L&C in the Media

As federal legislators consider passing the “Opposing the Cultivation and Trade of Octopus Produced through Unethical Strategies” Act, or OCTOPUS Act, Hira Jaleel of Lewis & Clark’s Center for Animal Law Studies demonstrates why Oregon should lead the way in banning octopus farming.

One of Sweden’s leading television news program took a roadtrip across the US to understand the role of religion in American presidential elections. They stopped at Lewis & Clark to meet our students and speak with Professor Ben Gaskins, an expert on the topic.

Multnomah County is suing NW Natural (Oregon’s oldest and largest supplier of fossil-fuel gas) as part of lawsuit seeking $52 billion for their role in the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome. Part of the issue is NW Natural’s claims that their products are environmentally preferable.  As Carra Sahler, director of Lewis & Clark’s Green Energy Institute, explains, “People want to trust that their utility is doing the right thing, that the utility is providing the information necessary for them to make choices about their energy use.” But this lawsuit may be the only way “to stop [NW Natural] from spreading misinformation” through false claims and bunk science. 

Over 57 million people around the world participated in the 2024 Great Shake Out.  Lewis & Clark Professor Elizabeth Safran explains the science behind this global earthquake preparedness event, and why it is especially important for Oregonians, along with people from northern California, Washington, and British Columbia, to know what to do before, during, and immediately after an earthquake.

Orchestral music might seem far removed from geopolitics.  But this spring, Lewis & Clark’s student choir will join with the award-winning Resonance Ensemble, both conducted by Lewis & Clark Professor Katherine FitzGibbon, and scores of other musicians in a series of performances around Oregon that include music highlighting the contemporary refugee crisis and offering a plea for peace amid the aftermath of past wars.

Lewis & Clark Professor Rob Bovett has deep expertise in writing and implementing drug legislation. In arguing for “supply-side drug policies,” Bovett notes, “Regardless of who wins the presidential election in November, the new U.S. administration in January must make supply reduction through effective control of fentanyl and meth precursors a focal point of U.S. drug policy. They should not revert to false or misleading narratives around the failed war on drugs or the ability of harm reduction to be the foundation for any real solution to this problem that is killing 100,000 Americans each year.”

In this interview, Lewis & Clark Professor Reiko Hillyer explains how the historical research behind her latest book,  A Wall Is Just a Wall, can shape our understanding of prisons and justice reform. Throughout much of the twentieth century, “porous prisons” focused on keeping incarcerated people connected to life and communities outside the prison, facilitating their ability to integrate back after release.

Recent revelations that an Oregon CEO engaged in years of sexual harassment of multiple victims indicate that  “There just aren’t enough legal incentives for employers to truly rein in this abusive behavior,” according to Lewis & Clark Professor Keith Cunningham-Parmeter. Employers often seek legal protection by establishing programs for reporting abuse and training around workplace behavior that do not actually do much good in reducing harassment. “We’ve had 50 years of anti-harassment law and yet harassment is still rampant,” observes Cunningham-Parmeter. “One of the lessons of MeToo is the law does a pretty lousy job of protecting workers from sexual harassment.”