By Sean Illing
Vox
Nov. 15, 2019

Excerpt

Trump has a habit of blasting critics on Twitter. But some observers — including some loyal to the president — said this tweet was, at best, a very bad idea.

But did this tweet really cross a legal line into witness tampering?

I put this question to seven legal experts. Their responses, edited for clarity and length, are below.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, law professor, Stetson University College of Law

According to the Department of Justice, intimidation of witnesses testifying before Congress is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1515(a)(1). However, in this case it is the president who is allegedly doing the witness intimidation and an OLC opinion (see Indicting a President Is Not Foreclosed: The Complex History – Lawfare) states that a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Just as Trump cannot be indicted for campaign finance crimes while president such as those involving Michael Cohen, he similarly could not be indicted for witness intimidation including his tweets this morning either while he is still in office. But accountability can come in different forms. The House of Representatives could add witness intimidation as a separate article of impeachment. Also, once Trump is an ex-president, federal prosecutors could charge him with witness intimidation if they chose.

The complete article was originally published on the Vox website on Nov. 15, 2019, with the headline, “Did Trump just commit witness tampering? I asked 7 legal experts.”

By Gavrielle Jacobovitz
The Columbia Spectator
Nov. 14, 2019

Excerpt

According to Peter Lake, the chair and director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy at Stetson, the University is not bound to a system of mandatory reporting for all faculty members by law. “The concept of a responsible employee is a regulatory requirement,” says Lake, who previously served as Stetson’s interim director of Title IX compliance. “So the prime motivation for a lot of schools that have those systems was the government told them to do so.” But this responsible employee can just be one person—a Title IX coordinator—based on current regulations.

The complete article was originally published in The Columbia Spectator on Nov. 14, 2019, with the headline, “Students and Faculty Say Gender-Based Harassment and Discrimination at Columbia is Systemic. Why Are They Turning Away From the System Built to Address It?”

Magazine profiles local women leaders

By Amy Martinez
Florida Trend
Oct. 25, 2019

Excerpt

As a young girl in Port-au- Prince, Michéle Alexandre experienced income inequality firsthand. “In Haiti, it’s 0.001% rich, and everyone else is struggling,” she says. Her working-class parents, who had migrated to Port-au-Prince from the countryside, emphasized education and studying hard. “My mom had a favorite saying: ‘Life doesn’t owe you anything.’ The reality in Haiti is it was cutthroat.”

At 11, Alexandre earned a scholarship to one of the city’s top Catholic schools — “We read Voltaire and studied Latin” — which set her up for later success at Colgate University, where in 1996 she was the first black valedictorian, and then as a law student at Harvard. Last summer, she became the first black dean at Stetson University College of Law.

This article was originally published in Florida Trend on Oct. 25, 2019, with the headline, “11 Florida women in leadership roles.”

NFBPA honors local African American public administrators

By Karin Davis-Thompson
The Weekly Challenger
Nov. 8, 2019

Excerpt

The Tampa Bay Chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA) paid tribute to several members of the community for their commitment to public service during a recognition ceremony held at the St. Petersburg Police Department headquarters. Among those recognized was Stetson Law Dean Michèle Alexandre.

NFBPA is a national organization composed of public administrators from various organizations, including local government, public commissions, private businesses and academic institutions. The group provides professional development and works to provide a network for African Americans serving in public administration and lobby for an increase in minorities in the field.

This article was originally published on The Weekly Challenger website on Nov. 8, 2019, with the headline, “NFBPA honors local African American public administrators.”

Trump Ukraine Fracas Echoes Nixon, Clinton Campaign-Law Scandals

By Kenneth P. Doyle
Bloomberg Government
Nov. 7, 2019

Excerpt

What’s different now is that the episode at the heart of the probe involves not money but something that could be just as valuable–a foreign government investigation of a political rival, according to Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a law professor at Stetson University, who’s studied the history of campaign finance law.

“It is beyond the pale,” Torres-Spelliscy said, to make the request Trump did in a phone call to Zelenskiy. The House clearly could determine this was an illegal solicitation of something valuable to the president as a candidate for re-election, she said, but lawmakers wouldn’t be able to point to a specific precedent.

Torres-Spelliscy has written that articles of impeachment drafted against [President Richard] Nixon but never voted on due to his resignation in 1974 included alleged campaign-finance violations.

This article was originally published on the Bloomberg Government website on Nov. 7, 2019, with the headline, “Trump Ukraine Fracas Echoes Nixon, Clinton Campaign-Law Scandals.”