The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School announced that their Office of Equal Opportunity and Engagement is closing.
This decision has come after the Carey Law School decided to pause their Dr. Sadie T. M. Alexander scholarship program, which is named after the first Black woman to graduate from Penn’s law school. In an email sent to the Carey Law student body last week, Dean Sophia Lee wrote that the office will be closing, but that its work will be integrated into “broader, school-wide initiatives.”
“Though the office is closing, Penn Carey Law’s commitment to ensuring access and opportunity for all remains unwavering,” Carey Law School said in a statement. “These values guide how we teach, learn, and work together, and will continue to be deeply embedded in the life of the Law School.”
However, many students feel differently about these changes. Christopher Carson, an incoming second year law student and co-president of Penn’s Black Law Student Association (BLSA), said that he was “heartbroken” and “frustrated” by the news.
“It feels like there’s a lot of lip service,” Carson said. “We’re being told that the school values us, we’re being told that the school hears us, and then we read in the news, we hear in an email that those values are pretty shaky.”
Carson is also a recipient of the Dr. Sadie T. M. Alexander scholarship, which is open to Penn law students who plan to pursue careers in racial justice. Carson said that he first found out about the scholarship program ending in the spring, when he was informed by some of Penn’s deans that they were not going to receive Alexander Scholar applications in the 2024-2025 law school admission cycle. The Carey Law School website now says that they will be not accepting applications for the 2025-2026 law school admission cycle.
The Penn BLSA shared a statement that it “vehemently condemns” the school’s decisions to close the Office of Equal Opportunity and Engagement and pause the Dr. Sadie T. M. Alexander scholarship program. The BLSA called to bring back the scholarship and for more transparency about the job security of those who worked at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Engagement and how the office’s work will be integrated across the school.
