Antiracist Legal Education

At the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, we believe antiracist legal education is necessary to equip future attorneys, judges, and policymakers to analyze racially unjust laws and develop antiracist alternatives. To this end, the Center has launched its Antiracist Legal Education (ALE) program, which will provide antiracist pedagogy and learning trainings to law professors and students across the country.

The Antiracist Legal Education Program

Understanding racism in our legal system is a core professional competency for law students. Accordingly, the ABA adopted Standard 303(c) that requires law schools to provide legal education on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism. There are currently few free and accessible resources to help law professors and students learn about racism. Recognizing this gap, the BU Center for Antiracist Research has launched an Antiracist Legal Education (ALE) program under the leadership of Professor Jasmine Gonzales Rose, BU School of Law Professor and the Center’s Chair of Policy.

Currently, the ALE program is focusing on antiracist trainings for law faculty and students in states where there have been legislative or administrative efforts to systematically silence diverse viewpoints in education. This initiative of the ALE program has been made possible due to the support of the Lumina Foundation.

Facilitator

Jasmine Gonzales Rose is a Professor of Law at Boston University, as well as the Policy Chair and a founding faculty member at the BU Center for Antiracist Research established in July 2020 by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Professor Gonzales Rose has taught Law for 14 years (courses on Evidence, Race, Racism & the Law, LatinXs & the Law, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Complex Litigation, and Civil Rights Law) and writes on the intersections of racism and linguicism with Evidence Law and juries. She is an award-winning teacher and enjoys integrating elements of mindfulness into her teaching and facilitation. Professor Gonzales Rose has extensive experience providing antiracism trainings for legal and academic audiences. Her presentations are grounded in critical race theory, antibigotry, and the antiracist research and mission of the Center.

Programming for 2023

In 2023, we will offer three trainings as part of the ALE Program: (1) an introductory webinar for faculty on Teaching Antiracism in the Law Classroom; (2) a webinar for students on Practicing Antiracism in the Law Classroom; a (3) an in depth 3-week seminar on Becoming an Antiracist Law Teacher for an intimate cohort of full-time, doctrinal faculty.

1. Introduction to Teaching Antiracism in the Law Classroom – Webinar for Law Faculty (May 4, 2023)

This webinar is being offered to law faculty, and will be led by Professor Gonzales Rose. It will provide an introduction to what it means to teach antiracist principles in the classroom. It will be held on Thursday, May 4, 2023 from 1:30-2:45 PM EDT/ 12:30 PM-1:45 PM CDT. You can register for the webinar here.

  • Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research strives to be accessible, inclusive and diverse in our programming, events and offerings. If you require communication access services for the deaf or hard of hearing, or believe that you require a reasonable accommodation for another reason, please contact asees@bu.edu by March 27 to discuss your needs.

2. Workshop on Becoming an Antiracist Law Teacher – Training for Law Faculty (May 11, 18, and 25, 2023)*

To foster meaningful exploration and information sharing, the Center is conducting an in-depth training for full-time doctrinal law faculty.* This training will consist of three small, weekly interactive 90-minute modules in May 2023. This program will encourage individual reflection on antiracism principles and offer methods to bring antiracism directly into teaching curricula.

*Priority will be given to faculty teaching in geographic areas where there are legislative or administrative efforts to systematically silence diverse viewpoints in education.

This training will strive for participants to:

  • Open up productive communication about race, racism, and antiracist teaching with colleagues
  • Define antiracism and what it means to be an antiracist, antiracist scholar, antiracist law teacher, and antiracist lawyer
  • Critically examine their strengths and areas of growth in antiracist teaching
  • Examine their institution, faculty, and student strengths and areas of growth in antiracism
  • Learn to establish trust with students and to have productive conversations about race, racism, and antiracism
  • Learn a method of teaching diverse perspectives on race and racism
  • Learn how to use critical race theory as a tool to identify racism/racial disparities
  • Strategize how to motivate students to critically examine structural racism in the law
  • Learn to interrupt racism in the classroom and with colleagues
  • Learn to be interrupted with a growth mindset
  • Brainstorm how to sustain their commitment to antiracist teaching
  • Develop an individualized plan on how to be an antiracist law teacher

The schedule for this training is as follows. Participants are asked to commit to attend all three sessions.

Module 1: Thursday, May 11, 2023 from 1:30-3:00 PM EDT/ 12:30-2:00 PM CDT.

Module 2: Thursday, May 18, 2023 from 1:30-3:00 PM EDT/ 12:30-2:00 PM CDT.

Module 3: Thursday, May 25, 2023 from 1:30-3:00 PM EDT/ 12:30-2:00 PM CDT.

If you would like to participate in this training, please complete this short application form by March 24, 2023. Please be aware that space is limited to foster deep exploration and learning.

3. Practicing Antiracism in the Law Classroom – Webinar for Law Students (September 22, 2023)

This webinar is being offered to law students, and will be led by Professor Jasmine Gonzales Rose. It will provide an introduction to how to apply antiracist principles in the study of law.  It will be offered on Friday, September 22, 2023 from 4:00-5:15 PM EDT/ 3:00-4:15 PM CDT. You can register for the program here.

    • Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research strives to be accessible, inclusive and diverse in our programming, events and offerings. If you require communication access services for the deaf or hard of hearing, or believe that you require a reasonable accommodation for another reason, please contact asees@bu.edu by September 1 to discuss your needs.