Symposium at William & May Law School Examines “Brown v. Board of Education at 70”
On Friday, February 16, 2024, the Institute of Bill of Rights Law, the William & Mary Law Review, and the Institute for the Study of Education, Democracy, and Justice convened a symposium on “Brown v. Board of Education at 70.”
The two-day event was co-hosted by Professor Allison Orr Larsen of the Law School and Professor Jamel K. Donnor of the School of Education, and brought together scholars from legal and educational backgrounds to discuss Brown’s reception, its promises, and its future.
Michael Klarman, the Charles Warren Professor of Legal History at Harvard Law School, opened the event with a keynote address on the backlash to Brown, after which the first panel discussed higher education and some of the persistent obstacles to educational equity in the nation’s universities.
On Saturday, the symposium continued with two panels. The first discussed the “blind spots” of Brown, including religious schools, charter schools, and discriminatory public curricula. The symposium closed with a lively conversation concerning education’s future at the U.S. Supreme Court and what, if anything, can be done to push Brown’s principles forward.
The event was well-attended by communities from across campus and a great example of cross-disciplinary collaboration that is possible at William & Mary.