University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law DEI Update

Aug 23, 2023 | Belonging & Access

Dear SJQ Community:

One of our top goals is to create an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible (IDEA) community at the S.J. Quinney College of Law.  In November 2020, the SJQ faculty adopted anti-racism goals for the College as part of our commitment to foster an inclusive community. In order to meet these goals, it is important to reflect on what we have accomplished every academic year. To keep us accountable, I am writing to update you on our progress over the 2022-2023 academic year. Although work remains, we were able to make progress on these goals. Below is a summary of what we accomplished this past academic year.

  • Collective Day of Action: Our EDI committee engaged and educated just under 100 participants on the four University of Utah EDI Pillars.
  • During Black History Month, we highlighted legal trailblazers and disseminated Black History facts throughout the month.
  • We partnered with the Asian American Student Association to host the AASA Graduation Ceremony celebrating and honoring Asian-identifying students as they begin their professional careers.
  • Pride Week: Leadership Luncheon. This event welcomed back LGBTQIA+ identifying S. J. Quinney alumni to share their experience and journey through law school and into their careers.
  • 2nd Annual Black Law Day: In partnership with the Black Cultural Center and the Graduate School Diversity Office, we welcomed any underrepresented community members to join and learn about the pathways to law school and the resources available to help them succeed.
  • Intersectionality & Implicit Bias Training: Our EDI program manager and Student Affairs team facilitated a workshop for students and staff to educate them on the history, meaning, and purpose of intersectionality. This segued into the inherent implicit biases we carry and how to combat those unjust perceptions.
  • Juneteenth Flag-Raising Ceremony: The S. J. Quinney community was represented by staff and students at the University’s flag-raising ceremony and learned the history of the day and the meaning of the flag.
  • Pride Parade: Students and staff were invited to participate in the University of Utah’s Pride float as we marched through the city.
  • Student Affairs and the Student Bar Association have researched student EDI committees and have prepared a proposal for the launch of the inaugural committee for the fall 2023 semester.
  • Our IDEA committee has developed a multi-year strategic plan focused on the University’s four pillars and the College of Law’s values. Implementation of this strategic plan will begin in the fall of 2023.
  • Our EDI program manager presented at the annual Latinos In Action (LIA) conference hosted at the University of Utah.
  • With regard to hiring, we continue to advertise positions with an emphasis on reaching diverse populations, and we are now making it part of the interview process to ask where the applicant found the position posted to make sure we are successful in our outreach.
  • Faculty Hiring requires EDI updates at each step of the interview process.
  • We were able to hire one candidate who identifies as a minority to join the faculty this August 2023.
  • In spring 2023, we successfully launched our Refugee Law Clinic.
  • In the fiscal year 2023 budget cycle, we completed staff equity salary increases.
  • The College of Law staff newsletter now includes a monthly Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion section that celebrates departmental, campus, and community events, trainings, or thoughts pertaining to EDI.
  • All staff participated in a Title IX and Mandatory Reporting training to better understand the values of respect, equity, and advocacy espoused by University of Utah administration and their role in it as an employee / university citizen in fostering a safe, inclusive, and equitable culture.
  • The college is working to create a wellness center for students, staff, and faculty.
  • Amanda Velasco is now the College of Law wellness ambassador. There is now a wellness section in the staff newsletter.
  • The College of Law obtained a grant from AccessLex to develop a pipeline program with the Utah State University Blanding campus. In June 2023, nine students from the Blanding campus participated in classes and programming both on the Blanding campus and at the College of Law.
  • The College of Law set aside $10,000 to sponsor events of other groups. Many of these sponsorship opportunities are with organizations supporting anti-racism initiatives.
  • The development team has worked to secure funding that supports underserved students, including the Arc to Justice Fellowship Program for underrepresented students. Now in its third year, it is sponsored by Kirton McConkie and Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar, and supported by Greenberg Traurig, Parsons Behle & Latimer, Snell & Wilmer, and Strong & Hanni. The development team is also prioritizing fundraising for Native students through endowed scholarships and programming, including helping to support the groundbreaking annual Cutting Sign to the Legal Profession events that support Native students from law schools across the country to learn how to successfully navigate the legal profession.
  • The alumni relations team has prioritized and will continue to work on selecting alumni speakers from diverse backgrounds for student mentoring events, community awards and recognition opportunities, CLEs and other educational programming.
  • Our communications office has expanded the EDI section of the college’s website into a central source for EDI-related information at Utah Law—bringing together relevant news, resources and updates from across the college.
  • We have conducted publicity campaigns to raise awareness of—and promote participation in—key EDI-related events such as our USU Blanding pipeline program, Black Law Day, Cutting Sign to the Legal Profession, and others.
  • We continue to increase editorial content focused on members of historically marginalized and underrepresented communities, as well as on programs and initiatives that seek to increase access to legal education and increase diversity in the legal profession.
  • In the information we share with prospective students, we have placed greater emphasis on student community life, student support resources, and other information designed to give first-generation law students a look at what law school is like and the support that Utah Law makes available to them.
  • Faculty members contributed their expertise and thought leadership to media coverage of EDI-related issues—including the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings on affirmative action and student debt relief—and their implications for historically marginalized communities.
  • Our Faust Law Library and librarians are actively engaged in anti-racist work. During the 2022-23 academic year, they accomplished the following:
    • Looked for diverse authors, along with anti-racism titles, when purchasing books for the library collection.
    • Began an inventory of discriminatory subject headings in catalog. The library is working with OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) to remove discriminatory headings.
    • Focused on creating a wider and more diverse applicant pool in our hiring process for three open librarian positions. Successfully hired a culturally diverse librarian, along with two other female librarians.
    • Continued to incorporate / focus on EDI in our Basic and Advanced Legal Research classes (LAW 6190 and LAW 7560).
  • Many faculty members are engaging in anti-racist work. For example, Associate Dean Teneille Brown will be participating in a working group on eliminating racial bias in jury decision making for the Utah courts (part of the Office of Fairness and Accountability).
  • Faculty scholarship and research also intersects with the promotion of anti-racism. For example, faculty recently authored the following articles:
        • Daniel G. Aaron
            • Court Intrusion into Science and Medicine—the Mifepristone Decisions, 329 JAMA 1735 (2023) (with Teneille R. Brown & Michael S. Sinha).
            • Supreme Court Cases on Affirmative Action Threaten Diversity in Medicine, 120 PNAS (2023) (with Fatima Cody Stanford & Simar Bajaj).
            • Ethnic and Racial Considerations in the Evaluation of the Patient with Obesity, in HANDBOOK OF OBESITY (5th ed., forthcoming 2023) (with Peter T. Katzmarzyk, et al.).
        • Teneille R. Brown
            • Shifting the Male Gaze of the Rules of Evidence, 76 VANDERBILT L. REV.__ (forthcoming, 2023)
            • When Doctors Become Cops, __S. CAL. L. REV. __(forthcoming 2023)
            • Exploring the intersection of structural racism and ageism in healthcare, 70 J. AM. GERIATRIC ASSOC. 3366 (2022) (with Tim Farrell, et al.,)
        • Anna Carpenter
            • Lawyerless Law Development, __ STAN. L. REV. __ (forthcoming 2023) (with Colleen F. Shanahan, Jessica K. Steinberg, and Alyx Mark).
            • The Field of State Civil Courts, 122 COLUM. L. REV. 1165 (2022) (with Colleen F. Shanahan, et al.).
            • Judges in Lawyerless Courts, 110 GEO. L.J. 509 (2022) (with Colleen F. Shanahan, et al.).
        • Jorge Contreras
            • Intellectual Property and Assisted Reproductive Technology, 41 Nature Biotech 14 (2023) (with David Cyranoski &Victoria T. Carrington).
        • Leslie Culver
            • The Pale Veil: Decentering Whiteness As Power and Communication Norms In the Legal Profession (Research Summary), Western Regional Legal Writing Conference (Oregon Law, October 7-8, 2022).
        • Leslie Francis
            • Federalism and the Right to Travel: Medical Aid in Dying and Abortion, , 26 J. HEALTH CARE L. & POL’Y 49 (2023) (with John G. Francis).
            • An Externalist, Process-Based Approach to Supported Decision-Making, 22 AM. J. BIOETH. 55 (with Barbara E. Bierer & Michael Ashley Stein).
            • “Long COVID,” Bodily Systems as ADAAA Major Life Activities, and the Social Model of Disability, 2022 UNIV. CHI. LEGAL F. 159 (2022) (Michael Ashley Stein)
            • Employees with Intellectual Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: New Directions for Disability Anti-Discrimination Law?, 74 OKLA. L. REV. 1 (2021).
        • Erika R. George
            • Finance, Investors and Human Rights, in TEACHING BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (Anthony Ewing, ed.) (with Ariel Meyerstein) (2023).
            • Bias and Biometrics: Regulating Corporate Responsibility and New Technologies to Protect Rights, 12 NOTRE DAME J. INT’L & COMP. L. 1 (2022).
            • Book Review of Creating Corporate Sustainability: Gender as an Agent for Change (Beate Sjåfjell & Irene Lynch Fanon, eds., 2018) 7 BUS. & HUM. RTS J. 329 (2022).
        • Laura T. Kessler
            • Reproductive Justice at Work: Employment Law After Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 109 CORNELL L. REV. __(forthcoming 2023).
            • Miscarriage of Justice: Early Pregnancy Loss and the Limits of U.S. Employment Law, 108 CORNELL L. REV. __(forthcoming 2023).
            • Achieving Equality Without A Constitution: Lessons From Israel for Queer Family Law, in QUEER AND RELIGIOUS ALLIANCES IN FAMILY LAW POLITICS AND BEYOND (Nausica Palazzo & Jeffrey A. Redding eds., 2022).
            • Addressing Sexual Misconduct in the United States Military: An Organizational Approach, 94 TEMPLE L. REV. 175 (2022).
        • Ruhan Nagra
            • Regulatory Theater: How Investor-Owned Utilities and Captured Oversight Agencies Perpetuate Environmental Racism, Public Interest Practitioner Section, 25 CUNY L. REV. 355 (2022), (with Jeanne Bergman & Jasmine Graham).
        • Clifford Rosky
            • Don’t Say Gay: Government Silence and the Equal Protection Clause, 5 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1845 (2022)
        • John Ruple
            • Bears Ears National Monument: Advocating to Protect Heritage on a Landscape Scale, in PUSHING BOUNDARIES IN SOUTHWESTERN ARCHAEOLOGY: CHRONOMETRY, COLLECTIONS, AND CONTEXTS (2023) (with multiple co-authors).
        • Elizabeth Kronk Warner
            • Laboratories of the Future: Tribes and Rights of Nature, 111 CAL. L. REV. 325 (2023) (with Jensen Lillquist)

 

Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner


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