Mari Matsuda

What are we teaching our students when we require people of color to leave significant parts of themselves outside the gates of the University?"—Mari J. Matsuda

The title of her speech for the NCORE 2001 conference (Seattle) was: WHO IS EXCELLENT? THOUGHTS ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE, AND PROGRESSIVE IDENTITY POLITICS

Background Information

Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, Mari Matsuda is an "activist scholar," who brings in the "outsiders" perspective. A powerful practitioner of Critical Race Theory, she can also be credited as one of its developers. Matsuda has lectured at every major university; served as a judicial training consultant in countries as diverse as Micronesia and South Africa, and her work is quoted by Supreme Court Justices. For Matsuda, community is linked to teaching and scholarship. She serves on national advisory boards of social justice organizations, including the ACLU, the National Asian Pacific Legal Consortium, and Ms. Magazine. By court appointment, she is a member of the Texaco Task Force on Equality and Fairness. She was recognized by A Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Asian Americans for her representation of Manual Fragante accent discrimination case, and others.

Professor Matsuda has written well-known articles on constitutional law and jurisprudential issues. Three of her publications were ranked by a Yale Law School librarian as among the "top ten most cited law review articles." Judge Richard Posner, lists Mari Matsuda as among those scholars most likely to have lasting influence. Book signing of her most recent book, co-authored with Georgetown professor Charles Lawrence, We Won't Go Back: Making the Case for Affirmative Action, and by Matsuda, Where is Your Body: And Other Essays on Race Gender and the Law.