Seattle University School of Law

Transcription

1 Seattle University School of Law Our commitment to incorporating inclusion, diversity and crossdifference competency in the legal education curriculum and law school community life Seattle University School of Law is committed to educating outstanding lawyers to be leaders for a more just and humane world. The School of Law is home to a diverse student body, committed staff and faculty of teachers-scholars who pride themselves on academic rigor, devotion to social justice and commitment to personal and practical education that prepares our graduates for a lifetime in law at the service of justice. The School of Law incorporates inclusion, diversity and cross-difference competence into the fabric of the school from our efforts to diversify the legal profession to our robust curriculum to our partnerships to advance systemic work against bias and oppression. STUDENTS Student Community Seattle University School of Law educates lawyers who distinguish themselves through their outstanding legal skills and their dedication to law in the service of justice. We admit students whose life experiences and talents demonstrate the ability, intellect, and character to complete our program successfully. Seattle University Law School boasts the Northwest's most diverse student body, currently with 27% students of color. We actively seek diversity in our community, welcoming qualified persons of different races, ethnicities, religions, ages, disabilities, genders, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds and points of view. Admissions The Academic Resource Center (ARC) is nationally renowned for its commitment to providing access to the legal profession. The primary purpose is to support the diverse and non-traditional students admitted through the Access Admission Program so they excel in law school and beyond. The only law school program of its kind in the state, the Access Admission Program allows a number of promising students who don t meet traditional admission requirements to be admitted to the law school. They attend an intensive seven-week summer program that integrates a traditional Criminal Law course with legal writing and study skills. The Washington State Bar Association awarded the 2006 Excellence in Diversity award to the Law School in recognition of the contribution

2 this Program has made to diversifying the legal profession s employment of ethnic minorities, women and persons with disabilities. Pipeline Programs In cooperation with the King County Bar Association (KCBA) and the University of Washington, we participate in the Future of the Law Institute (FLI). We bring over 80 high school minority and other disadvantaged students to the Law School. This summer, we will once again present, along with the Alaska Association of Women Judges, the Color of Justice Program, targeted to native Alaskans. We serve on the Planning Committee for the WSBA YLD Pre-Law Conference in Yakima and the Youth and Justice Forum in Pasco and participate in the Youth and Law Forum in Seattle. Our law students of color to make presentations to high school students of color who are interested in a career in law at these events. During Discover Law Month, we hosted 80 young Latinas. Our Latina law students also mentored students through the Building Dreams: Latina Student Mentoring Project in the Bellevue School District. We hosted and coordinated the Just the Beginnings Foundation s Summer Legal Institute (SLI) which is a 5-day program designed to introduce high school students of color to the legal system, expose them to careers in law, and provide them with practical tools for achieving their educational goals. Students work with judges, lawyers and law students on legal reasoning, case analysis, writing, negotiation, and oral argument exercises. Students and their parents/guardians also receive college preparatory advice. We partnered with Heritage University, Columbia Legal Services, the University of Washington and Gonzaga University to present a program to educate and develop local students as community leaders in the Yakima Valley. We hosted a group of Tukwila freshman from the AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, an elementary through postsecondary college readiness system that is designed to increase school-wide learning and performance. AVID targets students in the academic middle, many who are from low-income or minority families. Our faculty and staff provided a program on leadership and study skill building. Student Organizations and Coalitions Many of our law student organizations actively promote and celebrate inclusion and diversity. These organizations include the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association, Black Law Student Association, Latino/a Law Student Association, Korean American Law Student Association, Middle Eastern Law Student Association, Native American Law Student Association, and the South Asian Law Student Association. Students in these organizations often volunteer to serve as mentors for youth from their communities. They also organize events and programs geared toward bringing awareness to issues their communities face and celebrate accomplishments of others in their communities. Examples of these events are the annual Diversity Week and Social 2

3 Justice Mondays described below and the Black Graduation and Latino/a Graduation organized in partnership with our Office of Alumni Relations and the Loren Miller Bar Association and the Latino/a Bar Association. Our Social Justice Coalition is a meta-organization, which creates space for meaningful collaboration between students and student organizations and also builds capacity among the student body to hold the school accountable to its mission. The Coalition also provides a safe space particularly for students who feel marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, socio-economic status or other difference. Our Seattle Journal for Social Justice and Law Review are also committed to inclusion, diversity and cross-difference competency. They have collaborated with each other to implement a diversity policy aimed at encouraging a more diverse staff for their respective law journals. They also collaborated to organize a symposium entitled The Edge that Cuts: Intersections of Transphobia, Racism, Economic Injustice, and the Law. The workshops included the following: Improving Trans Awareness and Access at Seattle University, Trans Healthcare Access: Local, State, and National Perspectives Roundtable, Emerging Issues in Trans Law Scholarship, The Role of Law Reform in a Trans Politics that Centers on Racial and Economic Justice, and a film screening of Diagnosing Difference. CO-CURRICULAR PROGRAMMING First Year Orientation: During our first year orientation, we offer leadership training which focuses on self-awareness and understanding bias, inequity and access barriers. Diversity Week: This is an annual week of events focused on discussing and learning about the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, culture, class, religion, gender, ability, immigration status, sexual orientation and lived experience. This week is entirely organized by student organizations under the leadership of the Student Bar Association Diversity Representative and his/her Diversity Week Committee. The 2011 Diversity Week events included the following panel discussion, dramatic presentations and film screenings: o The Intersections of Criminal Law and Immigration Law: A discussion about the recent immigration raid in Ellensburg o Underage Prostitution and the Sexual Exploitation of Young Girls in Seattle o Diversity in Politics o Expanding Diversity in the Legal Profession by Reaching Out to Underrepresented Youth o Justice Works! Performance of Set Up to Fail o Climate Change and the Threat to Environmental Diversity: What Should Be Done in the Face of Uncertainty? o "Brother Outsider: a film about Bayard Rustin" o Tierra y Libertad: Land Rights, Greenwashing Displacement, and U.S. Foreign Policy in Colombia 3

4 Lawyering in a Diverse World: This is an annual series of engaging workshops designed to create awareness and empower students and lawyers with skills and tools on a variety of issues related to diversity, and ultimately give students and lawyers the competitive edge for effective lawyering in our increasingly diverse and complex world. Some of the workshops are offered as Continuing Legal Education seminars and are open to the public. Some examples of workshops offered through this program include: o Diversity Table Talks which are informal, facilitated conversations over a meal which are facilitated by trained staff from the Seattle University Office of Multicultural Affairs o Disability Rights: Ethics and Practical Skills CLE o Civil and Criminal Advocacy Strategies for Protecting Civil Rights CLE o Dealing with Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courtroom CLE o Community Action Poverty Simulation CLE o Dollars and Sense of Diversity: The Value of Diversity and How to Achieve It CLE Racial Justice Leadership Institute: The Racial Justice Leadership Institute is part of the Lawyering in a Diverse World series. It is designed to foster law students' leadership skills for working toward racial justice. Forty students dedicate a significant time outside of their studies to focus on recognizing and naming systems of racial privilege and oppression in legal education and the legal profession while building skills to work for racial justice. They meet four times, two of which they meet in their own caucuses. How to Work with an Interpreter Training: Students are trained on how to work with interpreters and understand language access rights for limited English speaking people. This training is offered twice a year and is offered as a CLE online (attorneys can watch the video of the training and receiving A/V CLE credit by going to Social Justice Mondays: This is a weekly series that aims to create a forum for bring awareness and encouraging discussion around social justice. Many of the the Social Justice Mondays are organized by student organizations, community-based organizations and faculty. Some examples of programs include: o The Role of Lawyers and the Japanese American Internment o Men and Women Incarcerated with Mental Illness and Disabilities o Discrimination, Hate Crimes and Post 9/11 Waves of Islamophobia o Casa Latina: Wage Theft and Immigrant Worker Rights 4

5 CURRICULUM The law school's commitment to academic excellence and education for justice is illustrated in the courses we offer. The following are some examples of courses that integrate anti-bias and cross-difference competency: Courses: Advanced Civil Equal Justice Seminar Contemporary Issues in Indian Law Critical Perspectives on Transgender Law Disability Law Environmental Justice Seminar Gender and Justice Seminar Housing Law and Policy Seminar Landlord/Tenant Law Latinos and the Law Law and Sexuality Law, Policy, and Mental Health Law and Violence against Women Poverty Law Public Benefits/Welfare Law Race, Racism, and American Law Social Justice Lawyering Special Education Law Seminar U.S. Races and the Justice System Clinical Courses: Administrative Law Clinic Domestic Violence Clinic Immigration Law Clinic International Human Rights Clinic Trusts & Estates Clinic/Indian Trusts & Estates Clinic Community Development & Entrepreneurship Clinic Mediation Clinic Mental Health Court Clinic Predatory Lending Clinic Youth Advocacy Clinic CENTERS AND INSTITUTES Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality The Center's mission is to advance justice and equality through a unified vision that combines research, advocacy, and education. Its research work is focused on understanding the relationship between law and categories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and disability, especially with regard to their intersections. Its advocacy work seeks to combat discrimination and to support communities in advocating for themselves. Its education efforts are focused on helping students become agents for social change, seeking to diversify the legal academy, and training the next generation of scholar/teacher/activists through post-graduate teaching and advocacy fellowships. Some relevant programs include: Voting Rights Initiative: This is a national initiative to address issues of minority vote dilution. This initiative serves as a national resource center for voting rights practitioners and advocates who are involved in litigation, legislative, and advocacy efforts to eliminate methods of election that have a discriminatory effect on minority voting strength. Honorary Degree Project: The Korematsu Center staff led an effort which led to the Seattle University Board of Trustees granting honorary undergraduate degrees to former students who were forced to leave the university when the 5

6 United States government interned more than 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry during World War II. After Race Book Project. This project fosters cutting-edge interdisciplinary scholarship on issues of law and equality, Scholars are engaging with each other for a three-year period on the topic After Race through a set of interrelated questions concerning a post-racial society, which will be concluded with a presentation of papers at an upcoming conference. Amicus Rights Brief Project: The Korematsu Center has drafted and signed on to amicus briefs on cutting-edge issues facing the courts. Committed to the process of democratizing the courts - ensuring that the voices of those affected by the courts' decisions are heard, the Korematsu Center filed an amicus brief in the case of Turner v. Stime, a case involving comments about counsel's race during jury deliberations. The Center recently filed an amicus brief in a child custody case, Katare v. Katare, asking the court to protect against the use of unfounded assumptions related to a parent's national origin. The Center is also developing a Civil Rights Amicus Clinic where students will learn about civil rights litigation strategy and draft amicus briefs under the supervision of a member of the law faculty and in coordination with lawyers in practice. Race and the Criminal Justice System Task Force: The Korematsu Center has taken a leadership role in organizing this task force in partnership with the Access to Justice Board. The task force is working to address racial disparity in Washington's criminal justice system and has articulated a set of goals and developed working groups to move the project forward. The first phase involves developing informational resources on racial bias in the criminal justice system. The second phase involves bringing into conversation all levels of the criminal justice system and to develop a set of recommendations to address racial bias at the systemic level. The third phase involves working to implement the recommendations. Throughout, the task force will develop educational projects to reach judges, the bar, law enforcement, students, and the public. On March 2, 2011, the task force met with the Washington Supreme Court at the Temple of Justice in Olympia Washington. Attending were representatives from the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors, the Washington State Access to Justice Board, the Minority and Justice and Gender and Justice Commissions, the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, The Defender Association, the state's specialty bar associations, the state's three law schools, various law enforcement agencies, and many other organizations, as well as many judges and other leaders from Washington's legal community. Access to Justice Institute (ATJI) ATJI serves as the law school's social justice hub, inspiring, promoting and supporting: transformative and active community engagement by the law school community in the service of justice for marginalized and underserved communities; bridge-building between academics and action to help eliminate unfair and oppressive systems and practices; community-building with those individuals and community groups who share 6

7 a commitment to justice for all; and leadership development and capacity building of the next generation of social justice lawyers. In addition to coordinating many of the cocurricular programs described above, ATJI also oversees a number of diversity related programs including: Our social justice post-graduate fellowship program, which provides funding to two law graduates to work with a social justice legal organization. One of this year s fellows will be working with Columbia Legal Services to provide legal support to communities of color in the construction industry in south King County. The other fellow will be working with the Mental Disability Advocacy Center in Hungary to research and report on human rights issues faced by women with mental disabilities in Africa and will advocate on their behalf before the United Nations and regional bodies. The purpose of our fellowship program is to create opportunities for new lawyers to work shoulder-to-shoulder with underserved and disadvantaged populations. The Summer Critical Race Film Series, a collaboration with the Center for Global Justice and Professor Dean Spade, aims to inspire reflections and discussions on the intersectionalities of race, gender, nationality, class, sexuality, and the law among our law school community of faculty, staff and students. Last summer, we screened Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation, which is a documentary about the U.S. illegal taking of Hawai'I in 1893, and Papers, a documentary which raised awareness about the lives of undocumented youth and educated the law school community about what we can do to help make change on behalf of these extraordinary young people. Center for Indian Law and Policy The Center for Indian Law & Policy is committed to educating and training both Indian and non-indian students, attorneys and community leaders in areas of federal Indian law and other legal, cultural and policy issues that impact tribes and Indian people. One of their programs includes the Indian Estate Planning Project - Summer Internship. Through this project, law students and attorneys provide estate-planning services to tribal members throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Prior to being sent out to their assigned tribal community, law students receive an intensive training which includes gaining cultural competency skills for working with tribal communities. Center for Global Justice The Center for Global Justice fosters multidisciplinary research, education, and advocacy about critical international legal issues, including human rights, conflict resolution, governance, development, security, and the environment. Through colloquiums, conferences, and publications, the Center actively engages with doctrinal and policy dimensions of key questions that confront international legal regimes. Some of the events that the Center (co-)sponsored include the US premiere of Maestra, a film about 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign which transformed Cuban women and society and Rinku Sen, the publisher of Colors NW magazine, who spoke about We're All Accidental Americans: Reframing the Immigration Discourse. 7

8 For any questions or comments about this summary, please contact: Diana Singleton, Director, Access to Justice Institute