Law dean debunks hate crime laws
Samantha Sims
Issue date: 2/17/03 Section: News
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Heidi Hurd, dean of the College of Law at the University of Illinois, comes from a town that is synonymous with hate crime — Laramie, Wyo., the town where Matthew Shepard was murdered because of his sexual orientation.
According to Hurd, in her youth she helped construct a portion of the fence on which Shepard’s body was found.
Hurd, however, does not condone hate crime laws.
Friday, Hurd spoke about problems with hate crime legislation in the Western Illinois University Union’s Sandburg Theatre. The theater was filled with Western faculty and pre-law students who came to hear her speak about hate crime at the Second Annual Pre-Law Honors Symposium.
“She’s the new dean of the College of Law at the University of Illinois and we thought that if we could get her to come over, it would be wonderful for us and for our students. We’ve got a number of alumni from the University of Illinois College of Law. We have students here who are interested in going to the University of Illinois and we’re anxious to build connections between our school and their school,” said Thomas Helm, director of the Illinois Centennial Honors College.
Over the years, Hurd has written extensively in several scholarly journals. She testified in 1999 before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. She is currently co-writing “Punishing Hatred and Prejudice: The Perils of Hate Crime Legislation” with her husband.
Hurd said that until a few years ago, she had never written or spoken about hate crimes.
“I just received a number of invitations to come and talk about it (hate crime legislation) and had to educate myself about it. And the more I was educated about it, the more philosophically interesting it became and I realized that there were all sorts of philosophical assumptions and presuppositions that were being made that needed to be examined,” Hurd said.
During the symposium, Hurd spoke about the errors in hate crime legislation.
According to Hurd, in her youth she helped construct a portion of the fence on which Shepard’s body was found.
Hurd, however, does not condone hate crime laws.
Friday, Hurd spoke about problems with hate crime legislation in the Western Illinois University Union’s Sandburg Theatre. The theater was filled with Western faculty and pre-law students who came to hear her speak about hate crime at the Second Annual Pre-Law Honors Symposium.
“She’s the new dean of the College of Law at the University of Illinois and we thought that if we could get her to come over, it would be wonderful for us and for our students. We’ve got a number of alumni from the University of Illinois College of Law. We have students here who are interested in going to the University of Illinois and we’re anxious to build connections between our school and their school,” said Thomas Helm, director of the Illinois Centennial Honors College.
Over the years, Hurd has written extensively in several scholarly journals. She testified in 1999 before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. She is currently co-writing “Punishing Hatred and Prejudice: The Perils of Hate Crime Legislation” with her husband.
Hurd said that until a few years ago, she had never written or spoken about hate crimes.
“I just received a number of invitations to come and talk about it (hate crime legislation) and had to educate myself about it. And the more I was educated about it, the more philosophically interesting it became and I realized that there were all sorts of philosophical assumptions and presuppositions that were being made that needed to be examined,” Hurd said.
During the symposium, Hurd spoke about the errors in hate crime legislation.