Indigenous Rights in 2025: A Symposium on Current Legal Issues in Indigenous Communities
Friday, March 28, 2025
University of Texas School of Law and online via Eventbrite
University of Texas School of Law and online via Eventbrite
727 E Dean Keeton St.
Austin, Texas 78705
Recordings of the conference panels can be accessed in two parts HERE and HERE.
FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2025
SCHEDULE
Symposium Introduction
10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Speaker:
David Smith | Legal Director, Southern Ute Indian Tribe
Environmental Justice Panel
11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.
Panelists:
Sabrina Chapa | Executive Director, Ties to La Tierra
Professor Monika Ehrman | Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
Christopher Basaldú | Co-founder, South Texas Environmental Justice Network
Moderator: Professor Melinda Taylor | Executive Director, Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business; Clinical Professor, Environmental Law
Author’s Panel & Lunch
12:00 p.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Author Panel:
Justice Gregory Smith | Justice, Supreme Court of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Court of Appeals, Juan Southern Paiute Tribal Court of Appeals,
Professor Kekek Stark | Professor & Director, Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic, University of Montana Blewett School of Law
Professor Nazune Menka | Lumbee Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Crispin South | Student, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law
Moderator: Jeremy Sylestine | Appellate Judge, Alabama–Coushatta Tribe of Texas
Reproductive & LGBTQ+ Rights Panel
1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.
Panelists:
Professor Lauren van Schilfgaarde | Assistant Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles School of Law
Sofia Sepulveda | Field Director, Equality Texas
Rachael Lorenzo | Co-Founder, Indigenous Women Rising
Moderator: Katie Wolfe | Community Health Education Manager, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas
Global Indigeneity Panel
2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.
Panelists:
Professor Danny Law | Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin
Professor Nazune Menka | Lumbee Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Moderator: Pauline Strong | Director, Program in Native American and Indigenous Studies; Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
Panelists:
Professor Danny Law | Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin
Professor Nazune Menka | Lumbee Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Moderator: Pauline Strong | Director, Program in Native American and Indigenous Studies; Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
SUGARCANE Documentary Screening
3:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Location: TBA
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life – SUGARCANE, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie – is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. Set amidst a ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school, the film empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths – and the love that endures within their families despite the revelation of genocide. SUGARCANE won in its debut at Sundance Film Festival, won two Critics’ Choice Awards, and was Oscar-nominated.
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life – SUGARCANE, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie – is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. Set amidst a ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school, the film empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths – and the love that endures within their families despite the revelation of genocide. SUGARCANE won in its debut at Sundance Film Festival, won two Critics’ Choice Awards, and was Oscar-nominated.
Thank you to all of our panelists, attendees, and sponsors for a wonderful conference.
Special thanks to our conference sponsors:
Please contact the TJCLCR Conference Editor at tjclcrconference@gmail.com with any questions about this year’s conference.