THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKPLACE EQUITY
COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL
Preliminary Syllabus – Fall 2005
Class 1 – Defining the Problem
Deloitte & Touche Case Study
Harvard Business School case (Parts A and B), Course Materials, Volume I, pp.
Greensboro Case Study
Penda D. Hair, Louder than Words: Lawyers, Communities and the Struggle for
Justice, Chapter 5 (Prayer and Protest), Volume I,
Rev. Nelson Johnson, Reflections on an Attempt to Build “Authentic
Community” in the Greensboro Kmart Labor Struggle,
Benjamin Hensler, Building a Coalition for Workers’ Rights at Kmart,
Class 2 – Framing a Field Research Project in the Locations of Innovation
Stacy Laira Lozner, Note: Diffusion of Local Regulatory Innovations: The San Francisco
CEDAW Ordinance and the New York City Human Rights Initiative
Jason Parkin, Constructing Meaningful Access to Work: Lessons from the Port of
Oakland Project Labor Agreement
Susan Sturm and Kati Daffan, Gender Equity As Institutional Transformation: The
Pivotal Role of “Systems Integrators”
Morningside Human Subjects Training Course,
https://www.rascal.columbia.edu/comply/irbframe.html
Learning from Strangers, Chapters 1 and 2
Class 3 –How Law Defines Discrimination/Bias: The Prevailing Framework
Susan Sturm, Equality and Inequality,
Amartya Sen, Inequality Re-examined, Chapter 1, Vol. I,
Excerpt from Iris Marion Young, Inclusion and Democracy
Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 703,
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Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins.
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins,
Teamsters v. United States,
Griggs v. Duke Power Co.,
Washington v. Davis,
Vande Zande v. State of Wisconsin Department of Administration,
Class 4 - Rethinking Intent: Cognitive and Implicit Bias
Linda Krieger, The Content of Our Categories
Claude Steele, Stereotype Threat
Virginia Valian, Why So Slow
Implicit Attribution Test, Implicit Attribution Tests,
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/measureyourattitudes.html
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/iat/
Class 5 – Political Autobiographies – Field Research
Class 6 - The Role of Institutional Culture in Shaping Racial and Gender Patterns:
The Example of the Corporate Law Firm
Donald Schon, Understanding Organizational Culture
David Wilkins, Why Are There So Few Blacks in Corporate Law Firms: An Institutional
Analysis
Robin Ely and Debra Meyerson, Theories of Gender in Organization: A New Approach
to Organizational Analysis and Change
Class 7 - Methodologies of Field Research/Interviewing/Analyzing Data
(1) Donald Schon, The Reflective Practitioner, pp. 307-325
(2) Weiss, Learning From Robert Strangers (excerpt)
(3) Strauss and Corbin: Basics of Qualitative Research (excerpt)
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Class 8. Law, Organizing and Low Wage Work
Jennifer Gordon, Suburban Sweatshops: The Fight for Immigrant Rights (2005), selected
excerpts
Steve Jenkins, “Organizing, Advocacy and Member Power: A Critical Reflection,”
WorkingUSA, Fall 2002, pp. 56 – 73 (top)
Class 9 - Emerging Structural Approaches
Susan Sturm, From Affirmative Action to Institutional Transformation: The Power of
Mobilizing Knowledge
Susan Sturm, Second Generation Employment Discrimination
Class 10 – Global Labor Monitoring, Equity and Democracy
Mark Barenberg, Global Labor Rights: From Private Monitoring to Public Law
Class 11 – Transformative Leadership and Legal Practice
Debra Meyerson, Tempered Radicals
Cornell West, Audacious Democrats
Class 12. Rethinking Civil Rights Advocacy
Sturm, From Gladiators to Problem Solvers: Connecting Conversations about Women,
the Legal Academy, and the Legal Profession
Louder Than Words: Lawyers, Communities, and the Struggle for Justice: The LA Mass
Transit Example
Louise Trubek, Lawyering for a New Democrary: Public Interest Lawyers and New
Governance: Advocating for Health Care
Class 13 - Conflict Resolution and Structural Change
Howard Gadlin, Conflict Resolution, Cultural Differences, and the Culture of Racism
Carol Liebman and Chris Stern Hyman, A Mediation Skills Model to Manage Disclosure
of Errors and Adverse Events to Patients
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