May 6, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Battered women’s shelters, which historically experienced difficulty maintaining contact with abuse survivors after they leave, should consider using e-mail to stay in touch, according to Emily Rothman, assistant professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the School of Public Health. She led a study of abuse survivors in 11 Massachusetts domestic violence shelters and found that the abusers never hacked into their victims’ computers, prompting these women to say it would be safe for the shelters to use e-mail to maintain contact with them and thus reduce any social isolation.
“Survivors can be taught when and where to access e-mail or use other helpful abuse-prevention websites safely and be taught to cover their electronic tracks. There is no question that e-mail with a shelter could make an abuse survivor vulnerable to violence. At the same time, the Internet can be used to transmit highly sensitive and confidential information to trusted sources. So there is no reason why the domestic violence movement shouldn’t be able to benefit from that.”
Contact Emily Rothman, (617) 638-5160 erothman@bu.edu
May 6, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Law Professor Linda McClain, an expert in family law and policy, says it is interesting how Maine became the fifth state to legalize same-sex marriages when Governor John Baldacci signed the bill passed by the state Senate.
"Maine is interesting because it has a relatively modest domestic partnership law that is not nearly as inclusive as a civil union statute. Also, a court has not spurred either the domestic partnership law or this legislative action.
"The governor's explanation of this issue as one of equal protection and anti-discrimination is notable. In the past, some governors have defended civil unions as honoring a state's commitment to anti-discrimination but also upholding its marriage traditions. Governor Baldacci's signing remarks suggest the growing success of arguments about marriage equality: having a separate legal institutions for same-sex couples is not really equality.
"Maine's relatively easy ballot initiative process, however, may make this new law vulnerable. The governor clearly expects that there will be some effort to have a ‘people's veto.’ How Maine voters view this issue -- whether one of basic equality or one of preserving traditional marriage -- may determine the fate of that initiative.
"The governor's signing remarks also indicate that the importance of distinguishing civil marriage from religious marriage. He stresses that the law does not impair religious freedom, but it does uphold equal treatment under civil marriage laws. Being able to distinguish between religious and civil marriage once again plays a critical role in courts, legislatures, and governors opening up civil marriage to same-sex couples.
"Being able to distinguish civil and religious marriage allows the Maine legislature and the governor to pass a bill that is framed as ending discrimination in civil marriage and affirming religious freedom. Before, civil unions were defended as preserving marriage tradition while also ending discrimination. Maine has rejected this route as not really providing equality."
Contact Linda McClain, 617-358-4635, lmcclain@bu.edu
May 6, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Law Professor Tamar Frankel, an authority on securities law and legal ethics, applauds the Securities and Exchange Commission for bringing its first insider-trading case involving the unregulated financial world of Credit Default Swaps.
"It makes good sense for the SEC to start prosecuting in the area of credit swaps. First, one can learn a lot about this shadow market. Second, one can find out how much this shadow market engaged in violations of existing laws. Only then can regulations be drafted.
"Such regulation need not deal with insider trading -- which is already prohibited -- but focus on the freedoms from constraints that the actors in these shadow markets had, and how they abused this freedom. Those abuses would then be subject to regulation."
Contact Tamar Frankel, 617-353-3773, tfrankel@bu.edu
May 6, 2009 at 9:15 am
As fears of the deadly outbreak of influenza A H1N1 have diminished with Mexico City returning to "normalcy," and fewer US schools closings, this "swine flu" is still around and may be spreading less aggressively than some seasonal virus strains. However, in the southern hemisphere where the weather is getting colder and their traditional flu season is about to start, there is concern about the new strain spreading, noted Dr. David Ozonoff, a BU School of Public Health disease specialist.
"Remember that this new virus strain came after our ususal flu season and the dynamics of the disease in the southern hemisphere could be very different. So we have to be watchful of what happens down there. We may get some clues of what may happen next in late August or September. We still lack the ability to connect the genetics with the biology with the flu -- this virus is still a moving target."
Contact Dr. David Ozonoff, 617-638-4620, dozonoff@bu.edu
May 5, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Former deputy Comtroller of the Currency Robert R. Bench, now senior fellow at the School of Law's Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law, says the Fed's "stress tests" on the nation's largest banks will help clarify the murky state of the industry.
"The very good news with these stress-test results is that policymakers have acquired a solid view of the conditions of our largest financial institutions face going forward and the amounts of capital cushion necessary to meet those conditions.
"Policymakers had one last shot at getting this right and they are going at it with an abundance of caution, ordering those institutions to get much more tangible common equity. A systemic uncertainty is being eliminated."
Contact Robert Bench, 617-353-5428, bobbench@bu.edu
May 4, 2009 at 4:52 pm
College of Communication Professor T. Barton Carter, an authority on communication law and an FCC expert, said the Supreme Court ordering a lower-court review of the fine against CBS for the Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Superbowl means that case still has a long way to go in light of the high court's similar ruling last week about "fleeting expletives" involving Fox television.
"This is not unexpected given last week's ruling in Fox. However, there is just enough of a factual difference that the lower court could still find the same way as before. If not, then just as in Fox case the court will have to address the First Amendment challenges to the indecency rules. The bottom line is that this is far from over."
Contact T. Barton Carter, 617-353-3482, comlaw@bu.edu
May 4, 2009 at 3:34 pm
With the release this week of results of the "stress tests" on the nation's largest banks, Robert Bench, senior fellow at the School of Law's Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law and former deputy Comptroller of the Currency, says federal regulators will be tough.
"The federal banking agencies have the striped-shirt and the whistle, and it looks like they are going to call the game tighter than they have, i.e., they are defining critical capital more narrowly – ‘Tangible Common Equity’ (TCE) -- and demanding more of it to cushion against potential further losses coming out of the deep recession we are in.
"The financial referees had been criticized for not seeing what was happening in the scrum. But it now appears they will be issuing formal orders for banks to materially increase their capital so the banks can more soundly deal with problems that the regulatory stress tests indicate may be on the horizon."
Contact Robert Bench, 617-353-5428, bobbench@bu.edu
May 1, 2009 at 1:13 pm
With the Boston Globe on a midnight cost-cutting deadline ultimatum from its parent New York Times to stay alive, College of Communication Associate Dean Tobe Berkovitz reflects on the big picture.
"It's down to the wire in the battle of the Boston Globe and New York Times. Media coverage of the story is a throw back to the days when you had to read the back page of Pravda to figure out what was going on.
"The Times remains mum (a good strategy), the Globe provides minimal and judicious reporting (no investigative teams digging up the facts here) and the Guild tries to keep the infighting inside the union office. The bottom line is the bottom line of the finances of the New York Times.
"The Grey Lady (a.k.a. the paper of record) is not going to let the Boston Globe sink the mothership."
Contact Tobe Berkovitz, 617-353-3447, tobetv@bu.edu
May 1, 2009 at 1:07 pm
With word that Justice David Souter will retire from the Supreme Court, Law Professor Jack Beerman, an authority on the court, says former law-school professor Obama is in a unique position to nominate a successor.
"President Obama, having been a law professor and president of the Harvard Law Review, is in a unique position to make an informed choice of a replacement for Justice Souter. He has a greater personal familiarity with the available choices and a greater understanding of the process than any president in recent memory. Given the president's experience and the quality of his advisors, one thing is certain -- he will make a high-quality pick."
Meantime, Law Professor Jay Wexler, a former clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, recalls Souter as being perhaps the best justice at probing counsels appearing before the high court.
"I always liked listening to his questions. They are thoughtful and helpful, unlike the questions of some of the other justices, which are more like, 'Let me show you how smart and/or mean I am,' or whatever. Souter's opinions are sometimes infuriatingly long, but they are always pretty astute. He'll be missed by all good jurists and liberals."
Contact Jack Beermann, 617-353-2577, beermann@bu.edu
Contact Jay Wexler, 617-353-2789, jaywex@bu.edu
April 30, 2009 at 3:58 pm
School of Management Dean Louis Lataif, a former Ford executive, says the bankruptcy of Chrysler shows it is difficult for the government to impose financial decisions on private enterprises.
"It's unfortunate that Chrysler must go through bankruptcy. It seems clear that debt holders, who themselves must answer to their own investors, refused to take only half of what they would receive in a Chrysler liquidation, as the government was requesting. It's another illustration that it's difficult, if not impossible, for government to impose anti-market decisions.
"It would have been more defensible if the government would have served as a lender of last resort, granting significant bridge loans for the ailing auto makers. Those loans could have been granted with restrictive covenants that would have required concessions by all the participants -- management, labor, debt holders, suppliers, and dealers.
"Then when the auto market inevitably rebounds from this credit crisis, the auto manufacturers would begin repaying the loans with interest, making the taxpayers whole. And the government would not have put itself into the business of running the auto companies -- an approach that will assuredly prove to be untenable."
Contact Louis Lataif, 617-353-2668, lelataif@bu.edu
