Jennifer Harbury, Tayyab Mahmud, Sister Dianna Ortiz, Eileen Kaufman, and Raquel Aldana

This year’s SALT Annual Awards Dinner was held in New York City, on January 5, 2008, in conjunction with the AALS Annual meeting. The dinner was a festive affair at the Golden Unicorn Restaurant, with a Chinese banquet. 220 SALT members and supporters came to celebrate the achievements of this year's award winners.

Great Teacher Award: Fran Ansley, Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law, Knoxville

Professor Ansley has brought students into a range of social justice work: helping miners with black lung disease; educating Latino immigrants about changes in the law; and labor organizing. Many students credit her for opening their eyes to the plight of the working poor on their own campus. Her teaching has been called “powerful” and “grounded.”

The SALT Dinner Journal was a tribute to Fran's connections with the communities in which she works and plays. Page after page of the journal thanked Fran for "project after project after project." Ask anyone about Fran's acceptance speech and you will find out the connection between Fran, her husband Jim Sessions, and Sally Field!  Click here to download a copy of Fran's speech. 

M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award: Sister Dianna Ortiz and Jennifer Harbury

Sister Dianna Ortiz and Jennifer Harbury have selflessly worked to expose the horror of torture, and to remind us all that there can never be any justification for the torture of other human beings. Sister Ortiz founded Torture Abolition and Survivors’ Support Coalition (TASSC). Jennifer Harbury is best known for her courage in bringing to light the connections between the CIA and the death squads in Guatemala as she sought information about her missing husband, Efrain Bamaca Velasquez.

Introduced by Raquel Aldana, SALT board member and immigration activist, both Sister Ortiz and Jennifer Harbury quieted the room with their stories of personal suffering and shock in discovering the role the United States government played in their personal tragedies, the cover ups, and continuation of policies that promote torture not just in Guatemala but across the world. We were reminded that now that torture as an interrogation technique is no longer hidden, we need to infuse public conversations with ways for people to fight the use of cruelty in the name of protection of the homeland.

In-coming SALT co-president Deborah Post, Human Rights Awardee Jennifer Harbury, co-president Margaret Barry, and Human rights Awardee Sister Dianna Ortiz at the SALT Dinner.

Norman Dorsen Fellowship Program: The Annual Dinner marked the official launch of the Norman Dorsen Fellowship Program, the result of Norman’s generosity and leadership, which will provide funding for student interns to work on behalf of SALT. As SALT's founder, Norman reminded everyone why SALT was started, its mission, which remains as vital now as it was 35 years ago, and assured this new generation of activist law professors that he is optimistic that the best of SALT's accomplishments are yet to come. Click here to download a copy of his remarks.

Norman Dorsen, founder and first president of SALT, launches the Dorsen Fellowship Fund.

And a tribute to Norman Stein, Richard Chused, Conrad Johnson, and Janet Saltamachia for their service.

Rule of Law Special Award: SALT presented a "Rule of Law" Award to Pakistani Supreme Court and High Court judges who refused to take an oath of allegiance to General Musharraf.

Sameer Ashar and Fran Ansley before dinner.