Scholarly Events

Housing in the 21st Century: Problems, Progress, and Predictions

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A Connecticut Law Review Symposium

Access to safe and affordable housing remains a challenge for millions of Americans. Historical and systemic factors, including redlining and discriminatory lending practices, have disproportionately affected minority communities, contributing to disparities in home ownership and exacerbating the housing affordability crisis. Unsafe or inaccessible rental housing, as well as rising rental costs, create additional barriers to housing security nationwide. While progress has been made due to the passage of the Fair Housing Act and other consumer protection laws, the affordable housing crisis and tenant rights’ violations persist. Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence in housing markets and public housing is raising new concerns. Leading scholars discussed some of these problems and innovative efforts to address them. Participants also shared their predictions for future housing law and policy needs and made recommendations for how to move forward. View the videos here.

Keynote speaker: Richard Rothstein
Author of The Color of Law—A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America (2017); and Just Action—How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law (2023, and co-authored by Leah Rothstein).

Panel 1: A Better Fair Housing Act – Evaluations & Recommendations
Moderator: Professor James Matthews
Panelists: Professor Melvin Kelley, Professor Rigel Olivieri, & Professor Stacy Seicshnaydre

Panel 2: Understanding AI’s Effect on Tenants, Prospective Buyers, and Housing Markets
Moderator: Professor Nadiyah Humber
Panelists: Dr. Michael Akinwumi, Senior Counsel Marc Epstein, & Dr. Erin McElroy

Panel 3: Housing Access & Affordability: Challenges and Proposed Solutions
Moderator: Professor Jeffrey Gentes
Panelists: Professor Rashmi Dyal-Chand, Professor Julie Gilgoff, Professor Anika Singh Lemar, & Professor Nicole Summers

2024 Day Pitney Visiting Scholar Program: Judge Gustavo A. Gelpí

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Through the contributions and volunteer efforts of Day Pitney personnel, the Day Pitney Visiting Scholar program promotes positive developments in the law, legal scholarship, and legal and community education. The 2024 Program honored Judge Gustavo A. Gelpí of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and his many contributions to legal scholarship.

Judge Gelpí is a widely respected jurist who has dedicated his life to public service and promoting legal scholarship. He graduated in 1987 from Brandeis University and in 1991 from Suffolk University Law School. Following graduation, he clerked for Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. After his clerkship, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender, Assistant Attorney General, and Solicitor General of Puerto Rico. Judge Gelpí was appointed as a Magistrate Judge in the District of Puerto Rico in 2001. In 2006, he was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, where he served as Chief Judge from 2018 to 2021. In 2013, he began a term as the president of the Federal Bar Association. Judge Gelpí was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in October 2021. As a legal scholar, Judge Gelpí has written extensively on the evolution of the constitutional status of Puerto Rico and other American territories, has taught at all three law schools in Puerto Rico, and regularly shares his knowledge with law school students.

The 2024 Day Pitney Visiting Scholar Program featured a luncheon followed by a presentation given by Judge Gelpí.

View the video here

Never Far From Home: A Book Talk With Author Bruce Jackson

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UConn School of Law and the UConn Law Alumni of Color Affinity Group held a fireside chat on February 1, 2024, with Microsoft executive and attorney Bruce Jackson to discuss his book, “Never Far From Home: My Journey from Brooklyn to Hip Hop, Microsoft, and the Law.” Peter Wilson ’00, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Cravath, Swain and Moore LLP, moderated this engaging discussion that highlighted Jackson’s remarkable journey chronicled in his book, Never Far From Home: My Journey from Brooklyn to Hip Hop, Microsoft, and the Law.

The book talk began at 5:30 pm and signed books were available. Complimentary appetizers and drinks were served at 5:00 pm.

Watch the video recording here.

CPILJ Symposium 2024: Evidence Through a Critical Lens

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The Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal’s symposium on January 26, 2024, explored how the law of evidence intersects with systems of inequality based on gender, racial, and other marginalized group-based status. It included sessions aimed at problem-solving, both through reform efforts and transformation in pedagogy. The discussion highlighted the possibilities and solutions brought by a critical approach to law, using evidence law as the focus of study. A live recording of the Excited Utterance podcast hosted by Professor Ed Cheng, Hess Chair in Law at Vanderbilt Law School, followed lunch. He was joined by Professor Erin Collins, Professor of Law at Richmond Law School. Watch the videos here.

Panel 1: Theoretical Frameworks
This panel discussed the power of evidence rules and how they may reinforce existing knowledge hierarchies or alternatively serve to expand existing perspectives.
Moderator: Professor Kiel Brennan-Marquez
Panelists: Professor Erin Collins, Professor Bennett Capers, Professor Julia Simon-Kerr, & Professor Jocelyn Simonson

Panel 2: Reform Efforts and Implementation
This panel will identify different areas where reform is being attempted or has been accomplished.
Moderator: Professor Julia Simon-Kerr
Panelists: Asees Bhasin, Professor Andrea Dennis, Professor Anna Roberts, Professor Jasmine Gonzales Rose, & Professor Maneka Sinha

Panel 3: Critical Approaches to Pedagogy and Practice
This panel will focus on ways to teach and practice evidence from a critical perspective.
Moderator: Taylorann Vibert
Panelists: Professor Lauryn Gouldin, Professor Jasmine Harris, Professor Montre Carodine, Professor Nina Chernoff, & Professor Christine Goodman

Excited Utterance Live Recording
Excited Utterance is a podcast focusing on scholarship on evidence law and proof, consisting of interviews of various evidence scholars on their recent or forthcoming scholarship. Professor Ed Cheng, the host of Excited Utterance and Hess Chair in Law at Vanderbilt Law School will be joined by Professor Erin Collins, Professor of Law at Richmond Law School.