Bylaws and Policies

The Law and Society Association does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, status as a disabled individual, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, genetic information or protected veteran’s status in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other Association benefits or services.

The Law and Society Association values the inclusion of persons with disabilities in its membership, its activities, and its governance. It is the policy of the LSA that persons with disabilities should participate as fully as other members in the Association in all LSA activities, including in particular Annual Meetings, committees, Graduate Student Workshops and Early Career Workshops. The LSA will make all feasible efforts to accommodate members with disabilities and to remain responsive to the needs of our members who have disabilities.

The Law and Society Association strongly supports the academic freedom of Association members and other scholars of law and society, regardless of country of origin or residence.

The Law and Society Association endorses the principles and spirit of academic freedom as set forth in the American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and derivative AAUP documents. The Association affirms the core principles that the common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition and that tenure or security of position provides a foundation for academic freedom. The Association seeks to foster the free exchange of knowledge as a human right and to inhibit infringements on that right by government restrictions on scholars. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide the principal standards by which human rights violations are identified today. Those rights include, among others, the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; the right to hold opinions without interference; the right to freedom of expression; the right to participate in public affairs; the right to equal protection and effective protection against discrimination; the right to freedom of association with others; the right to peaceful assembly; the right to work; the right to participate in cultural life; the right to education; and the rights to liberty of movement and freedom to choose one’s residence; and freedom of association and assembly.