Todd Zywicki

Todd J. Zywicki (born 1966) is an American law professor at George Mason University School of Law, teaching in the areas of bankruptcy and contracts, where he has taught since 1998. He taught previously at the Mississippi College School of Law, where he held a faculty position from 1996 to 1998. Zywicki was a Visiting Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center for the 2004-05 academic year and a Visiting Professor at Boston College in 2002. During the 2003-04 academic year, he served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, in which capacity he [http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/10302003hearing1119/Zywicki1767.htm testified] before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection regarding reform issues.

Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia (1993), where he was executive editor of the "Virginia Tax Review" and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics.

Zywicki supports the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. [ [http://www.utexas.edu/law/journals/tlr/forthcoming.html Texas Law Review ] ] One judge faced with interpreting a poorly worded section of the law stated that section was "one of many examples of poor drafting in the new bankruptcy law, which Professor Todd Zywicki assured the Senate Judiciary Committee was 'fine as it is,' adding, 'There is no word that I would change in this particular piece of legislation.'” "In re Kane", 336 B.R. 477 (Bkrtcy. D. Nev. 2006). Zywicki [ [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_03_26-2006_04_01.shtml#1143601581 says] ] the quote was taken out of context. He says his comment referred to whether the bill had become obsolete after having been drafted eight years earlier, and not to whether it had technical glitches.

Zywicki is the author of more than 50 articles in law reviews and economics journals. He is a frequent commentator in print and broadcast media and a regular contributor to The Volokh Conspiracy blog.

Zywicki attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1988. At Dartmouth, he was a member of Zeta Psi Fraternity. He was elected to the Board of Trustees of the College in 2005.

In December 2007, Dartmouth's Board of Trustees publicly reprimanded Zywicki for remarks he had made in a Raleigh, North Carolina speech to the William Pope Center on October 27, 2007. [ [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~trustees/docs/Trustee%20Statement%20on%20Zywicki.pdf Ed Haldeman, Letter to Members of the Dartmouth Community, December 18, 2007] ] Zywicki referred to the former Dartmouth president James O. Freedman as a "truly evil man," [ [http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/default.aspx?id=736 Todd Zywicki, Speech to Pope Institute, Raleigh, N.C., October 2, 2007] ] a characterization Zywicki claims was originated by Dartmouth Professor Jeffrey Hart.Fact|date=October 2008 Zywicki later apologized to Freedman's family for making the remark. [ [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~trustees/docs/Trustee%20Statement%20on%20Zywicki.pdf Ed Haldeman, Letter to Members of the Dartmouth Community, December 18, 2007] ] Zywicki also referred to a recent board vote as "Hugo Chavez-style democracy," denounced "political correctness" on university campuses, and suggested that philanthropists consider supporting up-and-coming "alternative" academic institutions rather than established institutions. [ [http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/default.aspx?id=736 Todd Zywicki: Remarks to Pope Center, October 27, 2007] ] Board Chairman Charles E. Haldeman announced the Board's reprimand on December 18, 2007: "The Board concluded that [Zywicki] had exercised poor judgment and had violated his responsibilities as a Trustee of Dartmouth College, which include acting in the best overall interests of Dartmouth and representing Dartmouth positively in words and deeds." [ [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~trustees/docs/Trustee%20Statement%20on%20Zywicki.pdf Ed Haldeman, Letter to Members of the Dartmouth Community, December 18, 2007] ] [ [http://thedartmouth.com/2008/01/07/news/board/ The Dartmouth: Board votes to reprimand Zywicki] ]

The Dartmouth College Alumni Council also censured Zywicki for his remarks. [ [http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/news.aspx?id=422 Dartmouth College Alumni Relations: News: Alumni Council Condemns Remarks of Trustee Todd Zywicki] ] However, Zywicki's remarks drew praise from some conservative commentators on higher education, including John Leo, John J. Miller, Greg Lukianoff, Steve Balch, Jane Shaw, and Jay Scanlin.Fact|date=October 2008

Education

*A.B., Dartmouth College
*M.A., Clemson University (Economics)
*J.D., University of Virginia

References

External links

* [http://mason.gmu.edu/~tzywick2/ Professor Zywicki's Home Page] at the George Mason Law School.

Publications and media

*Balch, Stephen H., "Will Dartmouth Become "Shut"mouth?" [http://www.nas.org/] 12 December 2007.
*Farnsworth, Elizabeth, Todd Zywicki, and Karen Gross. " [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/jan-june99/bankruptcy_5-17.html Going for Broke] ." "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Interview transcript. 17 May 1999. URL accessed 15 August 2006.
*Ifill, Gwen, Todd Zywicki, and Travis Plunkett. " [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/economy/july-dec05/law_10-17.html New Bankruptcy Law] . "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Interview transcript. 17 October 2005. URL accessed 15 August 2006.
*Hart, Jeffrey, "Weighing the Freedman Presidency," 8 December 2007, [http://dartreview.com/archives/2007/12/08/weighing_the_freedman_presidency.php] .
*Leo, John, "Not Evil, Just Woeful," 29 November 2007, [http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2007/11/not_evil_just_woeful.html]
*Lukianoff, Greg, "Dartmouth Trustee in Hot Water over Critical Speech," 11 December 2007 [http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8713.html?PHPSESSID=187e48d3b217b9864e3bc309fc84704a]
* Miller, John J., "This Truly Good Trustee," [http://phibetacons.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmQwZmIyODk5NThkM2FhNGRiYzczYzdhOTBjZGE1NDY=]
*Schalin, Jay, "In Defense of a Dutiful Trustee," 11 December 2007, [http://popecenter.org/news/article.html?id=1935
*Shaw, Jane, "Freedom of Speech, But Not for Trustees? Is it a college trustee's duty to follow or lead? 12 Dec. 2007 [http://popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=1936]
*Zywicki, Todd. " [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/zywicki200503150744.asp Bankrupt Criticisms] : The bankruptcy bill deserves to pass." "National Review Online." 15 March 2005. URL accessed 15 August 2006.
* --. " [http://www.gmu.edu/departments/law/faculty/papers/wpDetail.php?wpID=70 The Economics of Credit Cards.] " Working paper. George Mason University School of Law, 2000. URL accessed 15 August 2006.
* --. " [http://www.gmu.edu/departments/law/faculty/papers/wpDetail.php?wpID=50 The Nature of the State and the State of Nature] : A Comment on Grady & McGuire's "The Nature of Constitutions." Working paper. George Mason University School of Law, 2000. URL accessed 15 August 2006.
* --, ed. "The Rule of Law, Freedom, and Prosperity." Sup. Ct. Econ. Rev. Vol. 10. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. ISBN 0-226-99962-9.

*Speech to Pope Center http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nExJDfjWnAs