LibGuides: DEI Resources for Faculty: General Resources

Selected Resource: DEI and the Law School Curriculum

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Toward A Race-Conscious Pedagogy in Legal Education, 11 Nat'l Black L. J. 1 (1988) Crenshaw's groundbreaking article focuses on the problematic norm of perspectivelessness in law schools and the need to allow for racially informed analysis.
Kim Forde-Mazrui, Learning Law Through the Lens of Race, 21 J.L. & Pol. 1 (2005)
Frances Lee Ansley, Race and the Core Curriculum in Legal Education, 79 Calif. L. Rev. 1511 (1991) Professor Ansley argues that in light of the history of the Constitution, the legal academy should be in a better position than the rest of the university to achieve broad consensus on an issue that has proved divisive elsewhere: the centrality of race to our discipline and its core texts.
Wendy Leo Moore, Reproducing Racism: White Space, Elite Law Schools, and Racial Inequality (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008) Available in print and online through the law library.
Bonny L. Tavares, Changing the Construct: Promoting Cross-Cultural Conversations in the Law School Classroom, 67 J. Legal Educ. 211 (2017) Discusses the pedagogical and institutional advantages of promoting cross-cultural awareness. Also covers best practices and techniques for creating a positive classroom environment and for dealing with resistance and incivility.
Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman, Teaching Race/Teaching Whiteness: Transforming Colorblindness to Color Insight, 86 N.C.L. Rev. 635 (2008) Provides classroom techniques and institutional programming that would foster a more complete understanding of the function of race and whiteness in the law.
Amy C. Gaudion, Exploring Race and Racism in the Law School Curriculum: An Administrator's View on Adopting an Antiracist Curriculum, Rutgers Race and the Law Review (Forthcoming, Available at SSRN)
Harvard Law and Political Economy Student Group, Alternative Curriculum Syllabus From the Harvard LPE Student Group: "This syllabus is a suggestion of readings organized around the 1L Curriculum aimed to challenge various assumptions underlying the law. Instead of the typical structure and content of core courses, which tend to obscure their significant implications for social justice, inequality, and democracy, this syllabus aims to clarify the stakes. We recommend forming reading groups with other students to discuss these texts or reading them on your own. We hope these materials may be the first steps in framing a longer, richer conversation."
Lewis & Clark (Diversity Work Group Handout), "Ruminations on Stimulating Discussions of Race in the Law School Classroom"

Selected Resources: DEI and the Law Classroom Climate

Sean Darling-Hammond & Kristen Holmquist, Creating Wise Classrooms to Empower Diverse Law Students: Lessons in Pedagogy from Transformative Law Professors, 24 Nat'l Black L. J. 1 (2015) This article is an initial attempt to explore ways law school professors can reduce stereotype threat, create a sense of safety and belonging, and provide the kind of legal education that allows students from all backgrounds to have successful legal careers.
Anastasia M. Boles, The Culturally Proficient Law Professor: Beginning the Journey, 48 N.M. L. Rev. 145 (2018)
Catharine Wells, Microaggressions: What They Are and Why They Matter, 24 Tex. Hisp. J.L. & Pol'y 61 (2017)
Taifha N. Baker (student note), How Top Law Schools Can Resuscitate an Inclusive Climate for Minority and Low-Income Law Students, 9 Geo. J.L. & Mod. Critical Race Persp. 123 (2017) Provides ideas for how top-tier law schools can create an inclusive learning climate for minoritized and low-income students; details the institutional, faculty and student factors that contribute to an exclusionary climate; provides personal experiences and anonymous reports to demonstrate how exclusionary climates manifest; and proposes a range of ideas to promote an inclusive climate including communications, workshops and training, and curricular reform.
Erin C. Lain, Racialized Interactions in the Law School Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches to Creating A Safe Learning Environment, 67 J. Legal Educ. 780 (2018) "Issues evoking tension and microaggressions can pop up unexpectedly, despite the lengths to which a professor plans the delivery of the material. This article will define racialized interactions and psychological safety within the classroom and discuss typical professor responses. It will also explore best practices and practical tools for professors to help students navigate and learn from these interactions while maintaining psychological safety."
Tiffany D. Atkins, #fortheculture: Generation Z and the Future of Legal Education, 26 Mich. J. Race & L. 115 (2020) Reimagining, reconstituting, and reconfiguring legal education to create a culture of inclusion and activism will be essential and necessary. Engaging in this work “for the culture” means getting serious about diversifying our profession by abandoning exclusionary hiring metrics, embedding social justice throughout the law school curriculum, and adopting institutional accountability measures to ensure that these goals are met. Gen Zers are accustomed to opposing institutions that are rooted in inequality; law schools can neither afford, nor ignore the opposition any longer.
Renée M. Landers, Practicing Dialogues About Difference: Using Multiple Perspectives in Teaching the Fourteenth Amendment, 62 St. Louis U. L.J. 701 (2018)

Vocabulary & Language

This is simply a sampling of resources on inclusive language and vocabulary. It is important to keep in mind that preferred terms within a particularly identity group can vary. It also is important to remind that language evolves and terms that once were largely accepted may become outdated.

Inclusive Teaching

Amie Thurber, M. Brielle Harbin, and Joe Bandy, Teaching Race: Pedagogy and Practice (Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, 2019)
Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence : Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race (Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2015) Available in print and as an ebook.
Inclusive Teaching Resources (Marquette University Center for Teaching & Learning)
Classroom Climate: Creating a Supportive Classroom Environment (Carnegie Mellon Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation) Topics include: How to Handle Difficult Moments with Respect & Sensitivity; Teaching in Tumultuous Times; Hot Moments; Microaggressions; Teaching with a Heterogenous Audience in Mind; Culturally Responsive Teaching; How to Foster Belonging & Self-Confidence; Stereotype Threat; and Imposter Syndrome.
Diversity and Inclusion (Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning) Addresses and provides additional resources on topics such as Antiracist Pedagogy, Awareness of Socioeconomic Diversity, Awareness of Implicit Biases, Diversity Statements on Syllabi, Inclusive Classroom Climate, Inclusive Teaching Strategies Learning Student Names, and Racial Awareness.
Addressing Microaggressions in the Classroom (University of Washington Center for Teaching and Learning)
Donna Rich Kaplowitz, Shayla Reese Griffin, and Sheri Seyka, Race Dialogues: A Facilitator's Guide to Tackling the Elephant in the Classroom (New York, NY: Teachers College, 2019) The authors codify best practices in race dialogue facilitation by drawing on decades of research and examples from their own practices. They share their mistakes and hard-earned lessons to help readers avoid common pitfalls. Through their concrete lesson plans and hands-on material, both experienced and novice facilitators can immediately use this inclusive and wide-ranging curriculum in a variety of classrooms, work spaces, and organizations with diverse participants.

Suggestions & Feedback

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