Reflections on Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia Symposium--The Plenary Panel

Presumed Incompetent was produced thanks to the vision and commitment of its editors: Dr. Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Dr. Yolanda Flores Niemann, Carmen G. González, and Angela P. Harris. This symposium came to fruition because the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice invited the two law professor editors, Professor Harris and Professor González, to convene a distinguished group of scholars from Canada and the United States to expand and deepen the conversation initiated by the book. The very successful day-long symposium and the publication of the resulting articles were made possible by the resources, time, and dedication provided by the University of California Berkeley School of Law, the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, and the generous support of the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Finally, the audience, a mix of academics and students, supported the symposium and traveled from all over the United States to attend and be a part of a historical event where we acknowledged the pain and victories of colleagues, and recognized that there is still much work to be done. The plenary panel proceeded as follows. First, the panelists gave brief opening remarks about their chapters, followed by a question and answer portion, and ended with my closing remarks. Members of the audience submitted questions once the plenary panel discussion began. While this Article is not a verbatim transcript of the plenary panel, all the questions are the same ones posed during the panel. The remarks and answers included here follow a semi-transcript format that allowed the moderator and panelists an opportunity to elaborate further on some of the comments and responses