Those submitting work to Civil Rights and Civil Liberties from Harvard Law School must include information about their sexual orientation, gender identity, and race in order to be considered for publication, a stipulation that has recently been added.
The submission form for the journal calls for the applicant's pronouns, if they have a disability, and if they are a first-generation professional or student.
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is a specialized journal put out by Harvard.
The editors of CR-CL have stated the following about the publication: CR-CL is committed to uplifting authors from a diversity of identities, backgrounds, and experiences. The journal is dedicated not only to providing equal opportunities for advancement, but affirmatively promoting voices often sidelined in legal academia.
Answering such questions is mandatory, and an application will not be considered if the form is not filled, says the instruction in bold.
The College Fix attempted to contact Shing-Shing Cao, the editor-in-chief of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, but they did not receive a response to their Linkedin message inquiring as to how long the identities have been requested and what goal the data collection serves.
An attorney who was trying to submit an article for review was annoyed by the necessary survey.
Michael Cicchini, a criminal defense attorney from Wisconsin, said in an email to The College Fix that he believes the identity requirements are a fresh addition, as he had never had to submit that sort of data in the past.
In the Google form, there are a variety of sexual orientations to choose from, such as gay, pansexual, queer, asexual, or any other.
Cicchini proclaimed that he had no knowledge of what pansexual was, nor did he have the inclination to research it.
Cicchini told The Fix, As a criminal defense lawyer, Ive often consulted law reviews when advocating for my clients. I dont care about the authors sexual orientation, gender, or race. My only question is this: Would the article be helpful in defending my client?
Whether best is measured by the groundbreaking nature of the work, the works usefulness to practitioners, or the authors quality of writing. It looks like its another race to the bottom, or at least to mediocrity, in the name of equity. When I submit my own articles for publication in law reviews, my work should be judged on merit. I dont want my chances of being published discounted because of my identities, Cicchini added.
Login