The Civil Rights Project, a leading racial inequality and civil
rights research center in the nation, is moving to UCLA from
Harvard University in January 2007.
The project was established at Harvard in 1996 and will
“continue its established mission of research and advocacy
for multicultural civil rights issues,” according to a UCLA
statement.
Gary Blasi, a UCLA law professor and acting director of the UCLA
Institute of Industrial Relations, said the project has come to
UCLA because there are many excellent opportunities for service
contributions in a range of areas, including the law school.
“Because of my own interest in education justice, I hope
(the project) will continue with this focus. I think it will really
boost the work we are doing,” he said.
The project will also focus on issues of critical importance to
the West and Southwest, including immigration and language
discrimination, Aimée Dorr said in an interview with 89.3 KPCC
Southern California Public Radio. Dorr is the dean of UCLA’s
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
The Project will be directed by its current director and
co-founder, Professors Gary Orfield and Patricia Gándara. Both
will join the UCLA faculty, which Blasi called “a tremendous
opportunity.”
“(They are) two of the most respected professors in their
respective areas,” he said, and will help UCLA expand its
work on educational equality, “especially for
English-language learners.”
Dorr said she is “delighted” Gándara and
Orfield are joining the UCLA faculty.
“Each brings exceptional expertise and vision to work on
some of the most important aspects of our time. The Civil Rights
Project will be a vibrant addition to our campus,” Dorr said
in a statement.
The Civil Rights Project is currently working on studies of
affirmative action, school segregation, school dropout rates,
federal racial statistics and other issues, including federal
legislation such as No Child Left Behind.
“The Project/El Proyecto will take full advantage of the
intellectual resources of UCLA,” Gándara said.
“UCLA is providing substantial institutional
support.”
The Project will be reshaped to take more advantage of its
location in California and the West, Dorr said during a radio
broadcast.
Orfield and Gándara will be working with current UCLA staff
as well as graduate student researchers and other faculty on
projects.
Dorr said students and faculty “showed up in droves”
when Gándara and Orfield came to UCLA to interview, expressing
their desire for the professors to work at UCLA.
Due to its location in California, UCLA will provide the project
with a new regional focus.
“I think the attraction for Gary (Orfield) is that
it’s hard to think of a place in California with as many
racial or civil inequality issues to work on,” Blasi
said.
Gándara noted in a statement that “the move will
enable us to work with the university’s centers of research
and with scholars who are dedicated to civil rights action and
study. We can focus more sharply on state and national
issues.”
Professors involved in the project plan to work actively with
non-English-language media to reach a broader portion of the
public, issuing reports in Spanish as well as English. The project
will work on Southern California regional issues, as well as
continuing its emphasis on national issues, though its first UCLA
project has not been announced.
One of the first Los Angeles-sponsored events will center around
a new book on race and equality in California higher education
written by Gándara, Orfield and fellow researcher Catherine
Horn.
Orfield noted in the press release that he expects to continue
to work on education reform, civil rights enforcement and equal
opportunity for all children in the United States “without
interruption.”