Reparations Talk: Reparations for Slavery and the Tort Law Analogy

This Article examines the current landscape of reparations for slavery, identifying the contours of reparations lawsuits and exploring the ability of tort law to help apportion moral culpability in the reparations context. It first examines several possibilities for lawsuits for Jim Crow, discussing constitutional requirements and identifying specific incidents such as lynchings and Jim Crow legislation-that might be appropriate subjects of litigation. The Article then assesses the viability of obtaining reparations through tort and unjust enrichment claims by addressing issues such as causation and damages, exploring the obstacles presented by American law\u27s liberalism, and identifying the various goals of reparations advocates. Finally, the Article moves beyond litigation to contemplate the ability of tort law to serve as a vehicle for framing discussions about moral culpability. It concludes with an optimistic assessment of the role of tort law in the reparations movement

Considering William and Mary\u27s History with Slavery: The Case of President Thomas Roderick Dew

Amidst the recent apologies for slavery from the legislatures of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Alabama, New Jersey, and Florida, there is significant controversy over the wisdom of investigations of institutions\u27 connections to slavery and apologies for those connections.\u27 The divide over attitudes toward apologies falls along racial lines. This Article briefly looks to the controversy on both sides of the apology debates. Among those questions about investigations of the past, universities occupy a special place. Efforts at recovery of their connections to slavery include a study released by graduate students at Yale University in 2001,2 a report by Brown University\u27s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice,3 and the University of Virginia\u27s Board of Visitors\u27 spring 2007 apology for that institution\u27s connections to slavery.4 These efforts lead to a question about whether other schools ought to consider self-investigations. The College of William and Mary is a particularly good place to ask such questions. This Article focuses on Thomas R. Dew, first a professor, then president at William and Mary from 1828 to his early death in 1846. Dew is the author of Review of the Debates in the Virginia Legislature of 1831 and 1832, one of the most reprinted arguments on slavery in the years leading into the Civil War. He is also the author of one of the most comprehensive and important histories published in the United States in the nineteenth century, A Digest of the Laws, Customs, Manners, and Institutions of the Ancient and Modern Nations. Through Dew we can gauge the intellectual connections to slavery, and then ask the important question: what-if anything-is an appropriate institutional response today? We can use Dew\u27s thought to begin a discussion of the virtues and pitfalls of apologies and to assess the value of talk of the connections to the past

Interdisciplinary Assessment and Plan for an Energy Efficient HVAC System for Dumbarton House

Dumbarton House tells the story of life in the City of Washington during the formation of the early republic and a new national identity. This project will explore and recommend sustainable approaches to collections care and preventive conservation for the house and its collections. Recent failures in the 21-year-old patchwork HVAC system demonstrate that a planned upgrade, based on a thoughtful review, not a crisis-response, is a critical institutional responsibility. Our advisors have voiced concern over our ability to efficiently and effectively manage the current system. An interdisciplinary team of sustainability, collections and energy experts will review environmental conditions records, and all assessments, and then explore and recommend a holistic approach to measured, responsive, system and operational changes. We expect requests for energy audits and a geothermal assessment. The team will formally recommend next-steps to the board for implementation

Models of planetary rings

The Voyager occultations provide several uniform and high quality data sets for Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These data are intercompared, and theoretical models for the particle sizes and the particle transport are developed. The major topics covered include: ring size distribution, torques and resonances, and satellite wakes

Restoration of SMN in Schwann cells reverses myelination defects and improves neuromuscular function in spinal muscular atrophy

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disease caused by low levels of SMN protein, primarily affecting lower motor neurons. Recent evidence from SMA and related conditions suggests that glial cells can influence disease severity. Here, we investigated the role of glial cells in the peripheral nervous system by creating SMA mice selectively overexpressing SMN in myelinating Schwann cells (Smn(−/−);SMN2(tg/0);SMN1(SC)). Restoration of SMN protein levels restricted solely to Schwann cells reversed myelination defects, significantly improved neuromuscular function and ameliorated neuromuscular junction pathology in SMA mice. However, restoration of SMN in Schwann cells had no impact on motor neuron soma loss from the spinal cord or ongoing systemic and peripheral pathology. This study provides evidence for a defined, intrinsic contribution of glial cells to SMA disease pathogenesis and suggests that therapies designed to include Schwann cells in their target tissues are likely to be required in order to rescue myelination defects and associated disease symptoms