December 08, 2011

Illinois Law Professor Attacked in Alleged Hate Crime

The description of the terrible and terrifying event from Paul Caron:

University of Illinois College of Law Tax Prof Dhammika Dharmapala suffered severe knife wounds in a racially motivated attack while awaiting a train to Chicago early Wednesday morning. From the Illinois News-Gazette:

Joshua Scaggs, 23, has been charged with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery alleging he slashed the throat of Anurudha Udeni Dhammika Dharmapala, 41, of Champaign. He is a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law specializing in law and economics, tax policy, public economy, and political economy. ...

A male witness told police the men were both seated in the waiting area when one man suddenly jumped up and shouted that this was his country and attacked Dharmapala. The attacker, later identified as Scaggs, then grabbed Dharmapala around the neck and appeared to be choking him. He then forced the victim to the floor. The witness intervened by pulling the attacker off Dharmapala. The witness then noticed that the attacker was holding a utility knife and the victim was bleeding.

My prayers for Professor Dharmapala.

Posted by Anupam Chander on December 8, 2011 at 10:25 AM in Law School | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 04, 2011

Women Make Up 9% of Directors of Silicon Valley Firms

The SF Chronicle reports on a new study:

Women account for less than 10 percent of the total number of board directors in the valley, according to global executive search firm Spencer Stuart in the report, "2011 Silicon Valley Board Index."

... Women sat on 91 percent of [S&P 500] boards, accounting for 16 percent of all directors, compared with 9.1 percent in Silicon Valley.

Will lack of female representation among directors (and likely officers as well) affect these companies' ability to serve its users?

Here is a list of Apple Directors (higher than the 9% average--but just 1 of 8):

Apple's top officers are 100% male, as the graphic shows.

Posted by Anupam Chander on December 4, 2011 at 08:19 AM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack