The Roger Williams University School of Law will become one of the first nationwide to require a new course on race and law.
The university piloted its “Race & the Foundations of American Law” course as a spring elective after students, including the Black Law Students Association, expressed interest.
“There are a lot of dimensions to law, racial dimensions, and those are often ignored and not fully understood,” RWU Law Dean Gregory Bowman said in an interview Monday. “To have our students be really, truly effective lawyers, and represent their clients effectively, we thought this would be an important additional to our curriculum.”
The course, which will be taught by multiple professors, will allow for more conversation among students. The course will be required for second-year students.
“It addresses structural issues and systemic inequities within the law. Conversation about the origin about our structures through colonization, chattel slavery, the views of the Framers and how those have been embodied within the entire legal fabric and structure of our country,” Bowman said. “Civil War, segregation land ownership, abolition, on and on. In every chapter of our nation’s history, there are ramifications from the foundations that were established hundreds of years ago and if our students don’t understand those, they’ll be less effective lawyers.”
RWU LAW adopted a Strategic Plan for Diversity & Inclusion in 2017.
“We’re in a moment of national reckoning and law schools should be at the lead of that,” Bowman said.
The pilot was taught by professors Diana Hassel, Nadiyah Humber, and Nicole Dyszlewski.
The American Bar Association is considering a proposal to mandate a race and law course nationwide.
Source: https://turnto10.com/news/local/rwu-law-to-require-race-and-law-course
