SCU to Host Lani Guinier, Noted Critical Race Scholar, Social Justice Activist and Harvard Law Professor

Business Wire, Nov 9, 2004

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Lani Guinier, professor, author, and one of the nation's leading thinkers on issues of race, gender, the legal profession, and democratic decision-making, will speak to the Santa Clara University community on her most recent book, The Miner's Canary, in Bannan 127 at noon on Friday, Nov. 12.

The Miner's Canary (Harvard Press 2002), written with Gerald Torres, addresses the experience of people of color as a warning or "canary" signaling larger institutional inequities.

"The University and School of Law are honored to welcome Professor Lani Guinier to our campus," said Donald Polden, dean of the law school. "She is one of the most dynamic and informed speakers on issues of race, gender, and democratic decision-making, and her consistent work as a significant scholar on these subjects promises an exciting opportunity for our students and faculty to learn more about her ideas. SCU provides an environment to foster candid discourse on such issues and I believe our students will enjoy her immensely."

Guinier is the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law and the first black woman tenured professor at Harvard Law School. She co-founded the Racetalks Initiative, a research and public education project that seeks to develop new interdisciplinary paradigms for linking racial and gender justice to the project of building more inclusive institutions.

"Professor Guinier has been, and continues to be, a champion for issues of racial justice, gender equity, and democratic transformation in America," added Polden.

About Santa Clara University School of Law

The SCU School of Law, founded in 1912, combines a tradition of excellence with a commitment to ethics, diversity, and social justice, and is fully accredited by the American Bar Association. Its students work in criminal and civil community law clinics and may earn certificates in intellectual property law, international law or public interest law, and LL.M. degrees in intellectual property law, and international law. For more information, visit www.scu.edu/law.> About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,047 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the second-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu.