Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Effective Litigation Strategies To Improve State Education And Social Service Systems, Albert H. Kauffman

Faculty Articles

Texas border area Latino plaintiffs brought state court litigation, the Lulac case, to improve higher education opportunities in the Texas- Mexico borderlands. Plaintiffs successfully parlayed their trial court judgment into a massive influx of resources and permanent improvement in higher education in the Texas border. The Article describes the history of the Lulac case and includes an original analysis of the improvement of higher education in the Texas border area. The Article then develops a model for the successful integration of litigation, legislation, public advocacy and community involvement, and applies this model to the Lulac case and the Texas school …

Dismantling The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Tools For Change, Jason P. Nance

UF Law Faculty Publications

The school-to-prison pipeline is one of our nation’s most formidable challenges. It refers to the trend of directly referring students to law enforcement for committing certain offenses at school or creating conditions under which students are more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system, such as excluding them from school. This article analyzes the school-to-prison pipeline’s devastating consequences on students, its causes, and its disproportionate impact on students of color. But most importantly, this article comprehensively identifies and describes specific, evidence-based tools to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline that lawmakers, school administrators, and teachers in all areas can immediately …

Parents Involved And The Struggle For Historical Memory­, Mark Tushnet

Indiana Law Journal

In his Jerome Hall Lecture, Professor Tushnet addresses the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education in the more recent case of Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 (PICS), which struck down the voluntary school integration programs used in Seattle and Louisville. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote, an important “debate” in the PICS case was over “which side is more faithful to the heritage” of Brown v. Board of Education. That debate is part of what historians have called the struggle for historical memory. The politics of memory in PICS is not simply a struggle …

Economic Inequality And College Admissions Policies, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

As economic inequality in the United States has reached unprecedented heights, reformers have focused considerable attention on changes in the law that would provide for greater equality in wealth among Americans. No doubt, much benefit would result from more equitable tax policies, fairer workplace regulation, and more generous spending policies.

But there may be even more to gain by revising college admissions policies. Admissions policies at the Ivy League and other elite American colleges do much to exacerbate the problem of economic inequality. Accordingly, reforming those policies may represent the most effective strategy for restoring a reasonable degree of economic …

Pregnancy Discrimination Under Tide Ix: Compliance Concerns At Law Schools, Liani Balasuriya

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the protection of pregnant law students under Title IX and highlights significant gaps in compliance and enforcement within law schools. Despite Title IX's prohibition of pregnancy discrimination, the lack of data and inconsistent policies at law schools raise concerns about the adequacy of protections for pregnant students. The analysis advocates for improved data collection, clearer policies, and stronger accountability measures to ensure equitable treatment of pregnant law students.

It’S Time For The Fourth Circuit To Rethink Deshaney, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

In 2015, the Fourth Circuit heard Doe v. Rosa, in which the parent plaintiffs sought to extend civil liability to the Citadel’s president, for failing to protect their minor sons from sex abuse inflicted by one of the Citadel’s employees. In dismissing the matter, the Fourth Circuit followed precedent set by the Supreme Court years ago in Deshaney. This interpretation of Deshaney, however, is no longer valid in light of the growing number of sexual misconduct cases involving educational institutions. Strictly applying Deshaney encourages schools to place their interests higher than the security of their students. In …

Diversity Without Integration, Kevin Woodson

Law Faculty Publications

The de facto racial segregation pervasive at colleges and universities across the country undermines a necessary precondition for the diversity benefits embraced by the Court in Grutter — the requirement that students partake in high-quality interracial interactions and social relationships with one another. This disjuncture between Grutter’s vision of universities as sites of robust cross-racial exchange and the reality of racial separation should be of great concern, not just because of its potential constitutional implications for affirmative action but also because it reifies racial hierarchy and reinforces inequality. Drawing from an extensive body of social science research, this article explains …

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Everett Et Al V. Pitt County School (Everett I And Ii) And The Ominous Future Of Federal Court Desegregation Orders, Mark Dorosin

Journal Publications

During the brief zenith of school desegregation litigation in the late 1960s and early 1970s, hundreds of school districts across the nation, and particularly across the South, were found liable for intentional racial discrimination and became subject to federal court supervision of approved plans to achieve integration. The period of aggressive enforcement was short-lived however, and by the mid-1970s, and accelerating through the 1980s and 1990s, an increasingly conservative Supreme Court and presidential administrations first slowed the scope and intensity of school integration, and then actively pushed to end judicial enforcement and oversight of existing desegregation cases. This was true …

Beyond The Basketball Court: How Brittney Griner's In My Skin Illustrates Title Ix's Failure To Protect Lgbt Athletes At Religious Institutions, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

Symposium: Playing with Pride: LGBT Inclusion in Sports.

Unlike schoolteachers, janitors, coaches, food-service directors, organists, and other workers, professional athletes usually command center stage in society. Their successes and failures loom larger than life. Sometimes their prominent lives highlight themes hidden from public discussion or neglected by the majority. Professional basketball player Brittney Griner's autobiography does just that, by illuminating how "religious freedom" can undermine equality, especially LGBT equality.

Expanding The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Schools (K-12) And The Regulation Of Cyberbullying, Philip Lee

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In a tragic case that received international attention, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince killed herself after being bullied—both physically and online—by some of her classmates. Phoebe had moved to Massachusetts from a small town in Ireland, enrolling as a freshman at South Hadley High School. After a brief relationship with a popular boy in the senior class, the taunting by her classmates began. Some students called her an “Irish slut” and a “whore,” knocked things out of her hands, and sent her threatening texts. Some of the students used Facebook and Twitter to speak badly about her. Phoebe suffered this treatment …

"Boys Will Be Boys, And Girls Will Get Raped": How Public School Dress Codes Foster Modern Day Rape Culture, Stephan Wah

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that public school dress codes perpetuate rape culture by disproportionately targeting female students, reinforcing patriarchal norms, and contributing to gender-based discrimination. These dress codes, often justified as preventing distractions, instead shame girls and place the responsibility of boys' behavior on them, thereby normalizing the objectification of women and supporting systemic sexism.

Keeping Our Kids In School And Out Of Court: Rooting Out School Suspension Hearings And A New Alternative, Rachel Klein

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note proposes an alternative model that can help a child improve his behavior in school, without removing the student from class. Section I of this Note examines the historical and legal context governing school suspension as a whole, specifically making reference to and analyzing New York State school suspension practices. Section II analyzes the effectiveness of school suspension and the methods used in New York to fix this system. In Section III, this Note proposes the use of arbitration as a superior mode of resolution and explains why Board of Education Arbitration is an effective model that helps students …

Evaluating Opportunity In College Sports (Title Ix), Brandon Kai Golden

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note critiques the current interpretation and application of Title IX in college athletics, particularly the Three-Part Test used by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). It argues that the test's focus on proportionality often leads universities to cut men's sports to achieve gender balance, which undermines the broader goal of gender equality. The author proposes a more nuanced approach, advocating for sport-specific evaluations and the elimination of the Contact Sports Exception to better align Title IX compliance with its intended purpose of preventing discrimination.

"Cerd-Ain" Reform: Dismantling The School-To-Prison Pipeline Through More Thorough Coordination Of The Departments Of Justice And Education, Lisa A. Rich

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

In the last year of his presidency, President Barack Obama and his administration have undertaken many initiatives to ensure that formerly incarcerated individuals have more opportunities to successfully reenter society. At the same time, the administration has been working on education policy that closes the achievement gap and slows the endless flow of juveniles into the school-to-prison pipeline. While certainly laudable, there is much more that can be undertaken collaboratively among executive branch agencies to end the school-to-prison pipeline and the endless cycle of people re-entering the criminal justice system.

This paper examines the rise of the school-to-prison pipeline through …

Is There Really A Sex Bureaucracy?, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

This essay identifies several features of the higher-education context that can enrich The Sex Bureaucracy‘s account of why colleges and universities have adopted new policies and trainings to address sexual assault on their campuses. These features include: 1) schools’ preexisting systems for addressing student conduct; 2) the shared interest of schools in reducing impediments to education, including nonconsensual sexual contact; and 3) the pedagogical challenges of developing trainings that are engaging and effective. Taking these three factors into account, we can see that while federal Title IX intervention has had a profound effect, it is also important not to …

Presidential Control Across Policymaking Tools, Catherine Y. Kim

Florida State University Law Review

Over the past quarter century, administrative law scholars have observed the President’s growing control over agency policymaking and the separation-of-powers concerns implicated by such unilateral exercises of power. The paradigmatic form of agency policymaking—notice-and-comment rulemaking—mitigates these concerns by ensuring considerable oversight by the courts, Congress, and the public at large. Agencies, however, typically have at their disposal a variety of policymaking tools with which to implement White House goals, including the issuance of guidance documents and the strategic exercise of enforcement discretion. While commentators have drawn attention to the risk that agencies will circumvent the extensive checks associated with rulemaking …

With All Deliberate Speed: Brown V. Board Of Education, Julian Bond

Indiana Law Journal

Julian Bond, former president of the NAACP and the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, delivered the Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s Harris Lecture on Oct. 15, 2014 in the school’s Moot Court Room. Bond’s presentation, “The Broken Promise of Brown,” was part of the school’s commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

Section 5: Race, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Understanding The History Of Institutionalization: Making Connections To De-Institutionalization And The Olmstead Act For Persons With Intellectual Disabilities In The State Of Illinois, Nancy A. Cheeseman

Dissertations

What is the historical connection between deinstitutionalization and the Olmstead decision? The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze policy within a historical perspective the connections between institutional care, deinstitutionalization, the Olmstead decision, and the effect on persons with intellectual disabilities lived experience, in the state of Illinois.

The data collected include, the transcripts of interviews with four participants, artifacts from policy documents and historical papers accessed from the Disability Museum online journals. The creation of a table for use in coding themes as associated with 5 (out of 18) core concepts for disability policy.

The Olmstead decision …

A Jurisprudence Of Equality: The Fourteenth Amendment And School Desegregation, Stewart Graham

Akron Law Review

This paper will deal with the meaning of equality in legal discourse and the social context which underlies that meaning.

Not All Non-Discrimination Policies Are Created Equal: Analyzing Public Universities' Attempts To Regulate Membership Requirements Of Officially Recognized Student Organizations, James Heilpern

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The False Choice Between Race And Class And Other Affirmative Myths, Lisa R. Pruitt

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Reach Of Title Ix: Defining Program And Recipient In Higher Education, James H. Brooks

Akron Law Review

Two main issues are raised by Grove City College v. Bell and will be analyzed in this article. First, should the Supreme Court construe a post-secondary institution as a "program" for purposes of Title IX? Second, should aid to students be considered federal financial assistance to the institution?

Denial Of Tax Exempt Status For Racially Discriminatory Schools, Bob Jones University V. U.S., Margaret K. Cassidy

Akron Law Review

The extent to which the government may deny tax-exempt status in order to further its goal of eliminating racial discrimination is a question of paramount importance. The United States Supreme Court recently addressed this question in the case of Bob Jones University v. U.S., a consolidated action which involved a conflict between two established public policies: racial equality and religious freedom. The Court held that this nation's policy of racial equality overrides any interest that an educational and religious institution may have in promoting racial discrimination.

A Current Perspective: The Erosion Of Affirmative Action In University Admissions, Corinne E. Anderson

Akron Law Review

This comment examines the recent trend towards anti-affirmative action in the context of university admissions policies. First, the comment will trace some of the formative history of affirmative action, including the Bakke decision. It will then review and analyze specific judicial and legislative events which suggest a trend towards anti-affirmative action. Finally, the comment will explore the different rationales for affirmative action and suggest some alternatives to racial preferences in admissions policies.

Ferguson, The Rebellious Law Professor, And The Neoliberal University, Harold A. Mcdougall Iii

School of Law Faculty Publications

Neoliberalism, a business-oriented ideology promoting corporatism, profit-seeking, and elite management, has found its way into the modern American university. As neoliberal ideology envelops university campuses, the idea of law professors as learned academicians and advisors to students as citizens in training, has given way to the concept of professors as brokers of marketable skills with students as consumers. In a legal setting, this concept pushes law students to view their education not as a means to contribute to society and the professional field, but rather as a means to make money. These developments are especially problematic for minority students and …

Protecting Diversity In The Ivory Tower With Liability Rules, Ting Wang

Pace Law Review

The two sides of the debate over race-based affirmative action in higher education tell two distinct stories – one of diversity’s benefits and the other of affirmative action’s burdens. In Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003), the Supreme Court found the benefits to be so compelling to society that they were deemed to outweigh the burdens. Voters in Michigan and other states found otherwise and the Court in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, 572 U.S. — (2014) upheld their right to ban race-conscious admissions. Paradoxically, since the use of race as a “plus factor” by selective universities …

Bills, Bills, Bills: The Effect Of A Rejected Settlement On Attorney's Fees Under The Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act Of 1976, Melissa Ibrahim

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Crowded Room Or The Perfect Fit? Exploring Affirmative Action Treatment In College And University Admissions For Self-Identified Lgbt Individuals, Herbert C. Brown Jr.

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Article explores affirmative action treatment for self-identified LGBT individuals in college and university admissions. This Article seeks to explain that while granting affirmative action treatment to self-identified students in the admission process is constitutional, under the current affirmative action precedent, there is a lack of sufficient justification for such an expansion. This Article will also explore the advantages and disadvantages should colleges and universities choose to implement affirmative action programs for LGBT applicants.

Section I of this Article will begin by depicting the evolution of affirmative action programs since their inception in the early 1960s. This section will also …

Faculty Insights On Educational Diversity, Meera E. Deo

Fordham Law Review

    Twice in the past two years, the U.S. Supreme Court has approved educational diversity as a compelling state interest that justifies the use of race in higher education admissions decisions. Nevertheless, it remains on somewhat shaky ground. Over the past decade, the Court has emphasized that its acceptance of diversity stems from the expectation that a diverse student body will enhance the classroom environment, with students drawing on their diverse backgrounds during classroom conversations that ultimately bring the law to life. Yet, the Court provides no support for its assumption that admitting and enrolling diverse students actually result in these …