Ogletree to speak on race and class in America

Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice sponsoring March 22 event

Harvard University professor Charles J. Ogletree, one of the country's foremost experts on race and justice and a passionate advocate for the rights of the accused, will visit Brandeis March 22 for a discussion about race, class and crime in the United States.

A renowned teacher, leading scholar and former trial lawyer, Ogletree is Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard. Last year he wrote the book "The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America."

Following an introduction by Brandeis President Fred Lawrence, Ogletree will speak and Anita Hill, professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's Studies at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, will moderate a question-and-answer session.

The event will take place in the Faculty Center beginning at 5:30 p.m., and there will be refreshments following the discussion. Beginning at 4:30 p.m., Ogletree will sign copies of his book, which will be available for purchase.

The event is free and open to the public.

The lead sponsor of the event is the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, which supports Brandeis students in a variety of ways, enhances campus life and promotes the social justice causes that the late U.S. Supreme Court justice championed throughout his life.

Other sponsors include the Brandeis Black Student Organization, Brandeis Immigration Education Initiative, Brandeis Labor Coalition, Legal Studies Program, Men of Color Association, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Social Justice and Social Policy Program, Society Organized Against Racism, Student Union and the Women of Color Association.

The Legacy Fund, which was established in 2006 by a generous, anonymous gift from a Brandeis alumnus, has sponsored a series of initiatives, including:

  • creation of a paid summer internship program for students working in social-service agencies that address social justice
  • publication of an award-winning, scrapbook-style biography of Louis D. Brandeis
  • production of a 50-minute documentary about the life of Louis D. Brandeis directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Charles Stuart and broadcast by PBS
  • sponsorship of talks by National Geographic geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells, anti-racism activist Tim Wise, workers rights' activist Kim Bobo and Brandeis biographer Melvin Urofsky
  • funding of the 40th anniversary celebration of the University's Transitional Year Program, a pioneering college-access initiative

Categories: Humanities and Social Sciences

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