DOCS@RWU

Photograph showing roofs of the Portsmouth and Tiverton Houses as they were joined in the re-erection of the Samson House in Little Compton, RI.https://docs.rwu.edu/baker_images/1957/thumbnail.jp

Samson House 076: Detail of Joining of Two Houses

Morales, Suzi

Roger Williams University School of Law

Roger Williams University 
DOCS@RWU 
Life of the Law School (1993- ) Archives & Law School History 
1-21-2024 
Law School News: From The Community, For The Community 1/
21/24 
Suzi Morales 
Roger Williams University School of Law 
Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/law_archives_life 
 Part of the Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legal Education Commons, Legal 
Profession Commons, and the Nonprofit Organizations Law Commons 
January 21, 2024 
 
Law School News 
From the Community, for the Community 
January 21, 2024Suzi Morales 
 
In December 2023, RWU Law Associate Dean for Student Life & Operations Lorraine Lalli L'01 was 
awarded the NAACP Providence Branch’s Rosa Parks Courageous Leader Award in recognition of her 
service to the law school and the larger community. Image Credit: NAACP Providence 
Long before she was the Associate Dean of Student Life and Operations at Roger Williams 
University School of Law, Lorraine Lalli was an aspiring law student. On her admissions essay 
for RWU Law, she wrote about how she grew up in Providence’s Mt. Hope neighborhood and 
planned to use the skills she learned in law school to give back to the community. 
“At the time, I thought that maybe I would go into politics,” she recalls, “but I knew that it would 
be some way to use those skills to try to help shape the community in a more equitable fashion.” 
Today, Lalli wears many hats in her role with the law school, from supporting student well-being 
to giving back to the larger Providence community, where she grew up and watched her parents 
lead and serve. 
Tools to succeed 
After growing up in Providence, Lalli earned her undergraduate degree from Spelman College, a 
historically Black women’s college in Atlanta. She cast a wide net for law schools up and down 
the East Coast. When she visited RWU Law, though, “I really felt like it was going to be a place 
where I was going to be valued as an individual and really have the tools that I needed to 
succeed. And I was, and still am, very invested in the local Rhode Island community and so the 
opportunity to study law in Rhode Island was attractive to me.” 
As a student, Lalli recalls being one of a small number of Black students. She was active on the 
trial team and president of the Multicultural Law Students Association (“MCLSA”), an umbrella 
group for students from various backgrounds. She graduated at the top of her class and was a 
speaker at graduation. 
After graduation, Lalli worked in the banking and finance department of Brown Rudnick before 
stepping away to raise a family. When she learned about the opening for the inaugural head of 
diversity at RWU Law, she and her husband were active in mentoring students at what is now 
Bridgewater State University, where he worked. The new position at RWU Law fit her strengths. 
 
 
 
A catalyst for change 
Lalli hit the ground running, starting a networking partnership between the Thurgood Marshall 
Society of Rhode Island and the MCLSA. She also helped the law school extend its pipeline 
programs for high school students and begin a pre-orientation for diverse students. In 2007, Lalli 
was promoted to Dean of Students. 
When asked about the evolution of the law school during her tenure, she points to the law 
school’s mission statement, which emphasizes not only student success but also service to the 
community as a whole. According to Lalli, “One of the things that I'm really proud about is that 
we changed our school's mission statement to firmly state our pledge to supporting diversity 
within our school, but also to further articulate our relationship and responsibility to the broader 
Rhode Island community as we push for racial and social justice.” 
Lalli’s work has paid off. When she came onboard in 2005, students of color made up 9 percent 
of the RWU Law first-year class. By 2023, the number had jumped to 28 percent. 
 
 
 
A legacy of service 
Lalli continues to be active in the Providence community, serving on the boards of groups like 
the community development organization One Neighborhood Builders and Mt. Hope Learning 
Center. She also appreciates the law school’s partnerships with community-based organizations. 
For example, the Law School’s Feinstein Center for Pro Bono and Experiential Education 
provides students with hands-on legal experience while working with area organizations. 
“One of the things that's special about RWU Law” Lalli says, “is there isn't this kind of 
separation between the work that we do for the Law School and the community-facing work. 
One is an extension of the other.” 
In December 2023, Lalli was awarded the NAACP Providence Branch’s Rosa Parks Courageous 
Leader Award in recognition of her service to Roger William University School of Law and the 
larger community. The award was especially poignant because her mother – Linda Newton, the 
first vice president of diversity of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island – had previously 
received the same recognition. During the awards gala, Newton introduced her daughter, 
describing her as “an unwavering advocate for political, educational, social, and economic 
justice.” 
When she was applying to law schools, Lalli had been drawn to RWU Law because she believed 
she would be valued there. That is no less true today. “I’ve stuck around for so long because I 
think it's a place where I really have a voice and people listen, where the work that I do matters 
for students and I hope matters for the broader community,” she says. “You can see the fruits of 
your labor on a daily, weekly, and long-term basis, and that feels good.” 
 


English

Law School News: From The Community, For The Community   1/21/24

https://docs.rwu.edu/poetry-walk-images/1019/thumbnail.jp

Alexis Terzioski

Cassandra Bousquet is a sophomore Creative Writing Major minoring in both History and Music. Her work is featured in the collaborative poem,  Breathe,  which appeared in Nature & Culture 2021 Festival Book (Copenhagen: Red Press Kulturhuset Islands Brygge & Københavns Kommune, 2021). Her poem “Dear Human at the Edge of Time” is featured in the anthology of the same title edited by Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, and Jeremy S. Hoffman., and is available in the Roger Williams University Library! Last April, she was a Writer-in-Residence at Bristol\u27s historic mansion, Linden Place. Spending time in and protecting the natural world is very important to her and tends to influence her poetic work

Bousquet, Cassandra

Her Own Divinity
By Cassandra Bousquet
Not barefoot on this beach.
Cigarette butts, bottles and sea glass
splayed like evidence on the cold sand.
Mixing with seaweed and crab skeletons
waiting to be given proper burials by children.
Jellyfish ooze out of wet portals of space:
Nature’s booby traps have been laid.
She collects seashells: not the pretty ones,
the crusty mussels tarnished with black,
hiding their shiny purples and blues behind layers of time.
And in a circle of sand she draws with her little foot,
she places her bounty for another little girl;
For no other reason than her own divinity.
For no loftier aim than to share the beauty.
And she understands what it must feel like to fly.


Her Own Divinity

I hold an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. In addition, I am a former winner of the Rhode Island State Art Fellowship in Literature. Currently, I teach Freshman Writing Studies at RWU

Ramey, Linda

Linda Ramey 
lramey@rwu.edu 
TO MY CANE 
The third foot in the Sphinx’s riddle— 
prairie alligator, stinkbug, 
witch’s horse, crutch, 
 
thirty-two inches of metal kindness 
for my difficult hip, half  
my height, the silver lock button 
 
adjusted, fattening the fifth hole 
like philanthropic gift. 
Wrist bent, palm gripping  
 
the handle’s plastic curve, 
I balance my lack of balance  
on its compassionate shaft, 
 
the rubber tip bouncing the floor, 
a helpmate for my shortened steps.   
My grandfather’s steps, 
 
after the stroke that erased English  
from his Russian tongue, 
his cane hanging off the top rail  
 
of his straight-backed chair, 
a benevolent friend, sunlight  
streaming through the kitchen window  
 
on the generous metal until it shined  
like an affectionate grin. 
O humble servant, 
 
O kindness that begats kindness, 
that prompts strangers to stop  
and open doors, I thank you 
 
for your unwavering support, 
as ancient legs, 
that lifts me, holds me up.                                


To My Cane

https://docs.rwu.edu/poetry-walk-images/1028/thumbnail.jp

Quinn Linnehan

Roger Williams University 
DOCS@RWU 
School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events School of Law Publications 
3-7-2024 
Fireside Chat With Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton And Professor 
Nikolas Bowie: A Discussion About The Relevance And Impact Of 
State Constitutional Law 
Roger Williams University School of Law 
Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/law_pubs_conf 
 Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Courts Commons, Judges Commons, Law and Gender 
Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legal Education Commons, and the Legislation Commons 
FIRESIDE CHAT WITH CHIEF JUDGE JEFFREY S. SUTTON AND 
PROFESSOR NIKOLAS BOWIE: A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE 
RELEVANCE AND IMPACT OF STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 
 
Fireside Chat with Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton and Professor Nikolas Bowie - Thursday, March 7 @ 1:30 
PM 
REMINDER to RSVP Here! 
 
ATTN: RWU Law Community 
On behalf of the Rhode Island Judiciary and RWU Law Dean Gregory W. Bowman, they cordially invite 
you to a Fireside Chat with Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton and Professor Nikolas Bowie on Thursday, 
March 7, 2024. 
 
FIRESIDE CHAT – A discussion about the relevance and impact of state constitutional law. 
 
Thursday, March 7, 2024 
1:30 – 2:30 PM 
 
Law 283 | Simulcast Overflow Room in Law 262 
 
A reception will immediately follow – 2nd Floor Atrium. 
 
RSVP HERE! 
 
 
 
 
 
Statement about Fireside Chat with Judge Jeffrey Sutton and Prof. Bowie (Sent on behalf of the LGBTQ+ 
Alliance)  
3/6/24 
To our fellow members of the RWU Law Community: 
 
This Thursday at 1:00 p.m. in Room 283, Roger Williams University School of Law 
and the Rhode Island Judiciary will jointly host a “Fireside Chat” with Judge Jeffrey 
Sutton, who is currently the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for 
the 6th Circuit. 
 
Even if you have not heard of Judge Sutton himself, you are likely aware of his 
impact on the LGBTQ+ community. In 2014, he authored the opinion upholding 
same-sex marriage bans in four states. This opinion would eventually be 
overturned by the United States Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges. In 2023, 
he overturned an emergency injunction granted by a district court to prevent a 
Tennessee law from being enacted which bans minors from accessing gender-
affirming care. In his ruling, Judge Sutton asserted that there was no “deeply 
rooted” history of permitting access to such care in the nation. This most recent 
ruling coincides with other bans on care and gender expression across the nation, 
empowering those who wish to dehumanize the transgender community at large. 
 
We appreciate that the law school strives to reflect the greater legal community 
by educating and hosting a diverse population that brings with it diverse schools 
of thought and legal analysis. Conflict and confrontation are essential to growth 
and intellectual development. We also understand, as the only law school in the 
state of Rhode Island, that there is a special relationship with the Rhode Island 
Judiciary that we are all invested in maintaining. 
 
To provide a platform for someone who not only believes that the 
Constitution has no space for the queer community, but also utilizes their power 
to enforce that belief in a way that directly harms our community does not 
comport with the law school’s goal to support their LGBTQ+ student body. We are 
alarmed that the Rhode Island Judiciary would choose to host Judge Sutton at a 
time where increased attacks on LGBTQ+ rights are happening across the nation–
including legislation proposed here in Rhode Island. 
 
On Thursday, please visit the Second Floor Atrium and help yourself to 
transgender pride ribbons to wear during the event and throughout the day in 
solidarity with our transgender students and transgender Americans at large 
harmed by Judge Sutton’s decisions. Judge Sutton is just one of many legal 
scholars continuing to stand in the way of relief in the justice system, despite 
being fully aware of the injustices imposed on the LGBTQ+ community in America. 
Furthermore, we ask that if you attend this event, do so with intellectual curiosity. 
Any opportunity to learn is one that should be engaged enthusiastically and 
wholeheartedly.  
 
In the coming weeks, please look forward to a fundraiser for OUTMemphis, 
a nonprofit which serves LGBTQ+ people in Tennessee, one of the several states 
directly impacted by Judge Sutton’s decisions. 
 
Yours in Solidarity, 
Alliance Executive Board 
 
 
The LGBTQ+ Alliance  
alliance@g.rwu.edu  
---------------------- 
Meg Jackson, President 
Brooke Silvestri, Vice President 
Samuel Filiaggi, Treasurer  
Nora Zientak, Events Coordinator 
Myrta Lucia Ventura, Secretary  
Judd Krasher, 3L Representative 
Alley Testut, 2L Representative 
Mercedes Hernandez, 1L Representative, Section A 
Penny Kehrer, 1L Representative, Section B 
 
 
 
  
 
The Rhode Island Judiciary held its fireside chat co-hosted by RWU Law School, with Chief 
Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit and Harvard Law 
Professor Nikolas Bowie for a discussion about state constitutional law held at the RWU 
Law Hon. Bruce M. Selya Appellate Courtroom. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Fireside Chat With Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton And Professor Nikolas Bowie: A Discussion About The Relevance And Impact Of State Constitutional Law

I am, have been, and will always continue to be a student

Linnehan, Quinn

To Each Other, We Depart
By Quinn Linnehan
Shawl of cold iron pulled over your heart.
Born of others yet you handmade as likened to an art.
Led you blindly to rend our grandeur apart.
A sprawling forest of companionship now rendered assart.
Architects of our own despair, of a benumbing rampart.
When all is deprived of the warm radiance of community, we must restart. 
Before we drown in our solace, and our kinship dispart.
To our isolated cells, I say we now depart.
And the gift of our connection we may once again impart.


To Each Other, We Depart

Roger Williams University 
DOCS@RWU 
School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events School of Law Publications 
4-4-2024 
5th Annual Women In Law Leadership Lecture 
Roger Williams University School of Law 
Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/law_pubs_conf 
 Part of the Civil Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Family Law Commons, Law and Gender 
Commons, Legal Education Commons, and the Legal Profession Commons 
     5th Annual Women In Law Leadership Lecture, April 4, 2024 
 
5th Annual Women in Law Leadership Lecture featuring Director Rosie Hidalgo, Office on Violence 
Against Women, U.S. Dept. of Justice 
               
               Save the Date…5th Annual Women in Law Leadership Lecture 
Thursday, April 4, 2024 
4:30 PM | RWU Law | Bristol Campus 
Rosie Hidalgo, Director 
Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) 
U.S. Department of Justice 
 
5th Annual Women in Law Leadership 
Lecture 
Thursday, April 4, 2024 
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm 
RWU Law Bristol Campus - Law 283 
RSVP Required 
The fifth annual Roger Williams University School of Law Leadership Lecture, will feature 
Rosie Hidalgo, Director, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), U.S. Department of 
Justice. 
4:30 PM  Lecture - School of Law 283 
 
Reception immediately following lecture. 
 
Rosie Hidalgo 
Rosie Hidalgo joined the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) as its Director in July 
2023, after serving as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor on Gender-Based 
Violence at the White House Gender Policy Council. She previously worked at OVW as Deputy 
Director for Policy in the Obama-Biden Administration, during which time Rosie was detailed to 
the Office of the Vice President, working with the White House Advisor on Violence Against 
Women. 
Rosie has worked in the movement to end gender-based violence for over 30 years as a public 
interest attorney and as a national policy advocate. At the outset of her career, she provided 
direct civil legal services through non-profit organizations in New York and Virginia. Prior to 
her work at the White House, she was the Senior Director of Public Policy for Casa de 
Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities (now Esperanza 
United), a national resource center with a focus on providing training, research, and policy 
advocacy to prevent and end domestic violence and sexual assault. Rosie also served on the 
Biden Foundation’s Advisory Council for Ending Violence Against Women and on the 
American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. 
The daughter of immigrants from Cuba, Rosie spent a total of 10 years as an adult living in three 
different countries in Latin America, including the Dominican Republic, where she helped 
establish and coordinate a community-based domestic violence prevention and intervention 
network and worked as a consultant for the World Bank on social services reforms. 
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations from Georgetown 
University and her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden 
Scholar. 
In addition to the lecture, the program will feature the announcement of the winners of the RWU 
Law RBG Essay/Art Contest for RI school children. 
MAKE A GIFT TO THE WOMEN IN LAW LEADERSHIP LECTURE AT RWU LAW 
Special Accommodations 
Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for 
an event should contact the Office of the Dean - Programs & Initiatives, as soon as possible, but 
no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be 
made. lawevents@rwu.edu 
This program has been approved for one Rhode Island MCLE credit. 
Thank you to our IMPACT SPONSORS! 
Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C. 
Cervenka Green Ducharme LLC 
First Women honoree Louise Durfee (1966) 
Hinckley Allen 
 
 
Special Accommodations 
Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for 
an event should contact the Office of the Dean - Programs & Initiatives, as soon as possible, but 
no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be 
made. lawevents@rwu.edu 
 
The 5th Annual Women in Law Leadership Lecture  
Thursday, April 4, 2024 
4:30 PM 
RWU Law Bristol Campus | Law 283 
The fifth annual Roger Williams University School of Law Leadership Lecture, will feature Rosie Hidalgo, 
Director, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), U.S. Department of Justice. 
 
Program details may be found here. 
 
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Food Allergies (for Reception) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                   PROGRAM      
Welcome and Remarks 
Jodi Haley 
Assistant Dean of Career Development 
Introduction and Land & Labor Acknowledgement 
Gregory W. Bowman 
Dean & Professor of Law 
Fireside Chat 
Rosie Hidalgo, Esq. 
Director of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) 
        and Emily J. Sack 
Professor, RWU Law 
Questions from Audience 
Moderated by Jodi Haley 
Introduction of RBG Contest 
Jodi Haley 
Presentation of Awards 
Andrea I. Staehelin L’24 
Roger Williams University School of Law Women’s Law Society 
President 
 
Announcement of Winners of RWU School of Law RBG Essay/Art Contest for 
Rhode Island Students K-12 “How Has Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Inspired 
Me? 
Closing Remarks 
Jodi Haley 
Reception in School of Law 2nd Floor Atrium to 
Follow. 
#RWULawRBGEssay 
 
                                ABOUT THE SPEAKERS  
 
 
ROSIE HIDALGO joined the Office on Violence Against Women 
(OVW) as its Director in July 2023, after serving as Special Assistant      
to the President and Senior Advisor on Gender-Based Violence at 
the White House Gender Policy Council. She previously worked at 
OVW as Deputy Director for Policy 
in the Obama-Biden Administration, during which time Director Hidalgo 
was detailed to the Office of the Vice President, working with the White 
House Advisoron Violence Against Women. 
 
Director Hidalgo has worked in the movement to end gender-based violence for over 30 years as 
a public interest attorney and as a national policy advocate. At the outset of her career, she 
provided direct civil legal services through non-profit organizations in New York and Virginia. Prior 
to her work at the White House, she was the Senior Director of Public Policy for Casa de 
Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities (now Esperanza 
United), a national resource center with a focus on providing training, research, and policy 
advocacy to prevent and end domestic violence and sexual assault. Director Hidalgo also served 
on the Biden Foundation’s Advisory Council for Ending Violence Against Women and on the 
American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. 
 
The daughter of immigrants from Cuba, Director Hidalgo spent a total of 10 years as an adult living 
in three different countries in Latin America, including the Dominican Republic, where she helped 
establish and coordinate a community-based domestic violence prevention and intervention 
network and worked as a consultant for the World Bank on social services reforms. 
 
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations from Georgetown 
University and her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden 
Scholar. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    Joining the RWU Law faculty in 2001, Professor EMILY J. SACK 
has become a nationally recognized expert on domestic violence and 
reform of the court system. As the Deputy Director for the Center for 
Court Innovation, Professor Sack helped develop and implement 
the first domestic violence courts in New York, as well as the first felony 
domestic violence court in the United States. U.S. Supreme Court 
Justice Stevens cited Professor Sack’s article Battered Women and the 
State: The Struggle for the Future of Domestic Violence Policy in his 
opinion in the domestic violence case Castle Rock v. Gonzales. 
 
Active in the community, Professor Sack has been a Board member of the Rhode Island Coalition 
Against Domestic Violence, the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, and President of the Board of the 
Women’s Resource Center. Prior to joining RWU, Professor Sack worked in diverse offices such as 
the Senate Judiciary Committee Staff of the late Edward M. Kennedy, the ACLU, and the law firm of 
Stillman, Friedman, & Shaw. 
 
A magna cum laude graduate of NYU School of Law, Professor Sack earned her B.A. from 
Swarthmore with high honors and her M. Phil. from Columbia University. She teaches Criminal 
Law, Criminal Procedure, Children and the Law, Domestic Violence Law, and Death Penalty 
Law. 
She recently served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law. She has published 
in many top journals, including the Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Washington University law 
reviews. 
 
 
                 RBG CONTEST  
MEET THE RBG CONTEST WINNERS 
Roger Williams University School of Law RBG Essay/Art Contest for Rhode Island Students K-
12 
How Has Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Inspired Me? 
High School (Grades 9-12) 
Avery Blais 
Mount Saint Charles Academy, Grade 9 
The RBG Within ME 
I stand on the starting line at the Track at New Balance, overwhelmed. A freshman girl, running 
against 12 varsity boys, preparing to run as hard as I can. Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the notorious 
RBG, probably felt a similar feeling to the one that I feel during this moment. A young woman, 
paired against people who were biologically stronger, but mentally my equal. 
It’s overwhelming, maximally infuriating. She must have felt the nervous pressure weighing down 
on her chest, chasing impossible standards, but determined for an equal chance as every man 
had. How could a young Jewish teenager growing up in a close-minded 1940’s society, with 
twisted idealistic and unrealistic expectations on what it is to be a woman, become the renowned 
Justice we know of today? She grew through education, using it as a weapon in a male dominated 
profession, being one of the few women and top students in her 1954 Cornell class. She was able 
to rise above the scrutiny of a young woman abandoning the idea of a nuclear family for Harvard 
Law, and later Columbia, where she graduated first in her class. All this success without the 
support of her older sister and mother, whom she lost before graduating from high school. 
Attorney Bader Ginsberg challenged the letter of the law, winning five major Supreme Court sex-
discrimination cases when she was the Project Litigator for the ACLU. She impacted the world I live 
in, the rights I have, 
even before sitting on the Supreme Court. She allowed marginalized people to be spoken for, and 
was an advocate for equal rights. She knew how it felt to be looked down upon and expected less 
of, all because of the fact she had ovaries. Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the Columbia graduate, one of 
America’s 
most renowned feminists, was once a 14-year-old girl. All this, because she had the will to chase 
the same chance afforded to men. 
RBG once said, “When I’m sometimes asked when there will be enough (women judges on the 
US Supreme Court bench)”, I say, “When there are nine. People are shocked. But there’d be 
nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” She was once me. To me, RBG is a 
goal. She is an inspiration, and a hero who paved the way for the next generation of 
Americans. No matter the gender or race, everyone shares a responsibility to protect the constitution 
and the rights reflected in it. My feet lift off the track, and I begin. Failure was not an option for her, 
it’s not an option for me either. 
 
 
Middle School (Grades 6-8) 
Reese Lourenco 
Segue Institute for Learning, Grade 6 
The Great Influence of Ruth Bader Ginsburg 
“Fight for the things you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” That is the 
famous quote of a woman named Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was the first Jewish woman and 
the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Born March 15, 1933, she led the fight 
against gender discrimination and successfully argued six cases before the U.S. 
Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a passionate woman who fought for equality and justice, 
and is remembered for her pathbreaking opinions on major issues, such as women’s rights, voting 
rights, and health care. 
She believed that all people should have equal rights, but her work to achieve equal rights for women 
was the focus of her career. In a 1979 case, she challenged the notion that girls were less fit to serve 
on the jury. Ruth Bader Ginsburg explained in 2009, “Women belong in all places where decisions 
are being made”— including juries. “It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” She also 
championed these 5 laws to support gender equality; the Equal Pay Act, Title IX, the Pregnancy 
Discrimination Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This 
inspired me because soon, at my school, I will be a 6th grade community leader, and the bravery 
Ruth Bader Ginsburg had as a leader is like an example for what I have to achieve as one. 
Community leaders are students who are selected to 
be the voice of the students and speak for the students and what they all as a collective believe in, and 
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has shown me what you need to be able to do in order to be successful in the 
role as a leader. 
Another way she was an inspiration is the fact that even though she was sick with colon cancer, 
she kept working at the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg had her first experience with 
cancer in 1999 when the doctors 
discovered colon cancer at an early stage by accident because of an unrelated abdominal infection. 10 
years later, when she was undergoing regular screenings, doctors discovered pancreatic cancer 
and removed part of her pancreas and her spleen. This is inspiring because although she was sick, 
she never stopped fighting for what she believed in and what she thought was better for the 
world. It tells me that even if something bad is going on in my life, I should still be true to my role as 
a community leader. 
In conclusion, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has inspired me and the entire world with her bravery and 
perseverance. Although she’s not with us anymore, she will always be remembered for her 
accomplishments to make the world a better place. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is such an inspiration on 
people who will take over roles as types of leaders, including me taking on the role as 
community leader. To me, she is a symbol of hope and perseverance and just inspires me to keep 
pushing on. 
 
Elementary School (Grades K-5) Visaagan Vipakaran 
Woodridge Elementary School, Grade 5 
    Equality for All People      
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
This program is made possible by the generosity of our 
                                            IMPACT SPONSORS  
 
 
 
 
First Women Honoree Louise Durfee (1966) 
   Special Thanks! ECIAL 
THANKS! 
Roger Williams University School of Law Women in Law Leadership 
Lecture Committee 
Professor Nicole P. Dyszlewski  
Jodi Haley 
                       Chelsie Horne, CMP  
              Professor Sarah McConnell Dubois 
                           Professor Emily J. Sack  
                             Andrea I. Staehelin L’24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 


Roger Williams University

Not a member yet

Samson House 076: Detail of Joining of Two Houses

Law School News: From The Community, For The Community 1/21/24

Alexis Terzioski

Her Own Divinity

To My Cane

Quinn Linnehan

Fireside Chat With Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton And Professor Nikolas Bowie: A Discussion About The Relevance And Impact Of State Constitutional Law

To Each Other, We Depart

5th Annual Women In Law Leadership Lecture

AMDiP Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals: Hosted by Roger Williams University School of Law: April 23-25, 2024

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