But the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville is trying to change these statistics by addressing barriers to opportunities and providing mentorship to create greater equity, embracing the Cardinal Principles of leadership, diversity and inclusion.

Cameron Lyons and Lauren Neal, both second-year law students of color, are engaged in unique summer experiences. Lyons is taking part in a fellowship with the National Wildlife Federation. One issue he’s helping tackle is equitable access to the Land and Water Conservation Fund that he hopes will result in more outdoor recreation opportunities in disadvantaged areas.

“It is important to have diverse representation in environmental law for the same reason it is important to have diversity in any field – perspective,” Lyons said. “At the local, state and federal levels, attorneys of color contribute a unique perspective that safeguards the environment with respects to vulnerable segments of the population.”

Neal is a community engagement intern for Kentucky Waterways Alliance and a legal intern for the Kentucky Equal Justice Center. She is creating relationships between KWA and communities of color within Kentucky to give underrepresented communities a voice in planning about water sources. Her work with KEJC involves legal research and writing to help impact litigation and legislative (state and local) housing and consumer law issues within Kentucky.  

“Representation can make a world of difference when it comes to bridging the gap of communication so that the cycle of exclusivity and marginalization stops. Having a seat at the table allows for those conditions to be replaced by the empowerment of being present and, moreover, being genuinely heard in shaping the conversations about the environmental injustices that affect these communities,” Neal said.

Behind every great student is a great teacher

Both students credit Tony Arnold, Brandeis law professor and Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use, for mentoring them and making the connections needed to land their summer experiences.

“Professor Arnold has been the biggest mentor and encourager when it comes to my pursuits. He has been an amazing guide and wealth of knowledge on how to pursue my dreams – a true inspiration who has kept me motivated through a lot of tough times,” Lyons said.

Arnold says when law students of color become interested in environmental law and related fields like land use and natural resources, they need mentors who will encourage their interests and connect them to valuable opportunities in the field.Ìę

“Too often Black and Latinx law students are steered, sometimes subtly and sometimes not-so subtly, to fields that are perceived to be most salient to communities of color, such as civil rights, criminal law and affordable housing law, or to fields that are high-paying, such as corporate law or major litigation,” Arnold said.

Although UofL’s Brandeis School of Law has a small environmental law program, mentoring is one of several reasons for the success in connecting law students of color to the niche.

Arnold says aspects of race and ethnicity are integrated into all courses in related fields of environmental, land use and natural resources law. This allows students to explore the ways in which environmental conservation and racial justice are interconnected.

In addition, Arnold’s research has influenced not only knowledge but also public policy and activism, which led to creation of the law school’s Resilience Justice Project. He has been involved in many community issues, including service on the board of the West Jefferson County Community Task Force, and has collaborated with the late Robert Garcia of in Los Angeles. Garcia was one of the nation’s top Latino environmental leaders and one of Arnold’s mentors.

Students have opportunities to work with Arnold on this research. Most recently, half of the co-authors of his most recent article, “Resilience Justice and Community-Based Green and Blue Infrastructure,” are current or former students of color.

“Our students get lots of personalized attention, support and encouragement,” Arnold said. “All students, but especially our students of color, need to know their professors are invested in them and their educational and professional development.” 

In the summer of 2020, President Neeli Bendapudi charged the to lead a taskforce in bringing forth recommendations to guide UofL in becoming a premier anti-racist metropolitan research university.

“To be an anti-racist institution, UofL cannot rest on the racial advancements of the 20^th century,” Bendapudi said. “We are facing long-held racist beliefs, action and inaction, and we aren’t shying away from the fight.”

The agenda, now in the final stages of development, underscores the strategic vision of the university as a great place to learn, work and invest through celebration of the unique attributes every individual brings to the university community.

“The approach of this work focuses on evaluating policies and institutional behaviors as a means of shifting cultural values and perspectives toward greater racial equity,” said V. Faye Jones, interim senior associate vice president for diversity and equity.

CARA progress

Representatives from throughout UofL’s campuses — faculty, staff, students, trainees (residents and post docs) and administration — helped develop the agenda. These five subgroups of the taskforce have carefully and thoughtfully drafted a report of six priority areas, and action steps, which are now being refined. Completion of a final plan, along with implementation is expected this year.

The six broad priority areas are:

• Culture, Policies, Practices and Procedures
• Equity in Work, Compensation, Professional Development and Reward
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Images and Communication
• Recruitment and Retention of Diverse Talent
• University and Community Relationships

This year the taskforce anticipates a report with action plans for every strategy, a data dashboard making diversity data transparent and accessible and a CARA cultural impact to improve the lived experiences of the entire Cardinal family.

Campus movement

As details of CARA are being finalized, movement to support the agenda is already in motion. Every unit throughout campus is laying groundwork to break down barriers and make changes that reflect our anti-racism goal.

For example, leadership from each of the four Health Sciences Center schools participated in a 10-week immersive executive leadership program with the Aspen Institute focused on leading institutional diversity, equity and inclusion. Not only this, but leaders at many schools and units throughout the university have set aside funding to support dedicated diversity, equity and inclusion positions at the director, assistant dean and associate dean levels.

Faculty, staff and student support is one area of growth. Through the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD), faculty, staff and students can receive on-demand access to mentoring, professional development and support leading to success in the academy. Several faculty of color are being supported by their school’s dean and the to participate in NCFDD’s Faculty Success Program designed to help faculty increase research and writing productivity while maintaining a healthy work/life balance. This opportunity will provide needed resources as the faculty pursue tenure. Meanwhile, Human Resources has developed an affirmative action review process for faculty tenure and promotions, seeking to understand whether decisions made regarding tenure and/or promotion adversely impact members of certain groups.

Launched through the Office of Research and Innovation, the new  provides mentorship, funding and other support to high-performing associate professors. The goal is to boost the national impact of the fellows’ scholarship, with a focus on work in diversity, inclusion and community empowerment.

Other actions, too, are helping the CARA progress, as staff and faculty have opportunities to participate in book studies and Continuing łÉÈËֱȄ sessions on the topics of implicit bias, microagressions, power and privilege, health disparities and racial justice. A new Lunch and Learn series also helps welcome, mentor and retain Black faculty, with plans to extend to Hispanic and Latino faculty. Development of a faculty search document, Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Increase Diversity and Excellence (STRIDE) will lead to workforce change, and a new Employee Resource Group is focused on faculty and staff who identify as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The Office of Diversity and Equity, in collaboration with the Employee Success Center, also is working to better incorporate diversity and equity in university onboarding, leadership and retention programs, policies and practices. Programs and services to support employees and students experiencing racial trauma also give credence to one of UofL’s guiding principles as a Community of Care.

A new Undergraduate Student Success Taskforce, coordinated through the Office of Diversity and Equity, aims to make it easier for underrepresented, underfunded and first generation students to have an equal opportunity for achievement. The group will work to improve information sharing, communication and collaboration across units; identify gaps in services, student performance and experience; and develop creative ways to eliminate barriers and build student success. The taskforce will have a plan in place this fall.

A course for first-year students taught by student success center staff also is being revised in time for the new academic year to more intentionally thread themes of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the curriculum. All GEN 100 instructors will be trained on what it means to be an anti-racist institution and tie the work of CARA to first year students’ experience as they join the university community.

And advancement is working to raise funds for student financial support aimed at racial equity. The School of Nursing’s Breonna Taylor Memorial Scholarship and the J.B. Speed School of Engineering’s diversity education scholarship through are two examples.

New committees and groups

The Student Government Association recently created a diversity and inclusion committee, the Staff Senate created a and new recognized student organizations have launched this year, including the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA).

Jason Deakings helped lead the effort in bringing together the BGSA. As a CODRE student representative, he’s also helping shape CARA. Deakings worked on a committee to explore anti-racism initiatives at other universities, and had the opportunity to listen to both graduate and undergraduate student ideas and concerns related to the agenda.

“Inclusiveness is of paramount importance for students,” Deakings said. “Even as new RSOs have been created, we are working toward unification and progressing inclusivity.”

Inclusiveness and belonging are key, says Jones.

“We must ensure equity in all of our practices and policies that are inclusive of our multiple identities,” she said.

As the world begins to recover from the devastating effects of the recent global COVID-19 pandemic, we maintain our commitment to providing education that is fair, just and true, and leads toward an end of the devastating effects of the long-term racial pandemic.

No doubt some of the legal details of this case, particularly as they apply to race and equity, are complicated. As such, the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law has introduced a new, 14-week class called “”

The class is the brainchild of Dean Colin Crawford and is open to law students who have passed their first year. According to the Courier Journal, 12 students are currently enrolled and eight others are auditing.

The class features different speakers who discuss topics such as housing, reparations and policing. Crawford told the CJ that while Breonna Taylor’s death is the impetus behind the class and, the greater movement, students are tasked with introducing amendments to laws that may mask systemic inequality.

In a letter to the law school community on June 1, , writing in part:

“
As I watch these (protests) unfold, I think of the importance of the importance of the law at times like these. Law is everywhere at this moment. Lawyers likely approved the no-knock warrant policy that has now been rescinded. Lawyers originally charged Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, for the shots he fired from his own, permitted firearm. A lawyer – the Commonwealth Attorney – subsequently rescinded those charges. Lawyers will represent Taylor’s family and Walker going ahead, as they will do for the police involved.

“The law also permits us as Americans to protest peacefully. And the law will be used to punish those who turned peaceable protests violent, unnecessarily and with needless destruction of property, causing physical injury and further death.

“Perhaps most powerfully, these events remind me of our national commitment to equality of treatment before the law, a principle included in the 14^th Amendment over a century ago. The inequities that led to its passage, as recent events demonstrate, are tragically still with us. For my part, I therefore hope that this historical moment will lead all of us to re-examine the persistent disparities and inequities that too often characterize the structure and practice of our institutions,Ìęenabling systematic oppression of particular groups, and especially of African Americans.ÌęI hope that many of you feel the same.ÌęThe current events show us that we still have far to go to be able truly to claim to be ‘one nation, undivided, with liberty and justice for all.’

Lawyers can help change that reality. Lawyers will be evermore important in the coming months and years. More will be demanded of us as we are called upon to dedicate ourselves, as officers of the court and as those who translate our highest principles into laws and regulations, to the cause of justice applied equally and fairly for all people, no matter what they look like or their station in life. As Justice Brandeis famously said, ‘The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.’ This is no time for us as a people – and as lawyers – to be inert.”

The CJ reports that “Freddie Gray’s Baltimore” class at the University of Maryland helped inspire UofL’s class. Freddie Gray was arrested in Baltimore in 2015 for possessing a knife. He fell into a coma while being transported in a police van and later died due to injuries to his spinal cord. Breonna Taylor’s death obviously hits closer to home.Ìę 

“We’re the only law school in this city, so it’s really important that we engage,” . “I’m really hoping (the students) will come up with a solution of their own and feel they’ve been empowered to think about these matters differently and use law as a tool for positive change.”

Resources added ahead of the verdict

The Counseling Center, Cultural Center, LGBT Center, PEACC, and Student Affairs are collaborating to hold virtual drop-in group sessions for students who want to connect, share, and find support in light of the Attorney General’s impending announcement on the Breonna Taylor case. Student well being is a priority, as we strive to foster an environment of inclusiveness that empowers us all to our highest potential without fear of prejudice or bias. Groups will be held via Microsoft Teams. The sessions will not be recorded. .

Additionally, the Office of Diversity and Equity has compiled a list of for the campus community. The list will be updated on an ongoing basis.

Volk said he and his co-founders were moved to action as they discussed how to contribute to the advancement of minorities after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

“We identified gaps in Black achievement and Black professional success and saw that Black students often lacked personal and family connections in industry to help give job referrals and expose them to the type of professional opportunities that lead to the best careers. We wanted to cut the degrees of separation between the Black community,” Volk said.Ìę

The Eckford Program is trying to connect Black students to competitive jobs and internships through mentoring. By doing so, the organization hopes to give Black professionals the ability to directly diversify their industry and give students the industry connections they need to become more competitive for opportunities, Volk said.Ìę

The program is named for Elizabeth Eckford. In 1957, she opened the door for a new generation of black students as part of the Little Rock 9, a group of black students who enrolled at a previously all-white high school in Arkansas. Volk is working with some former classmates on the project including Andre Battle at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Elvin Irisamye at IU-Bloomington, and Anas Gondal at Duke University.Ìę

Already, the program has generated a digital presence with a website, Instagram page and LinkedIn account.

“Currently our focus is on increasing awareness about our organization, and our members have been reaching out to potential mentors and campus organizations around the country who would be able to assist us making students aware of our organization and the opportunities we seek to provide,” Volk said.Ìę

And Volk said they have met with some initial success.

“We’ve had the amazing opportunity to connect with more than a few universities and engage their Black communities, most notably here at UofL and at Indiana University. In addition, we’ve garnered industry support in a wide range of places and aim to gain a few more partners in equity here in Louisville,” he said.Ìę

Volk said the program focused on virtual communication because of the coronavirus pandemic. In so doing, it provides an added benefit, he said, by allowing students to connect with professionals they may have not had access to previously because of location.Ìę

“The Black student community hasn’t had the same luxury in having easy access connections in the professional world. We aim to cut degrees of separation so that a first-gen Louisville Black business student can gain a world-class Black professional mentor working in New York or Chicago. This has all become possible because of technology, and specifically developments in telecommunication from this period of coronavirus lockdown,” Volk said.Ìę

Volk came to UofL initially planning pre-med studies and a career helping others. While he has changed his major, his longer-term plan to benefit the community remains.

“I hope to utilize my education to help uplift others in any way possible, and I think that the Eckford Program will help give me hands on experience in learning to use the strength of community to empower people to fundamentally change inequities in existing structures,” he said.Ìę

More information about the Eckford Virtual Mentorship Program is available via its ,ÌęŽÇ°ùÌę.

Story written by Stuart Esrock, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Communication, and faculty-in-residence at the University Career Center.Ìę

This is one of more than 80 photographs taken by members of the West Louisville and St. Louis communities as part of a Photovoice project designed to provide an opportunity for expression and discussion about community concerns. The University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences’ (SPHIS) Office of Public Health Practice led the project, and about half the pictures are on display in a new exhibit, at the , a collaborator on the project.

“Communities struggle to address issues because we collectively lack the patience and humility to listen and to acknowledge that people have lived experiences that are different than ours,” said Monica Wendel, DrPH, MA, SPHIS associate dean of public health practice. “This exhibit creates space for people who aren’t usually heard to tell their stories, talk about their experiences – and if we invest our time in listening, we can learn things that help us know how to create meaningful change in our community.”

The UofL SPHIS Office of Public Health Practice invited various community groups to take photographs representing aspects of justice, safety, hope, and racial equity. Office staff then asked the participants to discuss the meaning of the photos, and propose action associated with identified problems.

Trinidad Jackson, MS, MPH, SPHIS senior researcher, wanted to launch the local Photovoice project after collecting images and stories from his hometown of St. Louis, Mo., during the week of the Ferguson protests triggered by the grand jury decision to not indict police officer Darren Wilson for crimes in the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

“The images in this exhibit characterize real-life situations that impact all of us in some way, but some of us cannot easily escape the real consequences attached to certain social phenomena such as having dark skin or living in a certain zip code,” Jackson said. “Data generated from places like police departments and hospital emergency departments often project damaging narratives of populations that have, for centuries, been inequitably impacted by Eurocentric systems that facilitate community destruction.”

Jackson says he hopes the exhibit will provide a means for the local community to create its own narrative about historical and contemporary positives and negatives to present “a more comprehensive context — one that includes the community’s truth and power.”

“‘Yet We Live, Strive, and Succeed’ is a brilliant exhibit of photography from community members sharing their lived experiences,” said Aukram Burton, executive director, Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. “It is my hope that this exhibition will facilitate productive conversations and dialogue that will lead to new ideas and partnerships in solving community issues like excessive force by police and the unacceptable level of gun violence.”

Originally developed by Caroline Wang, DrPH, at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the goal of Photovoice is to use photographs as a tool to reflect on community strengths and weaknesses, serve as a platform to discuss important community issues and act as a catalyst to reach policymakers.

UofL’s Office of Public Health Practice Photovoice project exemplifies one of multiple community-based participatory research efforts facilitated by the office. Their research team plans to analyze data from the Photovoice project and other community forums to provide actionable information to local leaders and mobilize local residents for community improvement. On Sept. 18, the office plans to invite the community to learn about their findings and engage participants in developing solutions to identified problems.

The Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage is providing the space and IDEAS xLab is curating the exhibit. “Yet We Live, Strive and Succeed,” is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and runs through Sept. 23. Admission is free. More information is .Ìę

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