The Faculty Lounge

Southern Gothic

"Delta Dawn," written by Larry Collins and Alex Harvey, is best known for then 13-year old Tanya Tucker's 1972 hit, but it was actually recorded a year earlier by Bette Midler on her first album The Divine Miss M. Midler grew up about as far from the Mississippi Delta as possible in the U.S., in a Jewish family in Honolulu; her professional debut was in Fiddler on the Roof. The Australian Helen Reddy, who grew up even farther from Mississippi, also had a hit with "Delta Dawn" in 1973. Bobbie Gentry wrote and released "Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967. A smash hit, it reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100; remarkably, it also charted on the Adult Contemporary, Country, and R&B lists. Gentry has never revealed what was thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Tony Joe White's "Polk Salad Annie" (or sometimes "Poke Salad") charted at number 8 in 1969. It was a regular feature of Elvis Presley's live sets. White also wrote "Rainy Night in Georgia," which he didn't release as a single. It was a major hit for Brook Benton.

Child Trade or Adoption? South Korea Halts Fraud Investigation

NPR has the story, here:

South Korea's government investigation into human rights violations in past international adoptions, which led to a landmark admission of government responsibility in March, has ground to a halt. . . .

South Korea is one of the leading countries that sends children abroad for adoption. According to official data, nearly 170,000 babies have been adopted from South Korea since 1955, while experts suspect the actual number is higher. Sixty-five percent of them went to the United States. . . .

The commission found that adoption agencies sent away babies as "abandoned children" when they in fact they were missing children or had parents. The South Korean government gave the agencies a free hand, through legislation and neglect, to collect adoption fees and donations in what the commission called a "child trade."

Read the whole thing here. 

“South Korea is one of the leading countries that sends children abroad for adoption. According to official data, nearly 170,000 babies have been adopted from South Korea since 1955, while experts suspect the actual number is higher. Sixty-five percent of them went to the United States.”

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— Kim Krawiec (@kimkrawiec.bsky.social) May 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Jeffrey Dobbins Named Dean of Willamette Law

Willamette University has announced that Jeffrey Dobbins is its law school's new dean.   He joined the law school in 2006 and has been serving as interim dean.  Dobbins, who holds a JD from Duke, took over in May.

Adam Chilton Named Dean of University of Chicago Law

The University of Chicago Law School has announced that Adam Chilton will be its next dean.  He joined the faculty in 2014.  Chilton, who holds a JD and a Ph.D in Political Science from Harvard, will take over on July 1.

Telman on NIL and the Iamaleava Brothers

Over at ContractsProfBlog, Jeremy Telman has an interesting post on the current state of NIL concluding that "the center cannot hold" and urging a move to a development league model:

If we were to move to the Development League model, following every other country on the planet, young athletes can still get a college education while playing, but they will be actual, professional athletes, earning a living wage or better. And when they are not professional athletes during the off-season, they will be students, subject to the same expectations as other students, enriching both education and athletics without enriching the people who for decades have been exploiting college athletes and taxpayer dollars. A man can dream.

Read the whole post here. 

Selling Buddha

The BBC has the story, here: 

"Are the relics of the Buddha a commodity that can be treated like a work of art to be sold on the market?" wonders Naman Ahuja, a Delhi-based art historian. "And since they aren't, how is the seller ethically authorised to auction them?
"Since the seller is termed the 'custodian', I would like to ask – custodian on whose behalf? Does custodianship permit them now to sell these relics?"

Chris Peppé, great-grandson of William, told the BBC the family looked into donating the relics, but all options presented problems and an auction seemed the "fairest and most transparent way to transfer these relics to Buddhists".

 

“"Are the relics of the Buddha a commodity that can be treated like a work of art to be sold on the market?" wonders Naman Ahuja, a Delhi-based art historian. "And since they aren't, how is the seller ethically authorised to auction them?”

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— Kim Krawiec (@kimkrawiec.bsky.social) May 6, 2025 at 3:38 AM

"Repugnant Work" just posted

I posted a new article to SSRN, Repugnant Work. Here is the abstract:

This chapter discusses the repugnant income generating activities ("RIGA") of phase I medical research ("guinea pigging"), sex work, and plasma donation. Though each is a robust industry and substantial source of income and professional identity for many providers, significant debate surrounds whether participants in these industries are engaged in work, despite the subjective attitudes of participants themselves and objective similarities to other jobs. The continued invocation of false distinctions between RIGA and other work is thus best explained by discomfort with "dirty work" than to any unique concerns about effort, excellence, meaningfulness, or community. Whether RIGA is work carries consequences, albeit not the ones that many observers believe. But recognizing RIGA as work could impact the stigma faced by RIGA participants and subtly empower them to advocate for fair treatment by acknowledging their important role in the economy and society.

Download the whole thing here. Comments welcome!

CFP: Internationalization of Family and Family Law

This just in:

The International Academy for the Study of the Jurisprudence of the Family (IASJF) is pleased to announce that it will hold its sixteenth international Symposium on “Internationalization of Family and Family Law” on Wednesday and Thursday, June 11-12, 2025. The Symposium will be hosted by the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Symposium will address the wide range of legal and social issues that might be relevant to the phenomenon of the internationalization of the family, with a special regard to its impact on the internationalization of family law. Interdisciplinary presentations are also welcome. In addition to English-language sessions, the conference will include at least one Spanish-language session.

The IASJF is an independent, interdisciplinary scholarly society that seeks to promote thoughtful consideration and discussion of the foundations of the family, including marriage, parenting, extended and other family relations (please visit our website at http://www.iasjf.org/). The IASJF has previously hosted academic symposia in USA, Argentina, Israel, Spain, Malta, Qatar, Poland, Peru, the Philippines, Slovenia and Chile among others. In the years 2020-2022 online symposia of the IASJF have been hosted by universities in Italy, Israel and Poland.

The Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires is located at Av. Pres. Figueroa Alcorta 2263, C1425 Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina, http://www.derecho.uba.ar.

Persons wishing to present a scholarly paper at the symposium should submit a short abstract in English or Spanish of the paper they propose (no more than 200 words) including a working title, name, institutional affiliation, and full contact information of the author(s), and a brief description of the proposed paper. Proposals should be sent to Professor Stefano Troiano ([email protected]) by May 15th, 2025. Proposals for the Spanish-language session must also be accompanied by an abstract in English. Acceptances will be on a rolling-acceptance basis.

All symposium participants must register ($125 Academy Members, $170 non-Members, $125 Participants from Argentina) and pay for their own transportation and hotel. Fee includes all symposium meals. An optional tour of Buenos Aires (not included in the fee) is scheduled for June 13, 2025. Online registration opens on February 24, 2025.

Sally Satel Endorses The End Kidney Deaths Act

In this moving piece, Sally Satel, a two time kidney transplant patient argues in favor of The End Kidney Deaths Act. One thing I always appreciate about Sally is her focus on the wellbeing (including the emotional and psychological struggle) of those with end stage renal disease. Debates about incentivizing organ donation are appropriately focused on the welfare of potential donors, but it's also important to remember that the recipients of organs are very sick patients who have often exhausted other treatment options (such as they are).  Read "I Had Two Kidney Transplants. I Want Donors To Get Paid" here. 

You can also listen to this episode of the Taboo Trades podcast, featuring Satel: 

 

 

Steven Levitt & Ruby Rorty argue for the End Kidney Deaths Act in Chicago Tribune

 "The EKDA, a 10-year pilot program proposed by the Coalition to Modify NOTA, offers a sensible, moderate approach to valuable consideration in the form of refundable tax credits of $50,000 for nondirected living donors. The credit would be paid out over the course of five years, at $10,000 each year, and mirror the support we already extend to other public servants, such as veterans, firefighters and adoptive parents." HT: Frank McCormick

 

Steven Levitt & Ruby Rorty argue for the End Kidney Deaths Act in Chicago Trib "The EKDA, a 10-year pilot program proposed by the Coalition to Modify NOTA, offers a sensible, moderate approach to valuable consideration in the form of refundable tax credits of $50,000 for nondirected living donors."

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— Kim Krawiec (@kimkrawiec.bsky.social) April 30, 2025 at 3:42 PM