Martha West

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Martha West
Born1946 (age 77–78)
Pomona, California
Alma materBrandeis University (AB)
University of Indiana (JD)

Martha Smeltzer West (born 1946) an American attorney and legal scholar who served as general counsel for the American Association of University Professors and Professor Emerita at the UC Davis School of Law.[1] In 1998, she won California's first federal grant under the Violence Against Women Act, using the money to found the Family Protection and Legal Assistance Clinic at UC Davis Law School. West was the lead author of the 2005 white paper "Unprecedented Urgency: Gender Discrimination in Faculty Hiring at the University of California" and of the 2006 AAUP report "Organizing around Gender Equity."

Early life and education[edit]

In 1946, West was born in Pomona, California.[2] In 1967, West earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Brandeis University. In 1974, West earned a Juris Doctor from Indiana University Maurer School of Law.[2][3]

Career[edit]

West clerked for Judge Jesse E. Eschbach. In 1974, West joined Ice Miller in Indianapolis and practiced labor and employment law.[2]

In Fall 1982, West began her teaching career in law at UC Davis School of Law. West emphasized in Employment Discrimination, Labor Law, and Sex based Discrimination.[2][3] West served as Associate Dean of the law school between 1988 and 1992.[3]

From 1997 through 2005, West served on the Davis Joint Unified School District Board of Education, over which she presided in 2001 and 2004.[4]

In 1998, West created the Family Protection and Legal Assistance Clinic at UC Davis Law School, for which she received California's first federal grant under the Violence Against Women Act.[3] According to the Association of American Law Schools, "The clinic's initial funding came in the form of a federal Violence Against Women Act grant awarded to only one such program per state for the purpose of strengthening civil legal assistance for victims of domestic violence."[5] She also worked to obtain childcare on campus. Finally, in 1989, UCD provided $75,000 for a graduate student lottery to fund childcare for graduate students.[6]

After the passage in 1996 of California's anti-affirmative-action Proposition 209, West became concerned that the University of California system was hiring fewer women faculty.[7] Due to her initiative, the California Legislature held hearings on this matter in 2001, 2002, and 2003.[8]

In 2005, West was lead author of the report, (based in part on those legislative hearings) "Unprecedented Urgency: Gender Discrimination in Faculty Hiring at the University of California."[9] The New York Times described the report as follows:[10]

  • A new report by four professors at the University of California at Davis has found that despite an unusual hiring wave and a steady increase in the number of women in the Ph.D. applicant pool, the University of California still lags in hiring women...Martha West, the lead author of the new report, who has worked on the issue for years, said that as the number of women earning Ph.D.'s increased, the rate of female faculty hiring should be growing much faster than currently.

The report noted that UC faculty hiring of women had fallen below levels from the mid-nineties, even though women were receiving a larger percentage of PhDs awarded: "In the 1995-96 academic year, women were 36 percent of UC's hires, but in the 1999-2000 academic year, after the passage of Prop. 209, 25 percent of faculty hires were women."[11]

In 2006, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released its own, broader, report on gender equity in faculty hiring at more than a thousand American colleges and universities. West co-authored the report's first section, "Organizing around Gender Equity."[12]

Having retired from full-time teaching in 2007, in 2008 West became the AAUP's General Counsel,[3] a two-year position leading AAUP's legal staff. West had previously had other roles at AAUP, including chairing AAUP's Legal Defense Fund (1998-2002), chairing a subcommittee that drafted the AAUP's Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities and Academic Work (2001), and serving as a member of their Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure (2002-05).[13][14]

Among the legal issues the AAUP addressed during West's tenure was the Attorney General of Virginia's climate science investigation,[15] which the AAUP described as a "threat to academic freedom."[16] West (on behalf of the AAUP), together with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, wrote a letter offering legal advice and assistance:[17][18]

It is the University's obligation to protect academic freedom by seeing that legal tools such as the CID are not used to intimidate scientists whose methods or tools are controversial. We therefore urge you to take advantage of Virginia Code § 8.01-216.18(B), under which the university may petition the circuit court to modify or set aside the CID. We stand ready to assist if we may be of use to the University in this process.

The University of Virginia, which had originally planned to comply with the request for documents, instead retained legal counsel.[15] In 2012, the Supreme Court of Virginia upheld UV's contention that the Attorney General had no legal authority to demand the records in this case.[19]

Awards[edit]

  • 1990 Ruth E. Anderson Award (awarded annually by the UC Davis Women's Center for advocacy on behalf of women on campus and in the city of Davis).[20]
  • 1991 named "Outstanding Woman of the Year in Education" by the Sacramento YWCA.[20]
  • 1997 UCDSL Distinguished Teaching Award.[2]
  • 2000 Frances Newell Carr Award (from Women Lawyers of Sacramento).[2]
  • 2002 California NOW Award for outstanding women in education.[2]
  • 2011 Indiana University School of Law's Academy of Law Alumni Fellows.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "New General Counsel Martha West". AAUP. July 2008. Archived from the original on 2010-05-20. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Maurer School of Law Notable Alumni - Martha Smeltzer West". law.indiana.edu. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Martha S. West, Professor of Law Emerita". ucdavis.edu. Retrieved May 1, 2019. Professor West created the Law School's Family Protection and Legal Assistance Clinic in 1998, receiving the first federal grant in California under the Violence Against Women Act. She also supervised the externship program in employment relations law for 25 years.
  4. ^ "Our Team". Total School Solutions. Archived from the original on 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2009-12-14.[dead link]
  5. ^ "Of interest to clinicians" (PDF). Association of American Law Schools. 1999. Retrieved March 19, 2020. Professor Martha West, who designed the clinic, believes the community education component is critical: 'We have learned that violence against women begins early in a relationship, and patterns can be set even while people are dating. We need more education so women can recognize signs before becoming caught in cycles of abuse and repentance.'
  6. ^ Tupolo, Jenice (March 8, 2018). "Yolo County event highlights women". Daily Democrat. Retrieved July 18, 2020. The professor was chosen as the guest speaker for the 31st anniversary celebration of the Yolo County Women's History Month luncheon held Thursday...At UC Davis, West teaches employment discrimination, labor law and gender law. After her first daughter, she declared child care as her fighting cause. In 1998 she founded the UC Davis Law School's Family Protection clinic and "after boxes of minutes from meetings, we had $75,000 lottery for graduate students to enter to pay for child care.
  7. ^ "UC Hiring Fewer Women Professors after Prop. 209". Black Issues in Higher Education. March 1, 2001. Retrieved July 18, 2020. The University of California has hired fewer female faculty following passage of anti-affirmative action ballot measure Proposition 209, creating a gender gap that needs bridging, women professors from across the 10-campus system said recently. 'We are in serious discrimination mode at the university,' says UC Davis law professor Martha West, one of more than a dozen professors who spoke at a state Senate hearing on UC hiring.
  8. ^ Federis, Martha (May 26, 2005). "Study finds lack of UC female faculty" (PDF). UCSD Guardian. Retrieved July 18, 2020. West and several others began to raise concerns over the hiring issue with the California Legislature. She and her colleagues approached State Senator Jackie Speier (D - San Francisco/San Mateo), who held hearings during three consecutive years in 2001, 2003, and 2003. The report also details the testimonies of professors from various campuses during the hearings.
  9. ^ Maitre, Michelle (May 19, 2005). "Study says not enough UC female faculty". East Bay Times. Retrieved July 18, 2020. More than 45 percent of the doctorate degrees awarded in 2003 went to women, said Martha West, a UC Davis law professor and lead author of the report, 'Unprecedented Urgency: Gender Discrimination in Faculty Hiring at the University of California.' 'If women are going to be left out of this 10-year hiring surge, it means we're not going to have representative women on the faculty for the next 20 to 30 years,' West said.
  10. ^ Lewin, Tamar (December 7, 2018). "University of California Faulted on Hiring of Women". NYT. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  11. ^ Schevitz, Tanya (May 18, 2005). "Study finds UC lags in women on faculty / Hiring levels lower than in mid-'90s". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 18, 2020. One problem, the report says, is that there was a dramatic drop in the percentage of female faculty hired by the UC system after the UC Regents passed a resolution in 1995 to end the use of affirmative action. Voters in 1996 subsequently approved Proposition 209 to ban the state from considering race or gender when hiring employees or awarding contracts. In the 1995-96 academic year, women were 36 percent of UC's hires, but in the 1999-2000 academic year, after the passage of Prop. 209, 25 percent of faculty hires were women.
  12. ^ "AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators 2006". AAUP. 2006. Retrieved July 25, 2020. The report AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators 2006 provides data on four measures of gender equity for faculty at over 1,400 colleges and universities across the country... The report consists of three sections: an article on 'Organizing around Gender Equity,' authored jointly by Professor Martha West of the University of California, Davis, and John W. Curtis, AAUP Director of Research and Public Policy; aggregate national tables for each of the four equity indicators by type of institution; and an appendix listing the four indicators for each individual college and university.
  13. ^ "Martha S. West Appointed" (PDF). AAUP (New York State). 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2020. She chaired a subcommittee that drafted the AAUP's Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities and Academic Work. West has also served as a member of the Association's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure and as chair of AAUP's Legal Defense Fund.
  14. ^ Sweetman, Michelle N (2008). "NEW GENERAL COUNSEL MARTHA WEST". Academe. Retrieved July 30, 2020. She has been a dedicated member of the AAUP since 1996. West was a member of the national Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession (previously called Committee W) from 1996 to 2002, and has remained as a consultant to that committee since 2002. She chaired a subcommittee that drafted the Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities and Academic Work, which was adopted as AAUP policy in 2001. West has also served as a member of the Association's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure (2002-05) and as chair of the Legal Defense Fund (1998-2002).
  15. ^ a b Walker, Julian (2010-05-19). "Academics fight Cuccinelli's call for climate-change records". HamptonRoads.com. Richmond, VA: Virginian-Pilot. OCLC 7353601. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-30. Other groups that have expressed concern about the probe are the ACLU of Virginia, the American Association of University Professors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The University of Virginia initially said it would comply with Cuccinelli's request by the May 27 deadline. But last week, officials announced they've retained legal counsel.
  16. ^ "AAUP Media releases: Threat to Academic Freedom in Virginia" (2010)
  17. ^ "Joint letter to the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia" (PDF). ACLU of Virginia & American Association of University Professors. May 6, 2010.
  18. ^ Helderman, Helderman (May 6, 2010). "ACLU, AAUP to U-Va.: Go to court over Cuccinelli demand for climate change records". Washington Post. Retrieved July 30, 2020. The ACLU of Virginia and the American Association of University Professors have sent a joint letter to John O. Wynne, the rector of the University of Virginia...In the letter, AAUP General Counsel Martha S. West and ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca K. Glenberg offer their assistance to the university, if the visitors choose to seek judicial review of Cuccinelli's civil investigation demand.
  19. ^ "Va. Supreme Court tosses Cuccinelli’s case against former U-Va. climate change researcher" (March 2, 2012)
  20. ^ a b Greenberg, Meagan (March 12, 1993). "West is skeptical about Women's History Month". California Aggie. Retrieved July 18, 2020. West, who served as associate dean of the UCD School of Law from 1988 to 1992, has taught at UCD for 10 years. She practiced law for eight years after earning her law degree at Indiana University in 1974. In 1990 West was honored with the Ruth E. Anderson Award and in 1991 the Sacramento YWCA named her Outstanding Woman of the Year in Education. West said she went to law school because of the feminist movement of the '60s.

External links[edit]

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