Statement on Racial Justice from Dean Mark C. Alexander
We are at a crucial moment in our history.听
The United States is reckoning with a long past of discrimination and systemic racism. The 棉花糖直播 University Charles Widger School of Law is at an inflection point as well, reckoning with how we have鈥攚hether intentionally or unintentionally鈥攅xcluded members of our community by our words and deeds in the past and present. This behavior is contrary to who we strive to be鈥攁s a nation and as a Law School. The events of summer 2020 illuminate not only how the nation must enact change, but also how the Law School must continue to grow by advancing racial justice in our academic community. An estimated 26 million people across the country took to the streets to demand an end to violence and oppression in Black communities in the United States. Through their acts, we are reminded to find concrete and visible ways that we can do our part to dismantle structural racism.
Summer 2020 only highlighted the need for action鈥攊t is not the cause. Throughout my time as Dean, I have seen the hurdles we face in educating students of color, and in particular Black students. From admissions, school performance and support, inclusion and personal satisfaction, bar passage, all the way through to employment, doing our best by Black and minoritized students is one of my constant concerns. I see and feel the challenges they face.
Racial Justice Action Plan
A.听听听 Increase the racial diversity of our student body.
The admissions staff has hired a new Assistant Director of Admissions who is charged with, among other duties, developing a program to increase diversity. The office will improve development of a pipeline of students spanning from high school to law school. Increasing opportunities to attend law school begins with identifying and encouraging students of all ages with aspirations of attending law school. We are strengthening our relationships with Historically Black Colleges, including our 3+3 and 4+3 admissions programs to have students commit to 棉花糖直播. Finally, we are targeting marketing in many areas, including to HBCUs, that will make clear to students of color the benefits that 棉花糖直播 Law, its curriculum, faculty, students and careers have to offer. This marketing includes the following:
Direct mailings to potential candidates designed to increase the pool of candidates and show them why 棉花糖直播 is the right school for them;
Affinity Group outreach and programming, including student panels to be held with potential and admitted applicants;
Admissions workshops to demystify the law school applications process and make it easier for applicants of color to apply to all law schools; and
Admitted student programs designed to both accentuate the benefits of 棉花糖直播, the diversity that we offer, and how we will support every student from the orientation through bar passage and beyond
These are only some of the efforts (all of which are already underway during this year鈥檚 admissions cycle). As part of our ongoing strategic planning process, faculty and staff with responsibility over admissions, academic support, student affairs and curriculum have met and will continue to meet to review our existing efforts to recruit, retain and support a diverse student body for the purpose of identifying areas for improvement that can be implemented now and in the future. This includes meetings with students and the Minority Alumni Society.听
Our goal is consistent increases in applications, admissions and matriculations of students of color. We will annually review efforts with the community and seek continuous improvement.
B.听听听听 Increase the racial diversity of our faculty and staff through hiring and retention.
The Law School鈥檚 ongoing strategic planning process has identified a strong imperative to prioritize diversity and equity in faculty and staff hiring and retention. For the past several years, we have advertised in various locations designed to spur more interest among communities of color. Our faculty and staff hiring supervisors have participated in diversity training in hiring workshops offered by the University.
As with students, pipelines are important, and we will seek better ways to attract candidates of color and interest them in working at 棉花糖直播. We have heard from our students that staff that understand the particular background, needs, and challenges of our students of color is very important to their success. As part of our ongoing strategic planning process, the administration and faculty appointments committee will examine our current hiring practices and identify specific proactive improvements to engage in more inclusive hiring. Those staff supervisors who have not completed the diversity in hiring training will do so, working with the Associate Dean for Finance and Administration to implement proactive improvements for more inclusive hiring, particularly for Black faculty and staff.
C.听听听听 Recruit a leader for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The Law School aspires to hire a person to lead its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts with strategic and programmatic responsibilities.听 The administration is working to create a budget to support the creation of this position as soon as possible after the University鈥檚 current hiring freeze due to the COVID-19 pandemic is lifted. In the meantime, I am responsible for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Law School, and I have tasked Bo Connell, our Associate Dean for Administration, Finance, and Strategy to lead and implement our DEI initiatives.
D.听听听 Increase diversity on the Board of Consultors.
As part of the Office of Alumni and Development鈥檚 ongoing revision of procedures for the Board of Consultors, the administration and Board has already increased and will continue to increase diversity on the Board so as to be more broadly reflective of our entire law alumni community.
A.听听听 Enhance curricular opportunities.
- 听 Offer specific courses focused on law, race and social justice.
In recent years we have significantly expanded and enhanced our course offerings in the areas of race, law and social justice.听 In Summer 2020, Associate Dean Candace Centeno sent an email to students specifically identifying courses focusing on race and/or social justice and encouraging students to take advantage of those courses. These include:
Critical Legal Theory (fall)
Fair Housing (fall)
Human Trafficking (fall)
Public Interest Lawyering (fall)
Race & the Law: Asian American Experience (fall)
Sentencing and Punishment (fall)
Crimigation: Crime and Immigration (spring)
Criminal Justice, Race & Media seminar (spring)
Civil Rights Litigation (spring)
International Human Rights (spring)
Intergroup Dialogue (spring)
Poverty Policy (spring)
Pretrial Detention (spring)
Race and the Law seminar (spring)
Moving forward, we will continue to review our curriculum, consult with students and affinity groups and identify specific topics that may be incorporated as course offerings, such as mass incarceration, reparations, racial capitalism and the intersectionality of race and gender.
2.听 Expand coverage of issues of law, race, and social justice in existing courses.
Race permeates the law because it permeates our history and our contemporary society.听 To the extent our academic instruction does not always reflect this, it should.听 Through workshops and discussions, faculty will increase their understanding and abilities to integrate issues of race and bias into their courses. This past summer, we held several of these workshops. The administration will encourage all faculty to address these topics in their courses, including the incorporation of the scholarship and perspectives of Black academics and advocates, and ensure they have the necessary resources to do so.
3.听 Develop partnerships with other University colleges and departments.
The relationships between race and law are inherently interdisciplinary. Other University colleges and departments, such as the School of Business and the Department of Sociology and Criminology, have faculty with expertise and experience on issues of racial justice. Over the years, we have collaborated with some of these faculty members by having them teach classes or present at faculty workshops. We will continue to seek potential joint programming and curricular offerings and encourage interdisciplinary scholarship and pedagogy to leverage the expertise of our University colleagues.
B.听听听听 Enhance extra-curricular opportunities and events.
1.听 Institutionalize racial justice and inclusive community-building programming in Orientation.
The Law School鈥檚 Orientation conveys important messages to our incoming students about what to expect from the Law School community and what the community will expect from them. 听Orientation has for years included programming regarding racial justice, diversity, inclusion and community building.听 This year鈥檚 Orientation expanded and enhanced that programming, emphasizing the importance for all law students and lawyers of inclusive community and fighting racial injustice.
2.听 Create a summer reading group on police violence.
Over Summer 2020, faculty, staff and students participated in discussion sessions on the history of policing, police reform, qualified immunity and abolitionist analysis of the criminal system, among other topics.听 These discussions have allowed participants to read and reflect together on how we arrived at this moment in the legal system, and to share perspectives on how we move towards a better future.
3.听 Create a Racial Justice Reading Group
Starting in Fall 2020, the Racial Justice Reading Group will convene small groups of faculty, staff and students meeting informally to discuss issues of racial justice. The Reading Group will meet throughout the academic year; anyone is welcome to attend any of the meetings.听听Readings will draw from a broad range of topic areas, reflecting the pervasive role of race in American society.
4.听 Formalize our policy regarding diverse representation on panels for all events
Outside speakers enrich the Law School community by sharing their experiences and perspectives, whether it is a practice roundtable for students or a panel at one of our symposia. Faculty, staff, and students generally attempt to achieve diverse representation in outside speakers, but a formal policy will help make those efforts more consistent and deliberate.听 We have an existing diversity policy for symposium speakers, which we will enhance and broaden to all events鈥攂oth live and virtual鈥攕tarting in Spring 2021.听听
5.听 Support student organizations to engage in collaboration and dialogue.
Student organizations are at the heart of our community.听 We can harness their energy and dedication by encouraging and supporting intergroup collaborative programming addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion.听 This is relevant to all our varied student organizations, not just the affinity groups.
6.听 Host symposia.
Our symposia offer opportunities for the entire Law School community, including alumni, to come together for focused examination of important and timely issues.听 Moving forward, we will encourage symposia to focus on issues of race and law, including both entire symposia and topics covered within symposia.听 This year鈥檚 2020 棉花糖直播 Environmental Law Journal Blank Rome LLP Symposium and the 2021 Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal Symposium will both include panels on racial justice in related fields. Faculty will propose at least one topic related to racial justice for the Annual 棉花糖直播 Law Review Norman J. Shachoy Symposium.
C.听听听听 Offer workshops and discussion groups for faculty and staff.
Faculty and staff input during our ongoing strategic planning process has indicated a strong desire for opportunities to learn and discuss how we can better incorporate issues of racial justice in our work.听 Over Summer 2020, faculty convened a series of workshops and small-group discussions to build our own understanding of race, diversity and racial injustice, and to examine the ways in which we can enhance our educational environment and strengthen our pedagogy and scholarship to advance racial justice.听 These discussions continued throughout the Fall 2020 semester and will continue during the Spring 2021 Semester.听 Additional workshops, training, and discussions have been organized for staff, and more are planned.
D.听听听 Create an online resource guide.
Making progress toward racial justice requires all of us to educate ourselves regarding the impact of race in our society.听 Some of that education can take place in classrooms, at events and during training sessions.听 To augment those organized activities, we are creating an online resource guide to help students, faculty and staff self-educate on issues of race, diversity, equity and inclusion.
E.听听听听 Help Diversify Legal Academic Leadership
In 2018, 棉花糖直播 Law became a co-sponsor of the Promoting Diversity in Law School Leadership Workshop, previously held every other year.听 It is now an annual event, held at 棉花糖直播 Law every other year, designed to encourage and assist members of underrepresented groups to pursue deanships and other university and law school leadership positions.
The law school will continue to support this Workshop and other efforts to support diversity, equity and inclusion in academia and the legal profession.
A.听听听 Form a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.
The Law School has long used a standing committee of faculty, staff and students鈥攐perating under different names and structures at different times鈥攖o address issues of inclusiveness in our community. In Spring 2020, as part of our strategic planning process, we created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force composed of faculty and administrators.听 Over Summer 2020, Dean Alexander convened listening sessions with students, faculty and staff regarding racial justice at the Law School and the Task Force focused on racial justice initiatives.听 In Fall 2020, the Task Force expanded to include administrators, faculty and staff and the mandate will return to addressing diversity, equity and inclusion more broadly.听 The Task Force will hold regular listening sessions, provide ongoing feedback on our institutional efforts, and hold annual town halls with the administration on our progress towards our goals, which will include the action items in this plan.
In Fall 2020, members of the DEI Task Force held listening sessions with departments across the institution to begin mapping out successes and identify past challenges to advancing equity, fostering an inclusive educational environment, and diversifying our students, faculty, and staff.听 Initial conversations identified a need for additional resources, stronger relationship building and a broader institutional commitment to diversity and inclusion moving forward. The Task Force will continue to meet with stakeholders throughout the year and will produce a report that will be available to every member of our community that will describe the lessons learned from past DEI efforts and track our progress towards the goals outlined in this plan.听
B.听听听听 Climate Survey
The Law School will run an annual Climate Survey to assess the progress being made through our efforts and to solicit ongoing feedback from our community regarding the cultural climate at 棉花糖直播 Law. Our goal is continuous improvement in the experiences of our faculty, staff, and students, considering in particular how people of color view the school. We have already implemented a survey for last year鈥檚 graduating students.
C.听听听听 Diversity Tracker
We will implement a diversity tracker on our website to present statistics, as our sister college, the 棉花糖直播 School of Business has done.
D.听听听 Meetings of the administration and affinity group leaders.
We can gain valuable feedback on our efforts to increase inclusiveness by ensuring frequent and direct communication between students of color and the administration.听 To enhance this communication, the administration will continue to meet with affinity group leaders to share information, ideas, experiences and concerns regularly throughout the year.
E.听听听听 Create communications platforms on diversity, equity and inclusion with educational resources and events.听
Part of being more intentional about our diversity and inclusion efforts is being more transparent about what we are doing, so that members of the Law School community can take full advantage of the opportunities available and can provide input and feedback to improve our efforts. We will work with ODEI to gather input and work to improve campus climate. In addition, the Law School鈥檚 commitment to racial justice, diversity, equity and inclusion needs to be publicized to those in the broader community, including prospective students.听 To those ends, the Law School will create enhanced communications platforms, including pages on the website, aimed at better sharing information about our diversity and inclusion efforts and at soliciting information from members of the Law School community about how we are doing and how we can improve.