European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lani Guinier still standing after the drop by Bettijane Levine los Angeles times Iveli what has happened it s surprising _ that Lani Guinier even opens her hotel room door for a reporter who wants to know the personal Side of her cataclysmic experience. What is it like to be plucked from obscurity made famous overnight publicly humiliated and then dropped from the High est parapet of Power without a Parachute in part Guinier blames shabby journalism for her botched nomination to head the civil rights division of the . Justice department the Media let her opponents define her and misrepresent her ideas she says and reporters did t seek unbiased sources to learn what her Peers think about her work. Even after All the commotion for awhile there my face was on Tyvand on newspaper front pages every single Day she sees herself a shadowy per Sona to the Public a known name but an unknown entity. A mask with no person behind it. In the entire six weeks from her Day of nomination to the Day it was withdrawn she never spoke publicly. On her Way to California from Philadelphia last month an Airport baggage handler stopped stared at her and asked Aren t you the woman Clinton dumped i never forget a  Guinier has said she was not ready to talk but in los Angeles to accept the Acle s Bill of rights award she seems willing to share at least a few thoughts with an unknown reporter who might skewer her again. This says something about the upbeat and guile less nature of the former nominee whose own Mother tells her she was too naive and trusting to sur Vive the process. President Clinton nominated her and then in Early june amid controversy Over her waiting withdrew her name before her confirmation hearing before she could present her own defense. Guinier is surviving Well she says her dignity in tact. She has support from friends and colleagues with whom she can discuss her ordeal. But her Hus band Nolan Bowie an artist and communications professor at Temple University has fewer such out lets and is still angry she says. And her 75-year-old Mother. Here Guinier s composure dissolves. Tears suddenly flood her Cheeks. My Mother has had a terrible time. It s taken a physical toll on Hen she s 75, and at that age stress affects you physically. She feels that to be humiliated and publicly tortured is wrong Guinier says. She used to write these very angry letters to the presi Dent and i would Tell her not to Send them. I think she feels they took advantage of  the nomination at first seemed a Brilliant stroke. Guinier would be Clinton proudly announced the first practising civil rights attorney to head the department that enforces civil rights Laws on employ ment education housing and voting. What s More her supporters said Guinier was respected As an innovative thinker an advocate of racial Healing a Brilliant Litigator an integrating and cohesive Force in her Field. In a matter of weeks however Guinier saw her Public image change into loony Lani a Madwoman quota Queen breathtakingly Radical anti democratic and a reverse racist to cite just a few of the printed epithets hurled relentlessly until her nomination was squelched. Clinton withdrew her name after belatedly Reading one of her Law journal articles which he said contained ideas he could not embrace. I Don t think he read it with an Effort to under Lani Guinier had reason to be up in april upon her nomination for assistant attorney general for civil rights but by june she with son Nicholas and husband Nolan Bowie had been dumped. Stand my work but with a desire to understand the controversy surrounding it Guinier says. If he were trying to understand my work he would t have read it on a Short helicopter trip to Fredericksburg Maryland or wherever he was going. To understand what an academic writes you need to set apart a reasonable amount of time. I Don t think 15 minutes will  Guinier s opponents quoted from articles she wrote for academic journals in which she seemed to argue for guarantees of political Power to minority groups. She also questioned whether majority Rule in a race conscious society can truly be fair to Minori ties. I Don t think anyone can understand Complex ideas about political participation by referring to one sentence or one footnote in a 77-Page article if it were that simple i would t have written 77 pages i d have written one sentence she says. What happened is that they took one segment and examined it As if it represented the totality of my  Guinier says she did t defend herself because i was asked by the White House not to discuss it. Not even to speak to civic organizations. It was t just that i was asked not to speak to the press i was asked not to speak  does t Back Down from anything she wrote some of which she concedes could be consid ered controversial. A Book of her writings the ones that caused so much trouble will be published in february she says and citizens can decide for themselves How to interpret her thoughts what s More she adds the articles weren t written As immutable Dogma rather As proof she could think creatively and explore new methods of improving voter participation that might move society ahead i was trying to get tenure. I was an Unten Rcd associate professor when i wrote them trying to make the transition from Litigator to provocative scholar Guinier did get tenure in the Spring of 1992. How could i have gotten a unanimous vote for tenure at the University of Pennsylvania Law school which is a very conservative mainstream traditional Ivy league Law school if my work were As Radical As the Media said she asks. That is not a Radical institution by any  she believes her experience will chill the intellectual thought processes of other academics. Still Guinier thinks a nominee s academic work should be considered As part of the nominee s re Cord they should t be off limits. What i objected to was the fact that i was not Given a Chance to explain what the writing meant. Nor was anyone else who had read them. Asked what it is that people in the scholarly Arena think i was trying to  in other words nobody checked her out no no one Guinier says. Reporters did t do their Homework. They did t Call people who had read and understood and could explain the context in which such articles Are written and the meanings of those articles  january 16,1994 sunday Page 23 \