Welcome to the Office of Inclusive Excellence at Santa Clara law.
At Santa Clara Law, our commitment to fostering an inclusive community is integral to our Jesuit values, and we embrace inclusive excellence as one of the cornerstones of our Law School.
Why Inclusive Excellence Matters
Inclusive excellence represents the best of Santa Clara Law and our Jesuit mission.
- It is essential for creating a more just and equitable legal system;
- It benefits law students by providing a holistic learning experience; and,
- It prepares lawyers to navigate diverse legal issues while promoting fairness, justice, and inclusivity in their professional practice.
Improved Decision Making + Better Outcomes
Inclusive excellence better prepares students by opening up different viewpoints and experiences that can lead to a deeper understanding of the complex legal issues that students will face in their careers. This is also an essential component for building trust and providing quality legal representation.
Inclusive excellence is crucial for understanding different perspectives, cultures, and experiences, which can greatly impact legal decision-making and justice outcomes. It thus fosters an environment where all individuals feel welcomed and supported.
A Note from Our Dean
Dear Friends,
The inclusive excellence of the Santa Clara Law community is one of its greatest defining strengths. Our Jesuit, Catholic Law School is founded on the belief that we are all made in the image and likeness of God and therefore must treat each other with equal dignity and respect. We believe that serious, sustained, and civil discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, life-experiences, viewpoints, and beliefs promotes intellectual, educational, professional, ethical, and spiritual growth and understanding. Inspired by our mission, the students, faculty, staff, administrative team, and alumni have worked hard to build a law school that incarnates the enduring spiritual, moral, cultural, social, economic, and educational value of inclusive excellence.
At Santa Clara Law, we cannot be neutral in the face of any form of human subjugation. We condemn all racism, religious intolerance, bigotry, hatred, and violence towards members of our human family. We renounce any derision of people who are perceived as outsiders or who express unpopular opinions in respectful discourse.
We are called by our mission to continue to work hard to become an even more welcoming community. This shared calling requires intentional, comprehensive, and concrete action steps. Together, we will keep moving beyond words and performative gestures. We will continue to work together—all of us—to become more inclusive in our pedagogies, curriculum, co-curricular activities, discourse, programs, organizations, events, governance, hiring, admissions, resources, public safety, external relations, and community engagement.
We will continue to push each other onward with acts of loving kindness, and steadfastly accompany each other on our unending path to inclusive excellence. I am so grateful to be on this journey with you.
With warm regards and great gratitude,
Michael J. Kaufman
Dean and Professor of Law