UNM students to speak on Muhammad Ali Center panel

Four University of New Mexico students will speak on a virtual panel hosted in collaboration between UNM Political Science and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky. on Monday, March 30.

The event, titled "Outside the Ropes, What College Students Can Learn from Studying Muhammad Ali," stems from work that was done in Professor Lawrence Jones' constitutional law class in the spring of 2025 on the U.S. Supreme Court case of Clay v. United States from 1971.

Clay v. United States saw Ali win an 8-0 decision from the court that overturned a 1967 conviction that followed his local draft board denying him status as a conscientious objector due to his religious beliefs. After refusing to report for induction into the United States Army, Ali was stripped of his boxing license and title ahead of his conviction.

The Supreme Court determined that his conviction had to be reversed due to the appeal board's failure to provide Ali with a reason for the denial of his objection.

UNM students Alyson Campbell, Violet Webb, Karina Padilla and Will Martin will participate on the panel, which will be live streamed beginning at 10 a.m. Those interested in attending can register via the

Jones had told the students when they began the class in the spring of 2025 that it was a possibility that some work they did for class would go beyond that, and Campbell said it was exciting to see that come to fruition.

"You work so hard on the things that you submit that to think there's potential for that to go elsewhere, especially when it's something that you're really proud of is always exciting," Campbell said. "I really enjoyed working on this piece originally, so to get to continue to pursue other opportunities with it is really exciting, to continue to learn something new and to sit on a panel, especially for the ten-year anniversary (of Ali's death)."

Campbell, who is a goalie on the UNM women's soccer team in addition to being a political science major, said it especially cool for her to be able to marry sport and legal aspects together.

"Advocacy is something that is really important to me and really prominent in my life, so being able to do a project on a really cool figure and an awesome case that is so socially and legally impactful was something that was really interesting to me."

Webb, a senior who is double majoring in strategic communications and political science, said she is excited for the opportunity to be part of a new concept and to share the perspective of college students on Ali and the case.

"They know, of course, the facts of the case, but they don't know our perspective or what we think about the social and legal repercussions of it even 10 years after his death and over 50 years since the supreme court case itself," Webb said.

Martin began his law school education at UNM this fall and sees this event as a springboard for the inclusion of Ali into modern curriculum and college environments as a whole.

"The original assignment was largely based on Ali's case as a conscientious objector, coming at it from a constitutional law class, we were looking at the case as well as building around the supreme court's decision as well as some other legal arguments and legal issues, specifically constitutional issues, that were surrounding the case but weren't addressed directly," Martin said.