Matthew Patrick Shaw

Media Appearances

• Trans Participation and the Burden of Marginalized Groups

  In the realm of athletics, in general, sometimes the playing field is just inherently not level, argues Dr. Matthew Patrick Shaw, assistant professor of law, public policy, and education at Vanderbilt University. “That’s just the nature of sports. Somebody is going to have advantages that make them more competitive,” Shaw says. “But somehow, on the other hand, trans students are supposed to somehow feel guilty, suffer for, be excluded because of their anatomy. Same with intersex athletes like Caster Semenya.”

  June 26th, 2024

• Book Bans

  According to PEN America, of the more than 4,000 instances of books banned in the last two years. Many of which involve people of color or LGBTQ+ themes and diverse authors. On this episode of Urban Outlook, host April Eaton is joined by Dr. Matthew Shaw, Assistant Professor of Law and Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education at Vanderbilt University to discuss this trend.

  September 11th, 2023

• Elimination of Affirmative Action

  The Supreme Court's recent ruling to gut affirmative action now makes it unlawful for colleges to consider race as a factor, just one of the many factors, in admissions. On this episode of Urban Outlook, host April Eaton is joined by Dr. Matthew Shaw, an assistant Professor of Law, and Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education at Vanderbilt University to discuss the elimination of Affirmative Action.

  August 7th, 2023

• Affirmative Action

  Do you agree with SCOTUS's ruling on Affirmative Action? What is the impact on SCOTUS's ruling on Tennessee Colleges and Universities? Today on MorningLine, Nick Beres is joined by Dr. Matthew Shaw, Assistant Professor of Law and Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education at Vanderbilt University to talk about Affirmative Action.

  July 25th, 2023

• Tennessee is talking about rejecting federal education funding. What would that mean for kids?

  “States do not have to accept federal funding at first glance,” said Matthew Patrick Shaw, assistant professor of law, public policy and education at Vanderbilt University. “These are carrot-stick programs in which the federal government has policy objectives and, in order to encourage states to go along with them, offers money that they believe states need to operate these programs.”

  February 16th, 2023

• Is the Establishment Clause Dead? A Message From SCOTUS

  The US Supreme Court’s ruling that Maine cannot exclude faith-based schools from a state program that pays for private school tuition in areas of the state that lack public schools could erode the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, argues Vanderbilt Law School’s Matthew Patrick Shaw.

  June 24th, 2022

• How A Rarely Discussed Supreme Court Case Could Upend Education.

  Beyond stripping education from undocumented children, some legal observers see other huge ramifications if Plyler is reversed. Matthew Patrick Shaw, Assistant Professor of Law at Vanderbilt who specializes in “the intersection of federal law and educational policy” tweeted on Thursday, “And if education isn’t special enough for the 14th A[mendment] to stop the states from saying it costs too much $$$ to teach undocumented youth then it isn’t special enough to stop the states from defunding it, vouchering it to death, privatizing it, or even doing away w/it completely.”

  May 6th, 2022

• Chaos Theory: Amid Pandemic Recovery Efforts, School Leaders Fear Critical Race Furor Will ‘Paralyze’ Teachers

  So, where do we go from here? Legislation designed to suppress the controversial philosophy’s influence is problematic for a few reasons, said Matthew Shaw, an associate law professor at Vanderbilt University. First, he said, the laws are difficult to enforce. And second, they’ve only created greater interest in the ideas they seek to wipe out. “The irony is that trying to ban or limit critical race theory in conversations in such a public, blunt, legalistic manner has sparked thousands of critical conversations,” he said.

  June 28th, 2021

• Can you get rid of your student loans by filing for bankruptcy?

  Paying back student loans is not an easy thing to do. One out of every 5 borrowers with outstanding student loan debt has fallen behind their payments. There are several ways borrowers can get help to deal with their debt burden. Bankruptcy is the most extreme. In general, the law does not allow you to get rid of student loans through bankruptcy. One exception to the rule is if a borrower can prove that paying back the loans “would impose an undue hardship on [them] and [their] dependents.” The threshold for proving that is pretty high. Plus, there’s not a lot of legal guidance on what precisely an undue hardship is.

  February 20th, 2020