Patricia J. Williams

Columnist

@madlawprofessor

Patricia J. Williams is University Professor of Law and Philosophy, and director of Law, Technology and Ethics at Northeastern University.

New World Order New World Order

As I write, the world is filled with fear. I am having one of those reactions that psychologists describe as a stress response. I suppose I'm not alone, though. A friend calls an...

Oct 11, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

Fate and Fundamentalism Fate and Fundamentalism

The distinguishing feature of most fundamentalist belief systems is a literal conception of the relation between words and meaning.

Oct 9, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

Paradise Lost Paradise Lost

Nine times the Space that measures Day       and Night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquisht, rolling in the fiery Gulf Confounde...

Sep 27, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

Pax Americana Pax Americana

Although the terrorist attacks are—and will continue to be for some time—at the forefront of the world's attention, we must remember that the struggles of yesterday...

Sep 13, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

We Are the World We Are the World

At 5 o'clock in the morning, the radio alarm begins to blare the news. The United States is threatening to pull out of the World Conference Against Racism if the conversati...

Aug 23, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

Aren’t We Happy Yet? Aren’t We Happy Yet?

There was a short note in the New York Times a few months ago reporting that Governor Jeb Bush wept while speaking to the Southern Regional Conference of the National Baptist Con...

Jul 27, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

Beyond the Village Pale Beyond the Village Pale

The United States has one of the highest rates of intrafamilial violence of any nation in the world. As a statistical composite, we Americans are a nation of grieving adults and ...

Jun 28, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

No Vengeance, No Justice No Vengeance, No Justice

Now that Timothy McVeigh has been executed, I suppose we're all supposed to stop talking about it--to "enjoy closure," a bit like the election. But McVeigh's execution wa...

Jun 14, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

Bosco’s Big! Best! Believe It or Not! Bosco’s Big! Best! Believe It or Not!

Bosco, a black labrador retriever owned by Tim Stillman of Sunol, a small community near San Francisco, has been Mayor there for over eight years--after getting more votes than t...

May 31, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

The First 2,920 Days The First 2,920 Days

I was driving my son to soccer practice not long ago, listening to a National Public Radio wrap-up of President Bush's first hundred days in office. My son, who was just a baby w...

May 17, 2001 / Column / Patricia J. Williams

x