Social Justice Agenda

Haub Law remains committed to the pursuit of racial and social justice in the United States and in the world. This commitment is in our DNA as a law school and will continue beyond the present moment. We will build on the longstanding work of our Criminal Justice Institute, Immigration Justice Clinic, Legal Services Externship, Civil Rights courses and externships, and environmental justice initiatives.

Our students, faculty and staff will use our training, energy, and resources to effect change in the way that law is taught, learned, and applied. We will continue to condemn and combat racism and other forms of hate and oppression, and we will work with our alumni, partners, and friends to impact the community beyond the Haub Law campus. Our work on behalf of diversity, equity, and inclusion will take the following specific forms:

• Beginning in the 2020-21 academic year, we expanded our social justice course offerings. Our Curriculum Committee will continue to explore new ways to bring social justice into the classroom. Our curriculum includes the following courses: Access to Justice Seminar, Access to Justice Lab, Civil Rights Law, Advanced Issues in Criminal Law: The Law of Policing, Poverty Law, Prisoners’ Rights, Social Justice Advocacy Externship, Guided Externship in Civil Rights, Topics in Legal Theory: The Black Lives Matter Movement, and Environmental Justice Seminar. A description of these courses can be found on the full roster of courses.
• We will examine our teaching in all courses, and especially in the first year, in order to call out issues of disenfranchisement and marginalization in the development and application of legal doctrine, and in order to instill in our students the will to reverse such use of the law wherever they observe it.  The Haub Law Faculty Development Committee will lead this effort.
• We will educate ourselves on issues of bias and discrimination by participating in antiracism training as a community.
• We will participate in regional and national conversations on race and policing, and join antiracism efforts across law schools, including the establishment of a national virtual center or clinic.
• We will facilitate additional opportunities for our students, faculty, and staff to become involved in community social justice efforts. Prof. David Dorfman will coordinate Legal Observer training, Know Your Rights training, and lectures regarding the ABCs of criminal defense of political protestors. Prof. Barbara Atwell will coordinate opportunities connected to voter registration and combating voter suppression. Prof. Elyse Diamond and the Public Interest Law Center will serve as a clearinghouse for additional social justice participation.
• Our Criminal Justice Symposium and/or yearlong workshop series, will shape the local conversation regarding the past, present, and future of systemic reform of New York’s criminal justice system.
• We will grow the pipeline of diverse law students by engaging with diverse students in mentorship programs, summer academies, and mock trial programs as early as middle school.
• We will grow the pipeline of diverse law faculty by recruiting, mentoring, and launching diverse professors via Haub Law’s Visiting Scholar Program, Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop, and Visiting Assistant Professor Program.