Tania Tetlow

Tania Christina Tetlow is an American lawyer, law professor, and president of Loyola University New Orleans. On May 2, 2018, she was elected the first female and layperson to hold the position at Loyola.

Early life[]

Tetlow was raised in New Orleans, by her father, L. Mulry Tetlow, who was formerly a Jesuit priest, and her mother, Elisabeth.^[1][2] She attended Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans and was a recipient of the National Merit Scholarship. Tetlow attended Tulane University on a Dean's Honor Scholarship at age 16, and then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. She was a Truman Fellow.^[3]

Career[]

While a student at Tulane, Tetlow served as an aide to former congresswoman and ambassador Lindy Boggs. After graduating from law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge James Dennis, United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, and from 1996-2000, she was an associate at Phelps Dunbar Law Firm in New Orleans, litigating complex commercial transactions, civil fraud, and representing journalists in first amendment issues. She then served as an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, prosecuting violent crimes and major narcotic cases.^[3]

In 2005, Tetlow became an Associate Professor and Director of Tulane's Domestic Violence Clinic, where students represented clients escaping violent relationships and protecting their children. She raised $2.3 million in federal grant funds for the clinic. Tetlow organized efforts for criminal justice reform in New Orleans for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and has advised several governments around the world. In 2014, she traveled to China as part of a U.S. State Department delegation people-to-people high level exchange. In addition to her involvements with law, she also helped raise $7 million to rebuild libraries following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.^[4]

Tetlow started her teaching career in 1998 as a part-time adjunct professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she taught a seminar on constitutional law and race. She rose to full professor at Tulane Law School and focused her scholarship on equal protection and jury discrimination against victims of crimes. Her research helped create new anti-discrimination policies at the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2015, Tetlow became the Associate Provost for International Affairs at Tulane. It was a newly created position to coordinate the university's international activities, programs and students.^[4]

Tetlow was appointed the Senior Vice-President and Chief of Staff at Tulane in 2015 and served as the top strategic advisor to the university's president, Michael Fitts. During her time in that role, the university's enrollment, retention and fundraising increased.^[3]

On May 2, 2018, Tetlow was elected as the 17th president of Loyola University New Orleans, following the retirement of Kevin Wildes, the previous president. She is the first female to become president of the university. In addition, she is the first non-Jesuit to hold the position; all of the previous presidents had been Jesuit priests.^[2]

Loyola Presidency[]

Tetlow was inaugurated as the 17th president of Loyola on November 16 at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in New Orleans. The inauguration was a two-day celebration that included a missioning mass, an on-campus student event, and the official ceremony. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, President Emeritus of Xavier University of Louisiana, Dr. Norman C. Francis, journalist and friend of Tetlow, Cokie Roberts, and Tulane President, Michael Fitts were among the guests who spoke at the inauguration ceremony.^[5]

Personal life[]

Tetlow married Gordon Stewart in 2009. She has a daughter and a stepson.

Awards[]

Top Fifteen Women in Business, National Diversity Council (2017).

New Orleans Family Justice Center Champion (2016).

Top Fifty Women Leaders, New Orleans City Business (2015).

National Young Leader Award, National Urban League (2013).

Public Service Award, New Orleans Association of Women Attorneys (2011).

Tulane University President's Award for Graduate and Professional School Teaching (2009).

Top Fifty Lawyers, City Business (2009).

Cover of New Orleans Magazine as a Top Ten Woman Achiever (2007).

Fellow of the British American Project. (2002). One of 50 delegates chosen from both countries as young leaders.

Prosecutor of the Year, Victim and Citizens Against Crime (2004).

Omicron Delta Kappa (1991).

Harry Truman Scholar (1991).

National Merit Scholar (1988).

Boards and Leadership Positions[]

Chair, Mayor's Advisory Committee on Response to Sexual Assault, 2014–present.

New Orleans Civil Service Commission, 2014–present.

Board Member, Tulane Hillel, 2015–present.

US Chair, British American Project, 2010-2012.

Chair of the Board, New Orleans Family Justice Center. 2011-2014.

Member, Women of the Storm, 2007–present.

Governor's Commission on Women's Policy. 2008-2012.

Chairperson, New Orleans Library Board and Foundation, 2003-2008.

Chair, Louisiana State Library Board, appointed by Ltn. Governor Landrieu. 2008-2010.

Transition Team on Criminal Justice for Governor Jindal, 2008.

President, Committee of 21, 1999. An organization committed to elected women to public office in New Orleans.

Publications and Presentations[]

“Criminalizing ‘Private’ Torture,” 58 William and Mary Law Review 183 (2016)(proposing the passage of state torture statutes that would apply to domestic violence and child abuse) “Solving Batson,” 56 William and Mary Law Review 1859 (2015)(proposing a stronger Sixth Amendment basis for regulation of jury diversity).

“Granting Prosecutors Rights to Combat Discrimination.” 14 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 1117 (2012)(arguing that prosecutors have rights and responsibilities to battle race and gender discrimination by juries against the victims of crimes, and proposing certain procedural remedies).

“Why Batson Misses the Point: Focusing on Discrimination Against Jurors Instead of Discrimination By Jurors.” 97 Iowa Law Review 1713 (2012)(describing the problems with Batson's colorblind reasoning and its ineffectiveness to combat jury discrimination).

“Discriminatory Acquittal.” 18 William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 75 (2009)(from the Emmett Till trial to modern rape cases, describing the endemic problem of “discriminatory acquittal,” and arguing, for the first time, that juries who acquit defendants because of race or gender discrimination violate the Constitution. Article was credited by lawyers in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division with helping to inspire a new focus on discriminatory underenforcement of the law in the Department's investigations of police departments.

“Criminal Justice Collapse: The Constitution After Hurricane Katrina.” Co-authored with Brandon Garrett. 56 Duke Law Journal 127 (2006)(describing the breakdown of the New Orleans criminal justice system and proposing methods for the country to prepare for future emergencies.)

“How Batson Spawned Shaw: Requiring the Government to Treat Citizens as Individuals When it Cannot.” 49 Loyola Law Review 133 (2003)(solicited piece, examining the Supreme Court's focus on colorblindness, rather than fair cross-section rights, in the Batson jury cases, and arguing that the other side of the Court adopted the same reasoning in the voting redistricting cases).

“The Founders and Slavery, A Crisis of Conscience.” 3 Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law 1 (2001)(solicited piece, describing how many slaveholding founders understood that slavery violated the ideals of their new nation.)

“Lindy Claiborne Boggs: Exercising Great Power by Giving Away All the Credit,” Louisiana Women in History, Volume II (University of Georgia Press, 2016)(biographical essay of former Congresswoman and Ambassador Lindy Boggs).

“Lindy and Me,” Newcomb College, 1886-2006, University of Georgia Press (2012)(describing my relationship with Lindy Boggs while a student at Newcomb).

References[]