COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY RECORD  December 3, 1993  Vol. 19 No. 12

               GINSBURG HAILED ON HER RETURN TO LAW SCHOOL

      Recently appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 
      who became the first tenured woman faculty member at Columbia Law 
      School in 1972, returned to her alma mater Nov. 18-19.

      More than 700 Columbia law students and former colleagues welcomed 
      her Fri., Nov. 19, with a standing ovation in Low Rotunda, 
      honoring the justice's 34-year career as an equal rights advocate, 
      professor, legal scholar and judge.

      She was also a surprise guest speaker the previous evening at the 
      Alexander Hamilton Dinner in Low Rotunda, helping to honor her 
      former dean and mentor, Michael I. Sovern, President Emeritus, Law 
      School Dean Emeritus and now Kent Professor of Law.

      "This homecoming is the greatest event I have attended since I got 
      this job," Ginsburg said Friday. She described her appointment to 
      the Court as "the most wonderful and most difficult job as a 
      lawyer."

      She thanked Columbia for her education, which she said helped her 
      become an advocate for gender equality. "I have appreciated the 
      wonderful legal training I received at this law school, which 
      allowed me to contribute to a principle: that any individual 
      should have an equal chance in this world and should not be held 
      back because of the condition or state of one's birth," she said.

      Joined by a panel of former students and colleagues, Ginsburg 
      recalled her years at Columbia, first as a law student graduating 
      in 1959, tying for top honors, and later as the first tenured 
      woman law professor, when she was hired by Sovern, then dean.

      At a reception held at the University Club that afternoon, 
      Ginsburg received the Kent Award, the school's highest alumni 
      award.

      As a professor at Columbia, she taught courses on sexual 
      discrimination law and worked to advance women's legal causes as 
      the founder of the American Civil Liberties Union Women's Rights 
      Project.

      At Thursday's Hamilton Award Dinner, she warmly thanked Sovern for 
      giving her an experience that changed her life. "Michael Sovern is 
      a great human who touched my life as so many others at the most 
      crucial turning points," she said.

      Ginsburg, 60, also reflected on the progress of women in law since 
      she entered the field. "I expect to see, in my lifetime, the day 
      when there are four, even five women on that bench [of the Supreme 
      Court]," she said. "The change has been so enormous in my 
      lifetime. That's why I'm so optimistic."

      On Friday morning, Elizabeth Freeman, an attorney and former 
      Ginsburg student, ('76), said, "We have a caring and compassionate 
      person. We have a daughter, a wife, a grandmother with real family 
      values. A person who is acutely aware, and has taught her students 
      to be aware, of the need to judge individuals on their merits, not 
      on the basis of stereotypes and qualities like gender, that have 
      nothing to do with merit and the ability to do the job."

      Friday afternoon, Ginsburg answered more questions from law 
      students in an informal talk, sponsored by the Law Women's 
      Association, in Jerome Greene Hall.

      On her new job, Ginsburg said,"I'm very much a new kid on the 
      block. I've been through only the second round of sittings. I can 
      tell you that for the most part my experiences are what I 
      expected, that this is the most wonderful and most difficult job 
      for a lawyer."

      Cori Flam, co-chairwoman of L.W.A. and a second-year law student, 
      said, "Her whole career path is a model--her writings, the 
      positions she's held, and her choices of where to place her 
      efforts. Her presence [has] inspired more women to join the 
      profession, to make institutional changes."

      Opening remarks at the Low Rotunda session were made by Lance 
      Liebman, the Law School dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law. 
      Vivian O. Berger, ('73), vice dean and professor of law, was the 
      moderator.

      In addition to Freeman, other panelists were Kathleen Peratis, 
      attorney; Lynn Schafran ('74), National Organization for Women 
      Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Diane Zimmerman ('76), 
      N.Y.U. professor of law.

      After graduating from law school, Ginsburg didn't receive a single 
      job offer from a law firm, even though she graduated with top 
      honors and had served as an editor of both the Harvard and 
      Columbia law reviews. She taught both at Rutgers and Columbia law 
      schools, and spent seven years as the lead attorney for the 
      A.C.L.U. Before her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court in June, 
      Ginsburg had served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals since 
      1980.