A Leader in Antiracist Legal Education
In 2020, Penn State Dickinson Law faculty in Carlisle unanimously passed a resolution adopting an antiracist approach to legal education. Law colleagues in University Park were similarly involved in making commitments in June 2020 through an open letter signed by over 500 faculty, staff, students, and alumni that called for concrete curricular, and community-wide actions. These converging commitments remain in place across both locations of the unified law school, and include:
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A civil rights, equal protection, and social justice certificate program.
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A required first-year course, “Race and the Equal Protection of the Laws.”
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The creation of the Antiracist Development Institute and accompanying book series.
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The Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project established by Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway.
Curriculum
By implementing change to our curriculum, within our institution, and across the U.S. legal academy, Penn State Dickinson Law is taking measurable action to combat systemic inequality, which threatens the rule of law.
First Year Requirement
All first-year students are required to take “Race and the Equal Protection of the Laws,” a course which invokes critical theory and critical pedagogy, aiming to transform how students see their place and role in an imperfect and still-evolving democracy.
The course examines the root causes of systemic racism through the lens of history and current events. Students learn why landmark legal decisions from the civil rights era have not realized their potential in changing the day-to-day lives of people of color. Through a critical pedagogical approach of shared praxis, students explore the sources of justice and law that can be used to address the problems.
Students develop their own responses to the material, which changes each year. Recent course subjects include:
- Using the Law for Change;
- Capitalism and Commercial Law;
- Slavery: Historical and Modern Privilegia;
- Education, Democracy and Voting Rights; and
- Criminal Law and Procedure.
Law faculty, lawyers, community leaders, victims of systemic racism, and alumni address the students on the topics, sharing their perspectives to illustrate concepts with real-world examples.
Antiracist Development Institute
Penn State Dickinson Law created the Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) to dismantle structures that support systemic racial inequality and intersectional injustice using a three-pillar system based on systems design, institutional antiracism, and critical pedagogy.
ADI Book Series
More than 120 colleagues from the legal academy, legal profession, and adjacent organizations are contributing to an ADI book series titled “Building an Antiracist Law School, Legal Academy, and Legal Profession,” which is being edited by Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway. The ADI builds on the concepts and information presented throughout the book series to provide law schools and other institutions with a starting blueprint that will be workshopped through the stages of systems design. Learn more about the ADI.
Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project
Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway was instrumental in establishing the Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project in 2020. The project is a webpage for law deans, faculty, and the public that contains resources and information related to addressing racism in law and legal education. Dean Conway, along with four other Black women law dean colleagues, were awarded the AALS’ 2020 Inaugural Impact Award for the creation of the Clearinghouse.