunnie Rucker-Chang (University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences)
• Yolanda Vázquez (University of Cincinnati College of Law)

Emily Houh
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Co-founder, Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Kristin Kalsem
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Co-founder, Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Sunnie Rucker-Chang
University of Cincinnati College of Arts & Sciences
Assistant Professor of Slavic, Director of European Studies

The Bill Morelli Endowment Fund for the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice at the College of Law provided funding for this event.

Renamed in 2019 after Judge Nathaniel Jones in honor of his career as a champion for justice, the Jones Center trains and cultivates scholars, leaders, and activists committed to social change. The Center began as the nation’s first joint JD/MA program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Our students have helped survivors of domestic abuse, advocated for greater LGBTQ rights in Ohio, and worked in national feminist legal organizations such as the National Women’s Law Center, Equality Now, and Legal Momentum. 

The UC Law faculty who are affiliated with the Jones Center conduct research and work to combat harassment, violence against women, and economic inequalities that target our most vulnerable neighbors. The Center has built an international reputation by bridging theory and practice, forging relationships with local, national, and global communities, and preparing students to take the lead in advancing justice.

European studies (EUST) was created in 2000 with the generous grant of $150,000 from the Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund as well as the support of the provost and the dean of Arts and Sciences. Since then, a collective of interested faculty from History, German Studies, Romance Languages & Literatures, Political Science, English & Comparative Literature, Classics, Sociology, and other fields related to the study of Europe has developed a dynamic and growing program that has garnered highly competitive national and regional funding, including grants from the Ohio Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

We offer courses and certificates at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Our courses and other events are open to all who are interested in European studies.