Open Publications

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 2523

Open Access
DEI Hard: The Future of DEI After Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-12-16)
In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College (SFFA), the Supreme Court effectively overruled Bakke, Grutter, and Fisher by declaring that racial diversity in higher education is no longer a compelling state interest. This ruling led the Court to hold that the affirmative action programs of Harvard College (Harvard) and University of North Carolina (UNC) violated the Equal Protection Clause. SFFA raises concerns about the future of affirmative action and other Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives under the Equal Protection Clause, Title VII of the Civil Rights Law of 1964, and § 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Open Access
Learning How to Learn Languages
(University of Oregon, 2024-10) Yerian, Keli; Bibi Halima; Adler, Faith; Fisher, Logan; Keaton, Cameron; Orsi, Addy; Pawar, Abhay
Learning How to Learn Languages is a student-developed, interactive, open-source online textbook. It is a collaborative effort of five undergraduate students, one graduate student, and a faculty member at the University of Oregon. It offers a comprehensive view of second language learning in one place, providing conceptual perspectives on language learning through a practical lens. This how-to guide is useful for learners of all levels and can be used in various ways: as a complete textbook for a course, as supplemental chapters in language courses, or as self-study. It contains ten chapters: five chapters on different foundational aspects of language learning followed by five additional chapters on language skills and their integration with practical strategies and example stories from learners. This OER incorporates various visual elements such as illustrations, student-created videos, authors’ stories, and H5P activities with built-in feedback for learners to engage independently. An interactive, accessible, and up to date web version is available at https://opentext.uoregon.edu/languagelearningedition1/.
Open Access
Introduction to Neurobiology
(University of Oregon, 2024-10) Singh, Avinash
Introduction to Neurobiology is aimed at undergraduate students new to the field of neurobiology. The first edition specifically targets students enrolled in BI360 Neurobiology at the University of Oregon.
Open Access
Test Record 3
(University of Oregon Libraries, 2024-09-13) Duck, Daisy A.
Open Access
Test Record 2
(University of Oregon Libraries, 2024-09-13) James Smith
Abs
Open Access
One Piece of the Puzzle: The Role of Tax Strategies in Addressing Oregon’s Housing Crisis
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Hayden, Juliet
This Comment will begin by exploring the history and current status of the housing crisis on a national scale and the direct impacts of the housing crisis on the state of Oregon. The Comment will then describe the mechanics, challenges, and efficacy of both the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and the state-level Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit (OAHTC). Finally, the Comment will offer recommendations to improve the existing tax strategies as well as the supplemental programs that policymakers should implement to better address Oregon’s affordable housing crisis.
Open Access
Reducing Oregon’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Prioritizing Hydropower and Energy Equity for All Oregonians
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Lowe, Dylan
Oregon created some of the most ambitious carbon-neutral goals of any state in the country. However, Oregon failed to achieve meaningful results in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. This Comment’s thesis states that Oregon’s policies on climate change will continue to have two effects. First, the policies will likely not reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ruling the policies ineffective. Second, the policies will increase energy costs with inequitable effects on communities of color, rural communities, and the unhoused population of Oregon.
Open Access
The Kids Are Definitely Not All Right: An Empirical Study Establishing a Statistically Significant Negative Relationship Between Receiving Accommodations in Law School and Passing the Bar Exam
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) DeVito, Scott
Using data gathered from sixty public law schools relating to the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, this Article demonstrates that there is a statistically significant negative correlation between the percentage of students in a school who receive accommodations and the school’s first-time bar passage rate. In other words, this study shows that as the percentage of accommodated students in a law school increased, its bar passage rate decreased. This Article establishes a prima facie case that something is wrong with the accommodation granting process and argues that state board of bar examiners should provide more data and transparency on examinee accommodations.
Open Access
First Twelve in the Box: Implicit Bias Driving the Peremptory Challenge to the Point of Extinction
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Graffy, Colleen P.; Caldwell, Harry M.; Sood, Gautam K.
Peremptory challenges in jury selection are being used in a biased and discriminatory manner. The Batson v. Kentucky safeguards are not working as intended and have not resolved the problem of jury bias. States now need to decide: will they follow Arizona’s bold lead in 2022 and abolish peremptory challenges, or will they follow Washington and try to improve on Batson? This Article presents a compelling argument for abolishing peremptory strikes in jury selections. The authors trace the historical development of peremptory challenges, highlighting their evolution from a mechanism to ensure impartiality to their current use in shaping a biased jury. After examining Washington’s “neutral observer” standard and Arizona’s complete elimination of peremptory challenges, the authors advocate for a shift to the English model—where “the first twelve in the box” become jurors. The Article includes a helpful chart showing the direction in which key states are leaning. It raises thought-provoking questions about implicit bias, the limitations of current methods, and the advantages of a simplified approach to jury selection.
Open Access
Unleashing Rule 5.1 to Combat Prosecutorial Misconduct
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Cassidy, R. Michael
The topic of this Article is the little understood and seldom invoked Rule of Professional Conduct 5.1, and how that disciplinary rule can be more aggressively enforced to detect and deter prosecutorial misconduct. The notion that supervisory attorneys must be more actively involved in their colleagues’ ethical decisions and conduct has been recognized by the bar since the adoption of Rule 5.1 in 1983, but the rule remains undertheorized by scholars and underutilized by disciplinary authorities.
Open Access
Beyond an Unreasonable Inference: Introduction of Gang Evidence and Implicit Bias in Oregon Criminal Courts
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Hooker, Kasey Anne
This Comment’s purpose is to analyze the bias exhibited against gang members and suggest solutions for what Oregon can do to prevent juror bias against gang members from corrupting the integrity of jury verdicts. Part I of this Comment will (1) discuss some of the history of racial bias in the United States’ criminal justice system—including the various forms of systemic racism employed throughout the nation, (2) discuss how those laws were based on public opinion fueled by negative racial stereotypes and attitudes, and (3) examine the modern public’s bias toward gang members and how that bias derives from racial animus. Part II will use a behavioral realism framework to discuss how implicit bias against gang members negatively influences decisions in the jury room. Finally, Part III will discuss two possible alternatives for rectifying this issue in Oregon: a revision to the Oregon Evidence Code or an Oregon Supreme Court rule that would limit the admissibility of gang evidence as character evidence under the prior bad acts rule.
Open Access
An Interdisciplinary Economic, Legal, and Equity Analysis of, and Policy Recommendations for, United States Water Markets
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Dorsey, Lauren
This Comment harnesses an interdisciplinary legal, economic, and equity lens to attempt to holistically evaluate the opportunities and limitations facing United States water markets as a tool for efficient and equitable water use. This Article extends that analysis to articulate potential best practices for policymakers and stakeholders to consider when creating or modifying water markets.
Open Access
Naked Class Waivers
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Fritz-Mauer, Matthew
Mandatory arbitration agreements have become commonplace. These contracts bind tens of millions of workers and consumers. The mandatory arbitration agreements typically do two things: (1) force individuals to privately arbitrate all disputes and (2) require them to waive their right to participate in class action lawsuits. Legal scholars and experts have criticized this phenomenon for worsening the access to justice crisis, stymying corporate accountability, depriving the public of oversight, and preventing millions from vindicating their civil rights. Class action lawsuits are often the only way to pursue small, widespread violations of the law. And, without a group mechanism, the fundamental rights of millions of people are systematically foreclosed from a legal claim. But something worse than mandatory arbitration is coming—and in many places, is already here: “Naked Class Waivers” that force individuals to give up their ability to participate in group lawsuits without any accompanying arbitration agreement. This Article is the first to explore the increasing prevalence of these coercive and one sided agreements.
Open Access
Fairness and Uncertainty in Torts: A Theoretical and Empirical Inquiry
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Bregant, Jessica; Dillof, Anthony M.
Is torts ready for a revolution? Momentous changes in law are exceedingly rare. In torts, one such change was the advent of comparative fault. Originally codified in the early twentieth century, comparative fault represented a revolutionary shift away from all-or-nothing recovery. For the first time, a plaintiff’s recovery need not be either her full damages or zero—it might be somewhere in between. This Article presents a pair of large-scale public opinion surveys we conducted in 2022. These surveys polled over 1,300 persons and collected approximately 4,000 individual survey responses. The surveys illuminate people’s judgments about the relative fairness of Single Most Likely Scenario Recovery (SMSR) and Probabilistic-Proportional Recovery (PPR) and related topics.
Open Access
Outside the Ivory Tower: How Law Students Benefit When Their Professors Revisit Practice
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Vukadin, Katherine T.
This Article posits that, to guide law students properly in their professional identity, law professors must connect with practice. Connection can consist of a sabbatical or other period of time spent fully immersed in practice or even an ongoing relationship with the local practicing bar or individual lawyers. Further, administrators should encourage these efforts. But all law professors should do something to ensure that their guidance is up to date and that they can provide the information and opportunities required for professional identity formation.
Open Access
#MeToo: Rethinking Law and Literature to Define Narrative Justice
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Tewari, Geeta
The law and literature movement is transforming into something new. This Article will discuss what that newness is, how it came about, and the different shapes it takes to provide the legal community with a platform to contribute to a working definition for a term I created in 2019, narrative justice. Creatively, technologically, and economically, public institutions and legal culture are rethinking the value of voice and story. With concrete examples of innovations and social movements, this Article will demonstrate how both action and inaction have propelled us as a society toward urgency in defining and claiming narrative justice.
Open Access
Lest We Be Lemmings
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-20) Osborn-Wright, Claire
This Article explains why the Ninth Circuit’s opinion that the Juliana plaintiffs do not possess standing to obtain their requested declaratory judgment is incorrect. Part I addresses the knowledge of climate scientists, the U.S. government, and the fossil fuel industry, of the existence, causes, and effects of global warming. Part II discusses the U.S. government’s failure to regulate the fossil fuel industry, reduce federal subsidies to the industry, and hold the industry accountable for global warming. Part III explains the fossil fuel industry’s strategy for denying responsibility for global warming. Part IV discusses the opinions of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon and Ninth Circuit in the case of Juliana v. United States. Part V explains the many reasons why the Ninth Circuit’s opinion that the plaintiffs do not possess standing to obtain a declaratory judgment is incorrect.
Open Access
Truth, Lies, and Spelunking: Protecting the Investigative Reporters We Send into the Cave
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-01) Brogan, Doris DelTosto
This Article begins with a brief discussion of journalism and its purposes. It then describes undercover reporting, positioned as a subset of investigative reporting, through a series of examples where reporters use deceit or engage in tortious conduct such as trespassing to gain access to information. The Article then focuses on the legal actions, usually civil tort claims, brought against journalists—delving in some detail into ag-gag statutes drafted specifically to penalize undercover reporting on the agricultural industry. It explores how courts navigate constitutional questions, nuanced causation issues, and overarching public policy considerations. From this it becomes clear that, while it doesn’t happen often, undercover journalists have been sued and have even faced threats of criminal charges for their actions in pursuing critical information of significant public interest. The very threat of legal actions can have a chilling effect on the willingness of the press to risk undercover investigations that rely on deceit or other similar tactics, especially given the increasingly fragile economic circumstances of most media outlets. Against this background, I argue that we need good investigative reporting that in some instances will involve deceit, trespass, and other minor wrongdoing. Finally, I propose a limited common law or statutory privilege that would protect journalists from tort liability and criminal charges for minor unlawful conduct while pursuing important stories of significant public interest.
Open Access
From Eugene to Seattle: Analyzing the Prosecution of Environmental Crimes Within EPA Region 10
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-01) Ozymy, Joshua; Ozymy, Melissa Jarrell
Criminal provisions in federal environmental law in the United States are reserved for the worst violations involving significant harm or culpable conduct, but we know little about how these crimes have been prosecuted within EPA Region 10, which includes the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. We use content analysis of 2,807 environmental crime prosecutions stemming from EPA criminal investigations, 1983–2022, and explore all 284 prosecutions occurring within Region 10 since 1983. We find defendants were cumulatively assessed over $196 million in monetary penalties, 947 years of probation, and 156 years of incarceration at sentencing. Forty-two percent of prosecutions focused on air pollution crimes, 19 percent hazardous substances, 13 percent water pollution, and 26 percent state-level crimes. We conclude by offering prescriptions for enhancing the criminal enforcement of the environment through structural budgetary investments, increased state-federal cooperation, and strengthening of criminal enforcement associations.
Open Access
The Status of “New Rights” Before the African Human Rights Commission and Court
(University of Oregon School of Law, 2024-05-01) Jimoh, Mujib
In 1986, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution 41/120, which provides quality control for introducing new rights under international law. Under the Resolution, five criteria must be fulfilled: the new rights must (1) be consistent with existing international human rights; (2) be of fundamental character; (3) be sufficiently precise; (4) provide realistic and effective implementation; and (5) attract broad international support. Despite this heightened standard, the effort to introduce new rights has continued in the 21st century, with more than fifty new rights in queue. These new rights are either derivative from existing rights or freestanding. For its part, the UNGA seems to have been abiding by the UNGA resolution’s quality control practice. Over the last twelve years, it has recognized only two new rights through its resolutions—the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment in 2022 and the right to water and sanitation in 2010. This method of recognizing new rights through UNGA resolutions raises an issue. On the one hand, UNGA resolutions are generally not binding under international law. On the other hand, the meticulousness and the time taken by the UNGA before recognizing these new rights could lead to the view that those rights have become customary international human rights norms. Yet, any attempt to argue that all new rights recognized by the UNGA through its resolutions have become customary international law is likely to be controversial.