2024 SALT Teaching Conference & Junior Faculty Development Workshop

WE WON’T BACK DOWN
Standing Together for Transformative Legal Education

Sometimes it seem [sic] like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, I’ll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I’m not backing off.
– Fannie Lou Hamer

The next year will mark momentous anniversaries for pivotal moments in social justice, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While we commemorate these achievements—which came about largely due to the resistance and civil disobedience of many, including lawyers, law professors, and students—2024 reminds us that the fight is not over.

We are in a profoundly dangerous and regressive moment for justice and democracy, not only in the United States, but around the world. Daily, we face the prospect that progress made over the last sixty years could be suddenly erased, along with the protections for those who engage in the struggle to preserve them—law professors and students alike.

The ramifications of this tension on higher education, including in law, is evident. With threats to academic freedom and the curtailment of voting, LGBTQ+, reproductive, and other rights, faculty, staff, and students confront challenges that require a renewed lens and collective efforts.

To frame these exigent opportunities and challenges, and to engage our community in how to continue the fight for transformative legal education in the face of these challenges, the Society of American Law Teachers invites you to participate in our 2024 Teaching Conference.

Just as Fannie Lou Hamer would not back down from injustice in her fight for equality and civil rights, we cannot, and will not, back down in our fight to transform legal education.

Boston University School of Law
765 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215

Submission Deadline: Monday, July 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. PST

Submission Guidelines:

Progressive legal academia finds strength in many cohorts, including faculty, community members, and students. We welcome all to participate and share their work and wisdom at the conference, whether focusing on teaching and pedagogy, scholarship (including works-inprogress), activism, or any combination of the three!

We anticipate offering a variety of session formats. You may submit a proposal as an individual speaker, a panel, or a group. We also welcome proposals for poster presentations. We may combine presentations as we compose the program. We anticipate that a single presentation may take about 20 minutes and a multi-speaker panel about 50 minutes.

This conference is an opportunity for us as a community of legal academics, law students, staff, and activists to support and encourage each other as we contemplate how best to use legal education to fight regression and ensure basic human rights. Presentation topics could include, but are in no way limited to:

• Curricular innovations to expand students’ knowledge and critical thinking about how to harness law’s transformative power in the face of retrenchment;
• Strategies and best practices to protect academic freedom in light of current and on-going repressive state power, wealthy donor influence, and authoritarian administrative control;
• Collaborations between social justice organizations and the legal academy; and
• Subject matter-specific proposals relating to civil and human rights.

Requested Format for Proposed Presentations:

To ensure a uniform submission process, please adhere to the following guidelines when submitting your presentation proposals. Keep your proposal succinct, within a 500-word limit, and organized as outlined below:

1. Title of Proposed Presentation
2. Presenter(s) Name and Contact Information:
   • Submit contact information for all individuals participating in the presentation.
   • Designate one person as the primary contact responsible for receiving and transmitting information about the SALT conference to other panel members.
3. Summary of the Proposed Presentation:
   • Provide a concise description, narratively outlining the content, format, and anticipated duration of the presentation.
   • Remember the 500-word limit, please.
4. Related Papers or Documents (if applicable):
   • Attach any related documents supporting or illustrating your proposed presentation. While not mandatory, relevant materials can enhance the evaluation process.

Submission acceptance decisions will be communicated on a rolling basis beginning no later than Monday, July 15, 2024.

** PLAN AHEAD **

The LatCrit, Inc./SALT Annual Junior Faculty Development Workshop (FDW) will take place on Thursday, September 19, 2024, immediately preceding the SALT Teaching Conference. The FDW is designed for critical, progressive, and social justice oriented pre-tenure professors, including clinicians and legal writing professors, as well as those who may be contemplating a law teaching career. The FDW is designed to familiarize junior faculty with LatCrit and SALT principles and values and support them in the scholarship, teaching, and service aspects of professional success.

Call for Proposals Submissions

Register Now

• Early Bird: $200 (September 1)
• Late Registration: $250 (September 8)

• Free (September 8)

• Early Bird: $25 (September 1)
• Late Registration: $50 (September 8)

• Limited Registration Fees Waived

Room Blocks Available: First Come, First Served

Hyatt Regency $289/night (50 rooms blocked) Reserve
The rate expires when the room block is full or until August 29

Commonwealth $369/night (50 rooms blocked) Reserve
The rate expires when the room block is full or until August 19

Scholarship application is now closed.

View the draft schedule (as of August 26, 2024).

If you have any questions regarding the FDW, please contact Tania Valdez at tania.valdez@law.gwu.edu or Sara Hildebrand at sara-hildebrand@uiowa.edu. Please include “Faculty Development Workshop” in the subject line.

View the draft schedule (as of August 22, 2024).

More information will be posted in September.

Conference attendees: Please join us for light appetizers, beer, wine, and soda. This is an opportunity to connect with colleagues and fellow attendees at Northeastern University.

Date: Friday, September 20
Time: 4:30 – 7:00 PM

Location:
Northeastern University Alumni Center
Sixth Floor
716 Columbus Ave
Boston, MA 02120

For more information, please contact Joe McKay at joseph.j.mckay@du.edu.