We, the undersigned faculty of CUNY School of Law, believe unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. We grieve with the families of Ahmaud Aubery, Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and every victim of anti-Black violence. We stand in solidarity with those who are demanding justice for their deaths, and who are fighting to dismantle white supremacy in all its forms, and specifically, systemic anti-Black racism.
As faculty at a public interest and publicly-funded law school, we know that we play a unique role in educating future lawyers, changing the makeup of the legal profession, and shaping the law itself. We take this responsibility seriously and commit to fighting white supremacy and other forms of oppression while building the power of the oppressed. We reaffirm our commitment to CUNY Law School as an access institution that strives to remake the legal profession so that it is reflective of communities that are the most harmed by the law, by supporting students from admission through the attainment of law licenses, and beyond. We know that it is our responsibility to educate law students about the racist and oppressive structures of our legal system, and to do so in a manner that acknowledges the trauma that these conversations can cause while using the knowledge formed from the lived experiences of our students and colleagues as critical to understanding the operation of the law.
We seek not only to create lasting change in the legal realm, but also within the law school itself. We commit to carrying out our teaching and faculty governance roles in a way that is actively anti-racist. We pledge to continually educate ourselves on how law and lawyers have long perpetuated anti-Black racism, to be self-reflective on our complicity in white supremacy, and to listen to Black communities and support Black-led efforts to dismantle white supremacy. We will work with the Race, Privilege, and Diversity Committee and all of our committees to address instances and patterns of anti-Black racism in admissions, scholarship distribution, hiring, teaching, and materials acquisition. We will also work through that committee to develop a bias response team to address issues of racism as they arise at the Law School.
- Nermeen Arastu
- Mary Lu Bilek
- Beryl Blaustone
- Rebecca Bratspies
- Ann Cammett
- Eduardo R. C. Capulong
- Nina Chernoff
- Natalie M. Chin
- Douglas Cox
- Lisa Davis
- Frank Deale
- Ryan Dooley
- Golnaz Fakhimi
- Raquel Gabriel
- Laura Gentile
- Mary Godfrey-Rickards
- Julie Goldscheid
- Natalie Gomez-Velez
- Julia Hernandez
- Babe Howell
- Carmen Huertas-Noble
- Chaumtoli Huq
- Tarek Z. Ismail
- Ramzi Kassem
- Florence Kerner
- JM Kirby
- Jeff Kirchmeier
- Sarah Lamdan
- Donna Lee
- Degna Levister
- Julie Lim
- Stephen Loffredo
- Lynn Lu
- Shirley Lung
- Matthew Main
- Andrea McArdle
- Haley Meade
- Laura Mott
- David Nadvorney
- Jason Parkin
- Talia Peleg
- Allie Robbins
- Ruthann Robson
- Joe Rosenberg
- Rick Rossein
- Jonathan Saxon
- Jeena Shah
- Franklin Siegel
- Charisa Smith
- Nicole Smith
- Yasmin Sokkar Harker
- Cynthia Soohoo
- Richard Storrow
- Erin Tomlinson
- Sarah Valentine
- Kara Wallis
- Shomari Ward
- John Whitlow
- Sofia Yakren
- Debbie Zalesne
- Steve Zeidman
- Jean Zorn