MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Professor Joshua Weishart is the winner of WVU Law's 2017-18 Significant Scholarship Award.
The in-house award recognizes Weishart’s article, “Equal Liberty in Proportion,” published in a 2017 issue of the William and Mary Law Review (see citation on the right).
In the article, Weishart explores the increasing role state courts play in settling education rights. He asserts that most courts have failed to fully enforce such rights, in part because they lack suitable legal standards.
Weishart thus proposes a new standard for determining whether states are satisfying constitutional mandates to improve educational opportunity. He urges courts to maintain vigorous enforcement of education rights as public schools continue to endure “inequitable and inadequate funding.”
“Professor Weishart, through this article, demonstrates the type of deep and critical legal scholarship our professors produce on a regular basis,” said Joshua Fershee , associate dean for faculty research and development at the College of Law. “He identifies a problem, analyzes and breaks down a complex situation into its fundamental parts, and then presents a remedy for solving the problem. In this case, his timely article shows how state courts should apply the rule of law to improve public education, which is critical in West Virginia and around the country.”
A faculty committee presents the College of Law’s Significant Scholarship Award annually to a professor whose written work addresses an important public issue. The professor must also demonstrate an ability to conduct thorough research that is communicated in clear and concise writing.
Weishart holds a joint appointment at the WVU College of Law and the John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics. He earned a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, and a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University.
-WVU-
jj04/20/2018
