Thursday, November 2, 2006
Dennis Parker (Director of Racial Justice Program, National ACLU): Discipline Policies and the "School-to-Prison Pipeline"
2:30 to 3:50 p.m. in Wiegand, Arts & Sciences
Reception at 5 p.m. in Strong Common Room
Dennis Parker coordinates the efforts of the ACLU in combating discrimination and addressing other issues that have a disproportionate impact on communities of color. He has written extensively on a range of civil rights issues including educational equity, affirmative action, and testing.
Lia Epperson will teach the Fall 2006 Social Justice Workshop: RACE, ECONOMICS, AND EDUCATION. This workshop examines how race and economic stratification affect educational opportunity. Education plays a crucial role in sustaining a democratic society. As such, it is critical that we understand and are able to critique the legal and public policy choices that shape our education system.
The workshop will begin with an examination of the evolution of the concepts of racial integration and equal educational opportunity in the 50 years since Brown v. Board of Education, and the impact of recent Supreme Court affirmative action jurisprudence on integration in public schools. The next part of the semester will scrutinize school finance litigation and the relationship between school resources and student achievement. The third part of the semester will explore contemporary issues affecting educational opportunity, including ability grouping, standardized testing and assessment, and the expanding role of law enforcement measures in schools. The workshop will conclude by critically evaluating various reforms, including the school choice movement and the federal government’s expanding role in educational reform. In addition to examining legal authority and the work of legal scholars, students will examine the writings of historians, social scientists, and education policy experts. Visiting scholars and practitioners who work directly with these issues will address the class.
Lectures are open to members of the university community and the general public.