Cuison-Villazor: Educator and social justice advocate

For the CNMI to have regular visits from a law professor at the prestigious Rutgers Law School is a boon for the CNMI’s legal profession but Saipan is doubly fortunate in that Rose Cuison-Villazor was actually born here and makes regular visits to the CNMI, during which she also generously shares her knowledge by participating in the NMI Judiciary’s Summer Pre-Law program.

Having been exposed to different cultures and aware of how immigration issues affect families and the CNMI economy, Cuison-Villazor has made it her advocacy to educate and lift diversification and its benefits.

She is currently an interim dean and law professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark and a director of the Center for Immigration Law, Policy and Social Justice, which have given her opportunities to channel her causes and educate people about immigrant rights and racial justice.

“When I joined the Rutgers Law School faculty, I was appointed Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, which was a title given to me after I left [University of California] Davis School of Law where I was Martin Luther King Jr. scholar. When I joined Rutgers, I also received a grant to start the Center for Immigration Law, Policy, and Justice,” she said.

“Immigrant rights and racial justice are two key issues that I have long researched and written about and have also advocated for in my role as a professor. As someone who comes from an immigrant family and grew up on Saipan, I believe that the rights of immigrants continue to be an issue in the CNMI. …Racial justice in my view also incorporates indigenous peoples’ rights, which includes examining the rights of Chamorro and Carolinians. I have also written about the need to prioritize and protect the rights of indigenous peoples of the CNMI,” she added.

Cuison-Villazor finished law school at the American University Washington Law School in 2000 and her Master of Law at the Columbia Law School in 2006. Her career in teaching got started there and she hasn’t looked back since. Her regular participation in the NMI Judiciary’s Summer Pre-Law Program is an extension of that. The program is a valuable opportunity for those interested in the law and those thinking about going to law school.

A big issue nowadays, especially in the U.S. mainland, is the politization of social justice and political race theory, which Cuison-Villazor would like to explore if it exists in the landscape of the CNMI.

“I do not believe that ‘social justice’ has been politicized but ‘critical race theory’ has been. That is due to misconceptions about what ‘critical race theory’ is about. I would need to wait until I get to Saipan this summer to explore whether these issues are also likely to be politicized in the CNMI,” she said.

Cuison-Villazor will be entering her second year of her deanship and she wants to expand initiatives that they have been working on at Rutgers last year, including ensuring that legal education is accessible, diverse, and continues to provide services to the underserved.

On getting her message across and making people listen to what social movements are about before rushing to judgment, Cuison-Villazor cites a personal advice that lives by: “When I join others in solidarity with movements—such as the Black Lives Matter movement, or advocate for immigrants’ rights, rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, or reproductive rights—I do my best to highlight how the issues have broader implications for all and the importance of engaging in listening and empathy,” she said.

Cuison-Villazor, who is an alumna of Mount Carmel School, concedes that juggling research, teaching and service is not easy but she always tries to seek a balance. “That’s a work in progress,” she said.