Professor Matt Green has published an article in Attorney at Law Magazine titled “White Man’s Burden: Ames and the War on DEI.” In the article, Professor Green discusses the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Ames v. Ohio Dep’t of Youth Services, which addressed the issue of “members of a majority group, say, white, heterosexual men, bear a heavier evidentiary burden to prove a claim of employment discrimination than members of a minority group.” In the Ames decision, Professor Green writes, “the U.S. Supreme Court held that burden is inconsistent with Title VII’s text and the Court’s precedent.”

Professor Green explains the relevant principles of Title VII at issue in the Ames decision, as well as analyzing the Court’s reversal of the Sixth Circuit. He also discusses the broader legal context, noting that the Ames decision may be used by opponents of DEI initiatives.

Professor Green then argues that “[d]espite the backlash, merely labeling a program as DEI does not mean it violates antidiscrimination laws,” in part because “DEI has no uniform meaning.”

Professor Green observes that “because Ames makes alleged reverse discrimination cases easier for plaintiffs to litigate, employers facing claims may opt to curtail or cancel DEI initiatives rather than risk prolonged, costly litigation even for claims that might ultimately fail on the merits.” 

Professor Heidi Gorovitz Robertson served as a reviewer for the Fulbright Commission’s Fulbright Specialist program in the 2025 Cycle 4 evaluations.  Robertson has served as a reviewer for applicants to the specialist roster for many years.  She is the Steven W. Percy Professor of Law at CSU|Law and Professor of Environmental Studies at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education.

Professor Mehtab Khan has been appointed to the Advisory Board of The Public Interest Corpus project, which is “focused on developing large-scale, high-quality AI training data from the world’s memory organizations to serve the public interest.” The Public Interest Corpus is a project of the Authors Alliance and Northeastern University with support from the Mellon Foundation. The Advisory Board includes leading national experts on AI, information science, and the role of libraries as information repositories.

On June 6, Professor Mehtab Khan spoke at the 2025 BIO Conference, held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Professor Khan was part of a panel titled, “The Next Phase of AI and Biography,” discussing how generative AI is changing “how biographies are researched, written, and safeguarded.”

Legal Educator-in-Residence Howard E. Katz made several presentations at the Southeast American Law Schools Association (SEALS) annual conference at Amelia Island, Florida.  On July 29, Prof. Katz was on a panel whose topic was “Designing Your Course Package”, as part of the Aspiring Law Teachers Workshop. He made two presentations as part of the Newer Law Teachers Workshop: on July 30 the topic was “Teaching Fundamentals: Designing an Effective Core Law School Course”; on July 31st the topic was “Constructing and Grading Exams to Enhance Assessment and Learning.”

Professor Milena Sterio participated in the Sound of Ideas radio program on June 26 on WCPN (Cleveland NPR-affiliate) discussing events of the Middle East, focusing in particular on the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. 

Professor Milena Sterio participated in the “Talking Foreign Policy” radio show, broadcast on the Sound of Ideas on June 23, on the topic of President Trump’s foreign policy.  The episode also included Professors Harold Koh and Oona Hathaway (Yale Law School), Paul Williams (American University Washington College of Law), Kevin Nealer (former State Department official), and Professor Michael Scharf as host (CWRU School of Law). 

Professor Milena Sterio participated as a judge in the quarter-final and semi-final rounds of the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition in The Hague, Netherlands, from June 16-18, in The Hague, Netherlands.  Professor Sterio is a member of the ICC Moot Court Competition’s Board of Directors, and in this capacity she participates every year in the development of the Moot Court problem.

Professor Sterio also participated as a speaker at a panel on the topic of “Prosecuting Environmental Crimes in Ukraine” on June 16, at Leiden University, Netherlands.  In addition to Professor Sterio, the panel discussion featured Andriy Kostin, Ukrainian Ambassador to the Netherlands.  Professor Sterio has been involved in training Ukrainian judges and prosecutors on prosecuting environmental war crimes; she participated in an in-person training in October 2024 in Poland, and will also participate in a similar training in October 2025, also in Poland.  The trainings are organized by the International Bar Association.  

On June 12-13, Professor Sterio participated in the annual meeting of the “Association Internationale de Droit Penal” (International Penal Law Association) in Paris, France.  Professor Sterio currently serves as the U.S. Chapter President of the AIDP  and has played a prominent role in the organization, including developing U.S. national reports on several international penal law topics, and serving as general rapporteur for AIDP’s previous scientific cycle.