Abstract

Excerpted From: Katheryn Russell-Brown and Vanessa Miller, Race Centers as Critical Curriculum Spaces in U.S. Law Schools, 76 Mercer Law Review 609 (April, 2025) (152 Footnotes) (Full Document).

Academic centers are a common feature of American universities and colleges. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are tied to a particular department, a particular college within a university, or a faculty member. Some have large numbers of faculty researchers, conduct research labs, and produce reports and white papers. Others create opportunities for student-faculty research projects. Some university centers have large endowments, most do not. Some receive grant funding from government agencies or the private sector. Centers address a wide range of subjects, including medicine engineering, social, political, and legal issues. A majority of American Bar Association-approved law schools have at least one center. In the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, at least fifteen law schools established centers that focus on race issues, including the criminal legal system. Approximately thirty-five law school race centers occupy a unique space in legal education. More than simply add-ons to the law school curriculum, the programming and scholarship of these centers should be recognized as constituent components of legal study and training.

This Article was written with three interlocking goals in mind. First, that university centers are ripe for the scholarly enterprise. There is very little academic research that examines the evolution and role that university centers play in post-secondary teaching and learning. Second, to explore the unique ways that law school race centers enhance legal education. Showing how the work of race and law centers constitute essential elements of the law school curriculum underscores its importance. The third goal is to establish the specific steps law schools can implement to support and sustain the valuable work of race and law centers.

Part One situates race and law centers within a historical context. University centers and institutes have existed in some form since the late Nineteenth century. The two most recent and strongest ties to today's race and law centers are the Black Culture Centers established in the 1960s and 1970s and the science-based university centers that emerged in the 1980s. Part Two identifies places within the standard law school curriculum where race issues could be addressed. This discussion includes a look at how race centers can amplify and support these existing spaces for race learning. A close analysis makes clear that race and law centers can act as a critical mechanism that supports and enhances existing race-related curriculum.

In this way, race centers become an essential and critical link to existing race and law pedagogy. Part Three highlights the University of Florida's Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations (CSRRR). The CSRRR, established in 1996, is one of the earliest law school race centers in the country. The section includes a summary of its organizational structure and programming. Part Four provides details on the approximately thirty-five race and law centers. In recent years, partly in response to national incidents involving issues of policing, hate speech, and violence, an increasing number of universities have established centers that focus on race-related issues. Part Five identifies steps and strategies universities can use that will expand the impact, strength, and longevity of race and law centers. This includes a look at how these efforts connect to the American Bar Association Standard 303(c), which mandates race-related instruction for all law students.

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The emergence of university centers permanently affixed education, research, and public service efforts into the fabric of institutions of higher education. BCCs, a particular kind of university center, facilitated the space for social and cultural activities as well as cultivated political and intellectual thought for Black students and campus community members. The development of BCCs paved the way for law school race centers to legitimize their footing in the academy. Since the founding of the first law school race center, the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at the University of Florida, race centers have become pivotal in creating dedicated academic spaces for teaching and learning about race and racism. They have also become invaluable resource hubs for law schools. While many law school race centers emerged from specific socio-political-legal conditions, their primary purpose has been to integrate the study of race into the law school curriculum. Most notably, more than twenty race centers were established following the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the national and international focus on police violence and brutality against Black persons.

Law school race centers serve as critical learning spaces that highlight race-related subjects. These centers amplify and strengthen the existing law school spaces where race topics are addressed. By weaving race into the law school curriculum, race centers allow students to explore and critically engage with race-related scholarship across a variety of legal issues and topics. The work of race centers can embolden the efforts of law schools and impact the broader academy--particularly when a law school mandates that every law graduate is exposed to race and racism during their law school studies. Furthermore, their existence within the institution sends a message to prospective and current students, faculty, and staff that race is integral within legal systems and education.

There are several ways to strengthen and support race centers and their missions across the law school and university. First, collecting data about race centers and the impact of their work is fundamental. A central database that documents the status and scholarship of law school race centers would be ideal. Second, funding and institutional support are essential to the longevity of the academic work of race centers. Lastly, and relatedly, we suggest law schools develop a comprehensive report of the ways it engages with race scholarship in compliance with the American Bar Association Standard 303(c). This report may include the work of race centers and how students are exposed to race in the curriculum at least twice before graduating. In summary, race centers have and continue to play a substantial role in the way law students engage with race-related topics. They signal an institutional commitment to advancing race scholarship within legal education. It is time for the robust integration of race into the law school curriculum. Race centers provide a viable route for this work. The legal academy must invest, or continue to invest, the necessary resources to support race centers as critical spaces to learn about race, particularly as law schools prepare the next generation of multi-racial legal professionals.

Katheryn Russell-Brown, Elmer V.H. and Eileen M. Brooks Trustee Professor of Crime, Law, Dept. of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the School of Law, Northeastern University.

Vanessa Miller,Assistant Professor of Education Law, Indiana University, School of Education. Pennsylvania State University (J.D. Ph.D.).