Florence Roisman
Encyclopedia
Florence Wagman Roisman is the William F. Harvey Professor of Law at Indiana University McKinney School of Law. She is best known for her work in low-income housing, homelessness, and housing discrimination and segregation. In the fall of 2006, Roisman was the Skelly Wright Fellow at Yale Law School
.
degree in 1959 from the University of Connecticut
with high honors, a distinction in English and in History, as well as a membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She earned an LL.B.
degree cum laude in 1963 from Harvard Law School
.
Roisman began practice at the Federal Trade Commission
in 1963. In 1964, she joined the U.S. Department of Justice in the appellate section of the Civil Division. In 1967, she became staff attorney, and later managing attorney, for the D.C. Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP), initiating a 30-year association with the federally financed program of civil legal assistance to poor people. While at NLSP, she was co-counsel in several of the landlord-tenant cases that now appear in many property casebooks. Subsequent to her tenure with NLSP, she worked with the legal services program both in private practice and through the National Housing Law Project.
She has taught full-time at Georgetown University Law Center
and the law schools of the University of Maryland, Baltimore
, The Catholic University of America
, and Widener University
; she has taught part-time at The George Washington University Law School
and the Antioch School of Law
. In addition to Property and Land Use Planning, she has taught Civil Procedure and Administrative Law. She has written and teaches: Law and Social Change: Aspects of the Civil Rights Movement, 1948 - 1968.
In a speech to the National Legal Aid & Defender Association
, Roisman told the audience of public interest lawyers that "it is your responsibility to end poverty — to attack and eliminate the structures that keep people in the United States poor." http://www.healthlaw.org/pubs/courtwatch/roisman.pdf In that speech, and in an earlier article entitled "The Lawyer As Abolitionist," she insisted that there is no inevitability about poverty, and that advocates need to accept nothing less than good education, jobs, health care and housing for all. Roisman encourages lawsuits to strike down the alleged inequity of large housing tax breaks to wealthy homeowners and the comparative pittance to help the poor. http://www.nuvo.net/archive/2003/12/31/poverty_is_over_if_you_want_it.html
Roisman is also on the National Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (elected
September 2006 to a three year term) after having been a member of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
in the school's atrium "because it is a symbol of one religion, Christianity". http://iuilaw.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_iuilaw_archive.html#107154800701732677 Roisman, who is Jewish, believed the display was "of doubtful constitutionality in a state-supported law school," but her principal objection was one of policy, not law. The removal garnered the attention of several regional media outlets and drew the ire of Fox News journalists Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson
. The episode was featured in John Gibson
's 2005 book, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought.
In the spring of 2004 she was reported to have used university resources to email law students and faculty with a message opposing the confirmation of Judge Charles Pickering
to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Some observers charged her actions were a violation of federal election law and university policy. http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2002/april_2002_3.html
In 2005 Roisman was accused of opposing the tenure
of Prof. William Bradford
because of some of his conservative views. The feud became a national one when Fox News and Front Page magazine
, among others, continually reported on the controversy. Bradford claimed that his support of the Iraq War and his refusal to sign a letter in defense of Ward Churchill
that was circulated by Roisman were contributing factors and that Roisman "engineered" the vote against him. Roisman has publicly denied most of Bradford's claims.
School administrators initially claimed that Bradford never actually applied for tenure
and thus that the faculty thus had never voted on whether or not his scholarly and pedagogical record warranted receiving it. Instead the law faculty had simply held a straw poll
to determine the likelihood that he would receive tenure: the vote was 10-5 in favor, which meant that five professors believed that Mr. Bradford had a low probability of doing so. The straw poll was not binding and did not involve the entire faculty. However, on Thursday August 25, Indiana State Representative Jeffrey Thompson spoke with Dr. Charles R. Bantz, Chancellor of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, during which Chancellor Bantz reportedly admitted that Bradford was eligible for tenure, had correctly applied for tenure, and that he had an outstanding case for tenure. In early September 2005, Thompson stated that Chancellor Bantz had ordered IU-Indy Law School to vote on tenure for Bradford.
Bradford and his supporters cited the fact that the five professors who voted in the Straw Poll not only voted against Bradford for any future tenure but voted against retaining him even on an untenured basis (i.e., that he be fired immediately) without providing any substantive explanation. They also questioned why the five professors voted against him - in a vote taken in November 2004, the law faculty voted unanimously (19-0) that Bradford should be promoted from assistant professor to associate professor. Supporters also noted letters of support for Bradford from Harvard, the University of Miami, and the University of Arizona had asserted that Bradford should easily be granted tenure.,
The controversy spilled over to a student-run weblog in which Bradford's supporters castigated Roisman for her alleged hypocrisy and unethical behavior while others attacked Bradford over apparent inconsistencies in his allegations. Roisman refused to make any public comment about the matter. It was later revealed that Bradford had assumed names and posted comments in support of himself on the blog; later allegations suggested that he had falsified his military record. Bradford admitted to the impersonations but denied falsifying his record. Bradford resigned in December 2005.
.
In 2004 she was awarded the Equal Justice Works Outstanding Law School Faculty Award "for her dogged pursuit of equal justice and her pivotal role in nurturing a public interest ethic among law students".
In 2010 she was awarded the "Servant of Justice Award" by the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. http://www.legalaiddc.org/support/servant.html
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
.
Legal and academic work
Roisman received a Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1959 from the University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
with high honors, a distinction in English and in History, as well as a membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She earned an LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
degree cum laude in 1963 from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
.
Roisman began practice at the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
in 1963. In 1964, she joined the U.S. Department of Justice in the appellate section of the Civil Division. In 1967, she became staff attorney, and later managing attorney, for the D.C. Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP), initiating a 30-year association with the federally financed program of civil legal assistance to poor people. While at NLSP, she was co-counsel in several of the landlord-tenant cases that now appear in many property casebooks. Subsequent to her tenure with NLSP, she worked with the legal services program both in private practice and through the National Housing Law Project.
She has taught full-time at Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
and the law schools of the University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of Maryland, Baltimore, was founded in 1807. It comprises some of the oldest professional schools in the nation and world. It is the original campus of the University System of Maryland. Located on 60 acres in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, it is part of the University System of Maryland...
, The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
, and Widener University
Widener University
Widener University is a private, coeducational university located in Chester, Pennsylvania.Its main campus sits on 108 acres , just southwest of Philadelphia...
; she has taught part-time at The George Washington University Law School
The George Washington University Law School
The George Washington University Law School, commonly referred to as GW Law, is the law school of The George Washington University. It was founded in 1825 and is the oldest law school in Washington, D.C. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a charter member of the...
and the Antioch School of Law
Antioch School of Law
Antioch School of Law was a law school in Washington, D.C. which specialized in public advocacy, which now operates as the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.-History:...
. In addition to Property and Land Use Planning, she has taught Civil Procedure and Administrative Law. She has written and teaches: Law and Social Change: Aspects of the Civil Rights Movement, 1948 - 1968.
In a speech to the National Legal Aid & Defender Association
National Legal Aid & Defender Association
The National Legal Aid & Defender Association is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoted to advocating equal justice for all Americans...
, Roisman told the audience of public interest lawyers that "it is your responsibility to end poverty — to attack and eliminate the structures that keep people in the United States poor." http://www.healthlaw.org/pubs/courtwatch/roisman.pdf In that speech, and in an earlier article entitled "The Lawyer As Abolitionist," she insisted that there is no inevitability about poverty, and that advocates need to accept nothing less than good education, jobs, health care and housing for all. Roisman encourages lawsuits to strike down the alleged inequity of large housing tax breaks to wealthy homeowners and the comparative pittance to help the poor. http://www.nuvo.net/archive/2003/12/31/poverty_is_over_if_you_want_it.html
Roisman is also on the National Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (elected
September 2006 to a three year term) after having been a member of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
Controversy
Roisman has been at the center of several high profile controversies at Indiana University McKinney School of Law. In December 2003 she complained about the placement of a 12 foot Christmas treeChristmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
in the school's atrium "because it is a symbol of one religion, Christianity". http://iuilaw.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_iuilaw_archive.html#107154800701732677 Roisman, who is Jewish, believed the display was "of doubtful constitutionality in a state-supported law school," but her principal objection was one of policy, not law. The removal garnered the attention of several regional media outlets and drew the ire of Fox News journalists Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson
John Gibson (media host)
John David Gibson is an American radio talk show host. As of September 2008, he hosts the syndicated radio program The John Gibson Show on Fox News Radio. Gibson was formerly the co-host of the weekday edition of The Big Story on the Fox News television channel.-Early career:Gibson earned a BA...
. The episode was featured in John Gibson
John Gibson (media host)
John David Gibson is an American radio talk show host. As of September 2008, he hosts the syndicated radio program The John Gibson Show on Fox News Radio. Gibson was formerly the co-host of the weekday edition of The Big Story on the Fox News television channel.-Early career:Gibson earned a BA...
's 2005 book, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought.
In the spring of 2004 she was reported to have used university resources to email law students and faculty with a message opposing the confirmation of Judge Charles Pickering
Charles Pickering
Charles Pickering may refer to:* Charles Pickering , physician and naturalist* Charles W. Pickering , Appeals Court judge* Chip Pickering , U.S. Representative from Mississippi; son of Charles W. Pickering...
to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Some observers charged her actions were a violation of federal election law and university policy. http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2002/april_2002_3.html
In 2005 Roisman was accused of opposing the tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
of Prof. William Bradford
William Bradford (professor)
William C. Bradford is a writer, professor, and legal scholar.Dr. Bradford is Chiricahua Apache Indian and served as Ambassador to the United States for the Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana...
because of some of his conservative views. The feud became a national one when Fox News and Front Page magazine
FrontPageMag.com
FrontPage Magazine is a conservative online political magazine, edited by David Horowitz and published by the David Horowitz Freedom Center , a non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California.-FPM Man of the Year:On January 1, 2007, FrontPage Magazine named Ignacio Ramos and Jose...
, among others, continually reported on the controversy. Bradford claimed that his support of the Iraq War and his refusal to sign a letter in defense of Ward Churchill
Ward Churchill
Ward LeRoy Churchill is an author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government...
that was circulated by Roisman were contributing factors and that Roisman "engineered" the vote against him. Roisman has publicly denied most of Bradford's claims.
School administrators initially claimed that Bradford never actually applied for tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
and thus that the faculty thus had never voted on whether or not his scholarly and pedagogical record warranted receiving it. Instead the law faculty had simply held a straw poll
Straw poll
A straw poll or straw vote is a vote with nonbinding results. Straw polls provide dialogue among movements within large groups, reflecting trends like organization and motivation...
to determine the likelihood that he would receive tenure: the vote was 10-5 in favor, which meant that five professors believed that Mr. Bradford had a low probability of doing so. The straw poll was not binding and did not involve the entire faculty. However, on Thursday August 25, Indiana State Representative Jeffrey Thompson spoke with Dr. Charles R. Bantz, Chancellor of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, during which Chancellor Bantz reportedly admitted that Bradford was eligible for tenure, had correctly applied for tenure, and that he had an outstanding case for tenure. In early September 2005, Thompson stated that Chancellor Bantz had ordered IU-Indy Law School to vote on tenure for Bradford.
Bradford and his supporters cited the fact that the five professors who voted in the Straw Poll not only voted against Bradford for any future tenure but voted against retaining him even on an untenured basis (i.e., that he be fired immediately) without providing any substantive explanation. They also questioned why the five professors voted against him - in a vote taken in November 2004, the law faculty voted unanimously (19-0) that Bradford should be promoted from assistant professor to associate professor. Supporters also noted letters of support for Bradford from Harvard, the University of Miami, and the University of Arizona had asserted that Bradford should easily be granted tenure.,
The controversy spilled over to a student-run weblog in which Bradford's supporters castigated Roisman for her alleged hypocrisy and unethical behavior while others attacked Bradford over apparent inconsistencies in his allegations. Roisman refused to make any public comment about the matter. It was later revealed that Bradford had assumed names and posted comments in support of himself on the blog; later allegations suggested that he had falsified his military record. Bradford admitted to the impersonations but denied falsifying his record. Bradford resigned in December 2005.
Books
- Is Integration Possible: Of Course ..., CHALLENGES TO EQUALITY: POVERTY AND RACE IN AMERICA 16 (Chester Hartman ed. 2001); also in Is Integration Possible?, 9 Poverty and Race 4-5 (2000) and Mary Kirk (ed.), INTER-RACIAL AMERICA.
- LEGAL SERVICES FEDERAL PRACTICE MANUAL (NLADA 1989) (associate editor).
- Legal Strategies for Protecting Low Income Housing, AMERICA'S HOUSING CRISIS: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? (Chester Hartman ed. 1983).
- Chapters on Injunctions and Declaratory Judgments, Motions, and Advocacy, FEDERAL LITIGATION MANUAL (1981); member, Editorial Board for 1983 and 1984 supplements.
- Housing, Poverty, and Racial Justice: How Civil Rights Laws Can Redress the Housing Problems of Poor People, 36 Clearinghous Rev. 21 (2002).
Law review and journal articles
- National Ingratitutde: The Egregious Deficiences of the United States' Housing Programs for Veterans and the "Public Scandal" of Veterans' Homelessness, 38 Ind. L. Rev. 103 (2205)
- The Impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on Racially Discriminatory Donative Transfers, 53 Alabama L. Rev. 463(2002).
- Teaching About Inequality, Race, and Property, 46 St. Louis L. Rev. 665 2002).
- Opening the Suburbs to Racial Integration: Lessons for the 21st Century, 23 Western New England L. Rev. 65 (2001).
- The Lawyer as Abolitionist: Ending Homelessness and Poverty in Our Time, 19 Saint Louis U. Public L. Rev. 237 (2000); also in REPRESENTING THE POOR AND HOMELESS: INNOVATIONS IN ADVOCACY 21 (Sidney D. Watson ed. 2001).
- Long Overdue: Desegregation Litigation and Next Steps for HUD to End Discrimination and Segregation in the Public Housing and Section 8 Existing Housing Programs, 4 Cityscape 171 (1999).
- Sustainable Development in Suburbs and Their Cities: The Environmental and Financial Imperatives of Racial, Ethnic, and Economic Inclusion, 3 Widener L. Symp. J. 87 (1998).
- Mandates Unsatisfied: The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program and the Civil Rights Laws, 52 MIAMI L. REV.1011 (1998).
- The Role of the State, The Necessity of Race-Conscious Remedies, And Other Lessons from the Mount Laurel Study, 27 Seton Hall L. Rev. 1386 (1997).
- The Lessons of American Apartheid: The Necessity and Means of Promoting Residential Racial Integration, 81 Iowa L. Rev. 479 (1995).
- Intentional Racial Discrimination and Segregation by the Federal Government as a Principal Cause of Concentrated Poverty: A Response to Schill and Wachter, 143 U.Pa. L. Rev. 1351 (1995).
- Housing Mobility and Life Opportunities, 27 Clearinghouse Rev. 335 (1993) (with Hilary Botein).
- Improving Government-Assisted Housing Programs, 1 Georgetown J. on Fighting Poverty 49-51 (1993).
- Improving and Expanding Housing Opportunities for Poor People of Color, 24 Clearinghouse Rev. 312 (1990) (with Philip Tegeler).
- Preventing or Ameliorating Displacement in Connection with Section 8, 14 Clearinghouse Rev. 303 (1980).
- The Right to Public Housing, 39 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 691 (1971).
- Tenants and the Law: 1970, 20 Amer. U. L. Rev. 58 (1970).
- The Lawyer as Abolitionist: Ending Homelessness and Poverty in Our Times, 19 U. Public L. Rev. 237 (2000)
Awards
In 2000, she received the Thurgood Marshall Award given by the District of Columbia Bar. In 1989, she was the first recipient of the Kutak-Dodds Prize, awarded by the ABA's Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. In 2002, she received a Trustee's Teaching Award from Indiana UniversityIndiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
.
In 2004 she was awarded the Equal Justice Works Outstanding Law School Faculty Award "for her dogged pursuit of equal justice and her pivotal role in nurturing a public interest ethic among law students".
In 2010 she was awarded the "Servant of Justice Award" by the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. http://www.legalaiddc.org/support/servant.html