Kiwi Camara

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Kiwi Alejandro Danao Camara (born June 16, 1984), also known as K.A.D. Camara, is a Filipino American legal scholar. In 2001, at age sixteen, he became the youngest person to matriculate at Harvard Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 2004.[1] He was also involved in a racial controversy at the school that attracted national attention.

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[edit] Background

Camara was born in Manila, Philippines. A year later, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio before settling in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Camara attended the Punahou School.[1] A gifted child, he wrote a medical paper on alternative treatments for rheumatoid arthritis at age eleven,[1] which was apparently published in the Hawai'i Journal of Medicine.[2] At sixteen, having skipped high school, Camara earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Hawaii Pacific University.[2] He completed the program in two years and was singularly recognized by the university for outstanding academic performance.[2] The Philippines awarded him their Jose Rizal Certificate of Achievement while he was in college and later, in 2005, recognized him with a Presidential Commendation.[3]

In 2001, Camara enrolled in Harvard Law School. There, he received a John M. Olin Fellowship in Law and Economics. He held the fellowship until September 2004, at which time he took a position as a law clerk for Judge Harris Hartz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.[1]

Camara holds a John M. Olin Fellowship for 2006-2007 and is a visiting scholar at the Northwestern University School of Law. He was previously a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at Stanford Law School, in addition to a Ph.D student in Economics at Stanford University.[3]

[edit] Racial controversy at Harvard

In his first year at Harvard, Camara was involved a racial controversy that would gain attention from the national media. Like many students, Camara posted his course outlines to a popular student-run website. Camara's, however, referred to blacks as nigs. For example, to summarize Shelley v. Kraemer, he wrote "Nigs buy land with no nig covenant; Q: Enforceable?"[4] The notes were prefaced with a disclaimer that they may contain racially offensive shorthand.[4]

Upon discovering the outline, classmate Michelle Simpson alerted other students and professors.[4] Camara issued an apology and the outlines were promptly removed, whereupon a third student using the pseudonym "gcrocodile" e-mailed Simpson expressing disappointment that they were no longer available and an intention to use the word nigger more often.[5] The student was later identified. The section's professor, Charles Nesson, proposed as a didactic solution a classroom mock trial in which he would defend the student's right to free speech.[6] The Black Law Student Association at the school took offense and called for a reprimand of the professor, along with another who in an unrelated incident allegedly stated that "Feminism, Marxism and the blacks have contributed nothing to the scientific pursuit of legal discourse."[6] Nesson voluntarily withdrew from teaching the torts course, and the law school dean took over for remainder of the semester.[7]

The following year, students protested in favor of more transparency in the selection of the next law school dean and requested a candidate in favor of affirmative action.[8]

In an article in The New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin covered the incident and found it "striking" that a sequence of "quirky and anomalous events generated such a consensus at the law school-that racial bias was widespread and that immediate corrective action was needed."[9] Law professor Charles Fried described it as a "hysterical, ridiculous overreaction to a couple of unfortunate incidents." The controversy is also the subject of the book The People Vs. Harvard Law: How America's Oldest Law School Turned Its Back on Free Speech and a talk at the New England Appellate Judges’ Conference.[10]

[edit] Controversy at Yale in 2005

In 2005, The Yale Law Journal accepted for publication an article co-written by Camara. An anonymous e-mail informed the Law Journal's editors of Camara's course outlines at Harvard and requested that his article not be published. The editors of the Yale Law Journal considered and ultimately decided to publish Camara's article. Some Yale Law students were upset by this decision, and formed a group that held protest activities and an alternative panel on "Disempowered Voices in the Legal Academy" at the same time as Camara's talk. Law school dean Harold Koh was among several dozen students and faculty who walked out of Camara's talk.[11] Before the talk, Camara was aware of the planned protest and told The New York Times that he was happy that the comments had led to "a teaching moment" that was "a more productive thing to do than burning [him] in effigy".[12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Pastor, Cristina DC. "Kiwi Camara: Harvard genius, ballroom dancer", Philippine News, 2004-10-18. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
  2. ^ a b c Hiller, Jennifer. "Teen genius 'not that different'", The Honolulu Advertiser, 2001-01-08, pp. 1A. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
  3. ^ a b K.A.D. Camara, Visiting, Faculty Profiles, Faculty & Research, School of Law, Northwestern University. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
  4. ^ a b c Mike, Wiser. "Outline sparks race controversy", The Record at Harvard Law School. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  5. ^ Russell, Jenna. "At Harvard Law, One-Word Lessons", Boston Globe, 2002-04-20, pp. B1.
  6. ^ a b Jonas, Blank. "Race controversy explodes, BLSA makes demands of administration", The Record at Harvard Law School, 2002-04-11. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  7. ^ Jonas, Blank. "Administration responds to BLSA demands as students stage protest", The Record at Harvard Law School, 2002-04-18. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  8. ^ Ray, Bipasha. "Students to demonstrate over search for Harvard Law School dean", The Associated Press State & Local Wire, 2003-04-11.
  9. ^ Toobin, Jeffrey. "Speechless; Free expression and civility clash at Harvard.", The New Yorker, 2003-01-27, pp. 32.
  10. ^ Silvergate, Harvey. Harassment, Parody, and Patriotic (& Unpatriotic) Gore: Tensions Between Academic Freedom and Proper Governance of Student & Faculty Speech at Colleges & Universities, talk to the New England Appellate Judges’ Conference held in Boston on November 4, 2005.
  11. ^ Mangino, Andrew. "Panel sees walkout, protest", Yale Daily News, 2006-03-27. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  12. ^ Salzman, Avi. "Symposium Guest's Word Stirs Controversy at Yale", The New York Times, 2006-03-08, pp. Section B; Column 5; Metropolitan Desk; Education Page; Pg. 7.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../k/i/w/Kiwi_Camara_7336.html"