Nothing like a Jesuit education

Santa Clara University conference on “race, sexuality and social justice” features legal director of National Center for Lesbian Rights, among others

(The following news release from Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution, speaks for itself.)

SANTA CLARA — The first of three conferences focused on race, sexuality, and social justice from an interdisciplinary perspective will be held at Santa Clara University School of Law on April 13.

The daylong conference will feature some of the nation’s foremost thinkers on race and sexual equality, holding panel discussions on topics including the feasibility of “authentic conversations about difference;” the role of identity and culture in the pursuit of economic justice; next steps in race, sexual orientation and social justice; and family and youth.

Among the distinguished panelists will be john powell, Berkeley Law, a leading scholar and civil rights activist; Gerald Torres of the University of Texas, a former president of the Association of American Law Schools; Shannon Price Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; and Francie Kendall, a nationally known diversity consultant. 

The event will take place Friday, Apr. 13, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Santa Clara University School of Law’s Bannan Hall, Room 135.

“We hope that this interdisciplinary conference will identify concrete avenues to combat inequality based on race or sexuality and help movement toward a more just future,” said Stephanie Wildman, professor of law and director of the Center for Social Justice and Public Service.

The conference is being convened by Santa Clara University School of Law’s Center for Social Justice and Public Service and the Public Interest and Social Justice Coalition.

Future conferences will be held at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, in fall 2012, and University of Maryland School of Law, in spring 2013.

All attendees must register for the conference. Admission is free for Santa Clara University community members and all students, with box lunch costing $15 due at registration. The cost for other attendees is $80 including a buffet breakfast and box lunch.

Other panelists will include:

Patricia A. Cain, professor, Santa Clara University School of Law.

Adam R. Chang, third-year law student, William S. Richardson School of Law (University of Hawaii in Manoa); community organizer, Lambda Law Student Association; member, Board of Citizens for Equal Rights.

Martha Ertman, professor, University of Maryland Law School.

Angela P. Harris, professor, UC Davis School of Law; author, Criminal Law: Cases and Materials; Race and Races: Cases and Materials for a Diverse America; Gender and Law; and Economic Justice.

Mignon R. Moore, professor of sociology, UCLA Department of Sociology; author, Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships and Motherhood among Black Women.

Russell K. Robinson, professor of antidiscrimination, race and sexuality law, UC Berkeley School of Law.

Margaret Russell, professor of constitutional and civil-rights law, Santa Clara University School of Law.

Dean Spade, professor of poverty law and law and social movements, Seattle University School of Law; author, Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law.

Marc Spindelman, professor of constitutional, family, bioethics, sexual violence and health law, Michael E. Moritz College of Law.

Francisco Valdes, professor of U.S. constitutional law, outsider jurisprudence, law and popular culture, and comparative law, University of Miami.