The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is proud to announce that the 2025 Ottinger Award for Faculty Achievement has been awarded to Achinthi Vithanage, Professor of Law for Designated Service in Environmental Law & Executive Director of Environmental Law Programs. The Richard Ottinger Faculty Achievement Award is awarded annually by the Faculty Development Committee, in consultation with the Dean, in recognition of a full-time professor’s outstanding service to the law school, the legal profession, or both. The award generally is based on the faculty member’s outstanding service during the previous academic year.
Pace Women’s Justice Center on Roe
Statement from Cindy Kanusher, Executive Director of the Pace Women’s Justice Center on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization:
“It is with great sadness that we read today’s Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating a constitutional right for all Americans. Today, we are all faced with the new reality that our right to make appropriate health care and reproductive decisions has been severely curtailed and the federal protections we have enjoyed for three generations are gone.
“We take some comfort that here in New York, our state and local governments have acted to protect access to reproductive healthcare and our right to choose. Nevertheless, the ramifications of this Supreme Court decision will be dangerous and far-reaching. As the dissent in Dobbs notes, “[r]especting a woman as an autonomous being, and granting her full equality, meant giving her substantial choice over this most personal and most consequential of all life decisions.” Pace Women’s Justice Center has spent the past 30 years working to ensure that our clients can exercise their legal rights and have access to justice. It is now more important than ever that we continue to do so.”