Abstract
President of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, Dean David Leebron of the Law School, fellow women graduates, particularly Barbara Black, faculty and students, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a great pleasure to be back at Columbia University and to join you in marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the admission of women to Columbia Law School. I would like to thank Dean David Leebron for inviting me to take part in this important milestone for the Columbia community, and I would also like to thank Professor Carol Sanger for her kind introductory words. It is a great pleasure and an honor to deliver the Barbara Black Lecture, particularly in the company of Professor Barbara Black herself.
Anniversaries allow us to consider where we have been and where we are going. This anniversary gives the Columbia Law School and the wider academic community a chance to reflect on the significant progress made in educating women and preparing them for careers in law and other fields. Equally i mportant, ito ffers us the opportunity to reflect on where challenges remain and how they can be addressed. I am very glad that there will be a question-and-answer session after this because I am going to throw out a challenge at the end, and I am interested to know what your immediate responses will be.