Law Schools

Law School Women's Law Center Called Out For Racial Insensitivity

Recent events should trigger some self-reflection, even if there's no legal discrimination at work.

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UPDATE: Linda Chanow has resigned as the executive director of the group. A letter from her supporters is featured below.

Over the last several days, the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas School of Law has taken fire amid accusations by a former employee that the group fosters a work environment that is discomforting if not hostile to women of color. That a founding member of the organization got tagged as the woman starring in a viral video of some “Permit Patty” behavior and the group failed to immediately issue a statement seemed to underscore the complaints.

But at the heart of the controversy, far more important than the “truth” of the claims and defenses of everyone involved — truths that will no doubt be saddled with nuance and the subjectivity of everyone involved — is the bubble of perceived unaccountability that otherwise liberal white women can fashion for themselves when it comes to race.

In other words: one’s legitimate struggle doesn’t mean they can’t be on the wrong side of an injustice.

A former intern named Ayana D’Aguilar posted on Facebook the following last week laying out the crux of the complaints against the Center:

I interned at the Center for Women in Law at University of Texas School of Law during the summer of 2018, and had to quit my job in September because the level of racism and poor management on behalf of the Center’s Executive Director, Linda Bray-Chanow, became unbearable. I quickly realized that I was not the first woman of color to leave the organization because of racism. I had reported my issues to HR the day I quit and about a week after I quit, I suffered a mental breakdown and had to begin therapy. Ultimately I decided that what I had endured was bad enough to go to the Office of Inclusion and Equity at the The University of Texas at Austin, where I filed a discrimination claim under Title VII.

Again, we’re not here to litigate the truth of these claims — that’s the job of the school’s Office of Inclusion and Equity. There could have been overt discrimination here or there just as easily could have been a series of honest — if hurtful — misunderstandings. But drawing a legal conclusion about these accusations isn’t really as important as diagnosing why an organization is driving away women of color. If there are unconscious biases at play that consistently result in women of color leaving the workplace more often, that requires a closer look.

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What it absolutely doesn’t call for is to bury the group’s head in the sand when overt racism complicates its funding gravy train. As D’Aguilar continues:

It is absolutely no surprise to me and my former colleagues that one of CWIL’s founding members, Franci Neely, has been seen on a rampage showcasing her racism and entitlement in a viral video. No surprise at all. This is someone that has worked very closely with the Center which is primarily run by a cohort of racist and entitled White women.

CWIL has been aware of the video since yesterday, February 18th, and has not made a single public statement, and I think that speaks volumes to the type of values and principles the organization is based on. Franci Neely is on their website, in photos on their social media, but they don’t seem to be ashamed at all. I truly do not believe the Executive Director recognizes how seriously offensive Neely’s actions are, because when I worked there she was never able to acknowledge any racism in the establishment.

Neely, the ex-wife of the Houston Astros owner, was caught raging against a black family taking baby pictures on a public path in Neely’s neighborhood. According to the family, Neely passed the multiple other (read: white) families taking similar pictures on the path to go on a tirade against this family and the professional photographer for bringing “these” people into “her” neighborhood. Neely has since issued an apology video. The original viral video is recapped in this report:

Neely does, in fact, remain all over the CWIL website.

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But this is exactly the sort of thing that conveys hostility toward women of color. The feminist credo about a special place in hell for women who attack women can ring hollow when it gets hauled out in defense of white women who yell at black women. An organization that communicates an apathy toward addressing injustice toward black women because the one dishing it out is nominally an “ally” then maybe you’ve struck upon a significant problem within your organization. Just a quick, “we’re aware of the video and do not condone what it shows and call upon our founding member to explain herself” would be enough to signal that the organization at least considers worthy of mention the unique challenges facing black women who get harassed for “being in the wrong neighborhood.”

Most importantly, it’s hard for those struggling against oppression to perceive themselves as anything but under siege since it’s the default state they experience whenever they enter dominant society, but whatever happens with the CWIL going forward, they shouldn’t see the events of the past few days as an assault upon them as much as an inflection point. This is an opportunity to take stock and consider why — even if it feels entirely innocent of any form of discrimination — some women of color view the organization that way and consider what steps to take to ameliorate that.

UPDATE: Below is the letter we received from supporters of the now former executive director.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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