Past Center for Civil Rights Conferences

"Reaffirming the Role of School Integration in K-12 Education Policy: A Conversation Among Policymakers, Advocates and Educators"

November 13, 2009
Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C.

Conference Brochure

View a video of the conference

This conference brought together a wide range of government officials to converse with over 300 educators, civil rights advocates and scholars who support racially and economically integrated K-12 public schools.

"New Initiatives for Integrated Education in the Obama Era: Reversing the Resegregation of the Past Two Decades"

June 12, 2009
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

Briefing Program

View a video of the briefing

On June 12, 2009, the Center for Civil Rights at UNC School of Law, the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, the University of Georgia Education Policy and Evaluation Center, and the Forum for Education and Democracy co-convened a briefing on Capitol Hill for policymakers and others committed to racially integrated public schools across the nation. Representative Chaka Fattah, whose efforts to promote a Student Bill of Rights and an Opportunity to Learn Commission address many of the inequities found in segregated schools, co-hosted the event.

The briefing, moderated by Gary Orfield of the Civil Rights Project, drew on the expertise of nationally-acclaimed social scientists and lawyers, and focused on the immediate and long-term policy options available to promote racial school integration. Francisco Negron of the National School Boards Association responded. Attendees had meaningful opportunities to share ideas and strategize about:

  • what we know and what we need to know to make the case for racially integrated education;
  • future policy directions for achieving racial equity in schools;
  • efforts to build political will for integrated schools; and,
  • experiences-to-date with socioeconomic based student assignment plans.

The following papers were included on the panel:

  • School Racial Composition and Young Children's Cognitive Development: Isolating Family, Neighborhood and School Influences, Douglas D. Ready & Megan R. Silander, Teachers College, Columbia University;
  • Racially Integrated Education and the Role of the Federal Government, Chinh Q. Le, Seton Hall University;
  • Using Regional Coalitions to Address Socioeconomic Isolation: The Creation of the Nebraska Learning Community Agreement, Jennifer Jellison Holme, Sarah Diem & Katherine Cumings Mansfield, University of Texas at Austin;
  • Federal Legislation to Promote Metropolitan Approaches to Educational and Housing Opportunities, Elizabeth DeBray-Pelot, University of Georgia & Erica Frankenberg, University of California, Los Angeles; and,
  • Is Class Working? An Update on Socioeconomic Student Assignment Plans in Wake County, NC and Cambridge, MA, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, University of California, Los Angeles.

To read about the briefing, view the following articles.

"Looking to the Future: Legal and Policy Options for Racially Integrated Education in the South and the Nation"

April 2, 2009, Chapel Hill, NC

View a video of the conference

Download the Conference Brochure and Supplement

About the Conference

When federal courts began vigorously enforcing the Brown v. Board of Education decision in the late 1960s, Southern public schools became the most integrated in the country and held that distinction for more than thirty years. Recently, schools in the South, and throughout the United States, have experienced rapid resegregation, disproportionately excluding the growing population of African American and Latino students from equal educational opportunities and access to social capital.

This conference focused on the future of public education in the wake of the United States
Supreme Court's 2007 decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (PICS). The PICS decision is widely known for placing limits on what school districts can do to voluntarily pursue racially integrated schools. But the PICS decision also is important for what it left in place. In PICS, a majority of justices affirmed that school districts have a compelling interest in promoting diversity and avoiding racial isolation in public schools. Even though PICS limits how school districts may pursue voluntary integration, the decision, nonetheless, protects their fundamental right to craft creative integration plans for their local schools.

Today our nation stands at a crossroads. We can do nothing and allow a half century of legal and social victories for our nation's children to be reversed; or we can apply our knowledge to address the resegregation crisis.

This conference was designed to heighten scholarly understanding of the PICS decision and promote discussion about immediate and long-term policy options available to school districts across the nation for whom racial integration remains a priority. On April 2nd, more than 20 nationally acclaimed social scientists and attorneys convened, presented papers, and discussed topics including:

  • Making the Case for Integration;
  • Finding Viable Legal Strategies for Racial Equity post-PICS;
  • Evaluating Socioeconomic Based Student Assignment Plans;
  • Building Political Will for Integrated Schools post-PICS; and
  • Achieving Racial Equity through Strategic Public Policies.

With approximately 250 attendees -- including scholars, researchers and students in the fields of education, public policy and the law, as well as attorneys, legal and policy advocates, community leaders, journalists, political commentators, and members of the public interested in integrated education -- this 2009 conference was a resounding success.

To learn more about our conference co-conveners visit:

"One People, One Nation? Housing and Social Justice: The Intersection of Race, Place, and Opportunity"
October 12, 2007

With nearly 200 attendees from 15 states, six private companies and law firms, 20 colleges and universities, 21 city and county governments, and 50 non-profit, social justice and advocacy organizations, this 2007 conference was a resounding success. The conference challenged participants to face critical issues surrounding race, place, and social justice. Many thanks to those who attended, sponsored, and helped convene the event. Audio and materials from the conference are below.

Sponsors:

  • AT&T
  • UNC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
  • UNC School of Law

Co-Conveners:

  • UNC Center for Civil Rights
  • National Housing Law Project
  • National Economic Development and Law Center
  • Poverty and Race Research Action Council
  • North Carolina Housing Coalition
  • North Carolina Justice Center

Conference Program (click on title for audio):

  • What Barriers Do Current Housing Trends Present to Pursuing Social Justice?
    • john powell, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity; Florence Wagman Roisman, Indiana University School of Law; Roger Clay, Insight Center for Community Economic Development; Nancy Denton, State University of New York; Gideon Anders, National Housing Law Project; Anita Earls, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
  • Is Residential Integration a Remedy? If So, How Can We Pursue It?
    • Derrick Bell, Jr., New York University School of Law; Stephanie Wildman, Santa Clara University School of Law; Charles Daye, University of North Carolina School of Law; Margalynne Armstrong, Santa Clara School of Law; Carol Bown, University of North Carolina School of Law
  • Who is Responsible For, or Able to Help Solve Housing Problems?
    • Erica Frankenberg, The Civil Rights Project; Eric Stein, Center for Responsible Lending; Peter Skillern, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Shanna Smith, National Fair Housing Alliance; Miles Vaughn, Bank of America; Chris Estes, North Carolina Housing Coalition
  • Where Do We Go From Here?
    • Antoinette Jackson, Coats, Rose, Yale, Ryman, and Lee; Sheryll Cashin, Georgetown University Law Center; Philip Tegeler, Poverty & Race Research Action Council; Loris Seibel, Durham Affordable Housing Coalition; Bill Rowe, North Carolina Justice Center

Conference Materials: