Event in D.C. on “Student Debt and Education Justice”

New Event from others at my school: Student Debt and Education Justice. March 19, 2013 at American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C.

Borrowers owe over $1 trillion in students loans.  Default rates top 15% for loans taken to attend for-profit colleges, many of which provide poor educational programs.  Students who default on loans—regardless of whether their job prospects improved after enrolling in the course— experience a host of negative consequences, including destroyed credit scores, wage and Social Security garnishments, lost security clearances and a debt burden that cannot be discharged, even in bankruptcy.  Defaulting students lose the very economic mobility they sought through post-secondary education.  The debt burden cripples low-income communities, undermines access to education, and poses a danger to the larger economy.

The Women and the Law Program’s new Student Debt and Education Justice Project will address the causes and consequences of student debt, particularly for low-income students.  Join us for an inaugural panel as we explore how legal regulation and public policy governing higher education and student debt might be reformed or improved so that low-income borrowers are more likely to benefit from, rather than be harmed by, enrolling in institutions of higher education.  Speakers include:

• Chris Kirkham, The Huffington Post
• Deanne Loonin, The National Consumer Law Center
• Joseph Mais, The Institute for College Access and Success
• Libby Masiuk, Senate HELP Committee
• Spiros Protopsaltis, Senate HELP Committee
• Tobin Van Ostern, Center for American Progress

For a full program and to register online, click here.

New Article: “Civil Rights, Charter Schools, and Lessons to be Learned”

New Article: Derek W. Black, Civil Rights, Charter Schools, and Lessons to be Learned, 64 Fla. L. Rev. 1723 (2013).  Abstract below:

Two major structural shifts have occurred in education reform in the past two decades: the decline of civil rights reforms and the rise of charter schools. Courts and policy makers have relegated traditional civil rights reforms that address segregation, poverty, disability, and language barriers to near irrelevance, while charter schools and policies supporting their creation and expansion have rapidly increased and now dominate federal policy. Advocates of traditional civil rights reforms interpret the success of charter schools as a threat to their cause, and, consequently, have fought the expansion of charter schools. This Article argues that the civil rights community has misinterpreted both its own decline and the rise of charter schools. Rather than look for external explanations, civil rights advocates should turn their scrutiny inward. And, rather than attack charter schools, they should learn from them.

New Article: “The Federal Right to an Adequate Education”

New Article: Barry Friedman & Sara Solow, The Federal Right to an Adequate Education, 81 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 92 (2013).

-Thanks to Concurring Opinions for the heads up!

(Bad) Op-Ed of note: “Profiting From a Child’s Illiteracy”

(Bad) Op-Ed of note: Nicholas D. Kristof, Profiting From a Child’s Illiteracy, N.Y. Times, Dec. 7, 2012.  And here is a response from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  The nicest thing that can be said about the op-ed is that it covers a lot of ground . . .

New Issue of Stanford’s Pathways Magazine

Stanford’s Center on Poverty and Inequality has published a new issue of Pathways, available here.  The contents from the website are below:

TRENDS

• The Social Contract in an Era of Precarious Work
  Arne L. Kalleberg
  Where have all the good jobs gone? Even before the Great Recession, secure employment was becoming difficult to find. 

RESEARCH IN BRIEF

• A Report on New Poverty and Inequality Research
  Christopher Wimer
  Eviction and its role as a poverty trigger; “intense schools” and their effects on disadvantaged youth; racial disparities in receipt of Unemployment Insurance; and other cutting-edge research.

A SOCIAL FALLOUT TO THE GREAT RECESSION?

• The Great Decline in American Immigration?
  Douglas S. Massey
  Immigrants accounted for over a third of U.S. population growth in recent decades. But the Great Recession is bringing about a real turnaround in immigration dynamics.
• The Crime Wave That Wasn’t
  Christopher Uggen
  An economic downturn is supposed to raise crime rates by reducing opportunities for licit employment and earnings. Why, then, have most types of crime continued to decline throughout the Great Recession?
• Is the Recession Making Us Sick?
  Sarah Burgard
  So far, at least, there’s no evidence of a recession-induced health epidemic. But there are troubling developments in children’s health and in depression among young adults that could lead to problems down the road.
• Sheltering the Storm: American Families in the Great Recession
  S. Philip Morgan, Erin Cumberworth, and Christopher Wimer
  The decision to have a baby, to form or end a union, and to return to the nest are all family behaviors that might be sensitive to economic downturns. Is the recession indeed changing the family? And are “red” and “blue” families reacting differently?

INTERVENTION

• Can the Newly-Reelected Obama Save the American Public School?
  A conversation between William Julius Wilson and Sylvie Laurent
  Under the Obama administration, education policy has shifted in fundamental ways, yet the changes have remained largely under the radar. We’ve invited two preeminent scholars to a mini-debate on how these changes will play out.

 

New Article: “Never a Lost Cause: Evaluating School Finance Litigation in the Face of Continuing Education Inequality in Post-Rodriguez America”

New Article: Kerry P. Burnet, Note, Never a Lost Cause: Evaluating School Finance Litigation in the Face of Continuing Education Inequality in Post-Rodriguez America, 2012 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1225 (2012).  Abstract below:

This Note considers the future of school finance litigation. Specifically, the Note argues that school finance litigation should be pursued and can achieve success because education inequality is a civil rights violation. The Note begins by describing the education in-equality crisis and detailing the history of failed education litigation. Drawing on this background, the Note argues that education in-equality is an equal protection violation and then reconciles this conclusion with the outcomes of previous cases, including the watershed Rodriguez case. The education crisis requires a judicial solution because the legislature cannot or will not accomplish the necessary complete overhaul of the school finance system. Thus, the Note concludes that the best way to remedy the education crisis is to bring equal protection claims in both state and federal courts on the basis of wealth, with poor children established as a suspect class. Furthermore, the Note recommends that litigation be accompanied by concrete proposals for reform, as a plaintiff victory alone will not produce change.

Articles from “Understanding Education in the United States: Its Legal and Social Implications Symposium” published

The University of Chicago Law Review has published articles from the “Understanding Education in the United States: Its Legal and Social Implications Symposium.”  The articles in the symposium are below:

Introduction
Richard A. Epstein & Jacob E. Gersen

Making Courts Matter: Politics and the Implementation of State Supreme Court Decisions
Christopher Berry & Charles Wysong

Catholic Schools, Charter Schools, and Urban Neighborhoods
Margaret F. Brinig & Nicole Stelle Garnett

The Gap in Law between Developmental Expectations and Educational Obligations
Emily Buss

The Role of Accreditation Commissions in Higher Education: The Troublesome Case of Dana College
Richard A. Epstein

Do Amish One-Room Schools Make the Grade? The Dubious Data ofWisconsin v Yoder
William A. Fischel

Higher Education’s Gainful Employment and 90/10 Rules: Unintended “Scarlet Letters” for Minority, Low-Income, and Other At-Risk Students
Anthony J. Guida Jr & David Figuli

The Evolving Economic Structure of Higher Education
Henry Hansmann

Religion, Schools, and Judicial Decision Making: An Empirical Perspective
Michael Heise & Gregory C. Sisk

Teaching Patriotism: Love and Critical Freedom
Martha C. Nussbaum

Freedom to Fail: The Keystone of American Federalism
Paul E. Peterson & Daniel Nadler

New Articles from the “National People of Color Conference: Our Country, Our World in a ‘Post-Racial’ Era”

New Articles from the “National People of Color Conference: Our Country, Our World in a ‘Post-Racial’ Era” published by the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development (St. John’s).  List of articles from the website with links is below:

USING THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT TO REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES BY CREATIVELY STRUCTURING HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGES
Kimberly Cogdell Boies*
Full Text Version ( PDF format)

LOST IN TRANSLATION: NOTARIO FRAUD – IMMIGRATION FRAUD
Mary Dolores Guerra
Full Text Version ( PDF format)

RECKONING WITH EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION IN A “POST RACIAL” ERA
David A. Lacy
Alexandra S. Ray
Full Text Version ( PDF format)

RACIAL COMPLEXITY AND THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT
Craig Livermore
Full Text Version ( PDF format)

RECOVERING FROM THE RECOVERY: LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROCESSES OF ACCUMULATION BY DISPOSSESSION
CHARLES R.P. POUNCY
Full Text Version ( PDF format)

COLONIAL RELICS: UNEARTHING THE LINGERING TYRANNY OF COLONIAL DISCOURSE IN U.S.-CARIBBEAN IMMIGRATION LAW AND POLICY
Glenys P. Spence
Full Text Version ( PDF format)

EXAMINING THE “STICK” OF ACCREDITATION FOR MEDICAL SCHOOLS THROUGH REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE LENS: A TRANSFORMATIVE REMEDY FOR TEACHING THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY
Deleso Alford Washington
Full Text Version ( PDF format)

New Harvard Law and Policy Review Articles of Interest

Rather than highlight particular articles of interest — I am just lucky to be in this list — I thought I would just give include links to the articles in the most recent issue of the Harvard Law and Policy Review:

Foreword
Julián Castro

The Role of Teachers in School Improvement: Lessons From the Field
Randi Weingarten

What It Takes to Fix Our Schools: Lessons Learned in Washington, D.C.
Michelle Rhee

Teacher Collective Bargaining, Teacher Quality, and the Teacher Quality Gap: Toward a Policy Analytic Framework
William S. Koski

Legislating Inclusion
Lia Epperson

Educating English Learners: Reconciling Bilingualism and Accountability
Rosemary C. Salomone

General Essays

The First Amendment’s Borders: The Place of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project in First Amendment Doctrine
David Cole

Poverty Offsetting
Ezra Rosser

Civil Rights Reform and the Body
Tobias Barrington Wolff

Short Essays

Agents of Change: How Collaboration Among Insurers and the Public Sector Can Manage Risk and Foster Climate-Neutral Behavior
Amy C. Johnsgard

Relevant “Material”: Importing the Principles of Informed Consent and Unconscionability to Analyze Consensual Medical Repatriations
Philip Cantwell

New Article: “The White Interest in School Integration”

New Article: Robert A. Garda, Jr., The White Interest in School Integration, 63 Fla. L. Rev. 599 (2011).  Abstract below:

Discussions concerning desegregation, affirmative action, and voluntary integration focus primarily, if not exclusively, on whether such policies harm or benefit minorities. Scant attention is paid to the benefits whites receive in multiracial schools, despite white interests underpinning more than thirty years of Supreme Court integration jurisprudence. In this Article, I explore the academic and social benefits whites receive in multiracial schools, and I do so from a white parent’s perspective. The Article begins by describing the interest-convergence theory and how white interests explain the course and content of the Supreme Court’s desegregation and affirmative action jurisprudence. Multiracial schools will not be created or sustained unless white parents believe it to be in their children’s best interest. The Article next describes the extreme racial segregation in schools today and how white children are the most racially isolated students. This isolation exacerbates the unconscious and automatic racial bias that infects everyone and will impair white children’s ability to successfully navigate the multicultural marketplace. Integrated schools, however, help de-bias white children and teach them cross-cultural competence, a skill they need to effectively participate in a market with increasingly multicultural customers, co-workers, and global business partners. The Article ends by describing steps white parents can take to effectively integrate schools and guarantee their children gain critical cross-cultural competency skills.