Diversity Conference Annual Meeting, Forum, and Reception
Friday, June 14, 2013
Annual Meeting
2:00 p.m., Coral A, Cavalier Oceanfront Hotel
The Diversity Conference invites conference members and VSB annual meeting attendees to its annual meeting on Friday afternoon, June 14. In addition to election of new officers and board members, the conference will present its annual award.
Diversity Conference Award
In conjunction with its annual business meeting, the Conference will present the second annual Clarence M. Dunnaville Jr. Achievement Award during its business meeting.
Nominations deadline is May 15, 2013. More information.
Joint Forum & Reception
Cosponsored with the Virginia Women Attorneys Association
2:30 p.m., Captain’s A & B, Cavalier Beach Club
1.5 Credits
Following the annual meeting, the Diversity Conference and the VWAA will sponsor a joint forum entitled Diversity and the Rule of Law: Complementary or Contradictory?
The Diversity Conference and the Virginia Women Attorneys Association have partnered to bring to the VSB Annual Meeting an outstanding panel representing divergent viewpoints on a topic dividing the country and our courts. The United States Supreme Court has a new affirmative action case on its docket, and is already considering a major challenge to the University of Texas' race-conscious admissions program in the recently argued case of Fisher v. University of Texas. The new case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, concerns a voter initiative in Michigan that banned racial preferences in admissions to the state’s public universities. Our panel of national legal and educational experts will challenge audience members to re-examine their own views on diversity and the rule of law.
Jonathan Alger, an attorney and the new President of James Madison University, played a leadership role in two landmark Supreme Court cases on diversity and admissions. As Assistant General Counsel at the University of Michigan he coordinated one of the largest amicus brief coalitions in Supreme Court history. He is undoubtedly one of the country’s leading authorities on the interplay between the rule of law and programs intended to promote diversity. Roger Clegg is the President and General Counsel of the research and educational organization, Center for Equal Opportunity, whose mission is to promote a colorblind society. As an author, speaker and researcher on legal issues raised by the civil rights laws and as a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the topic of this forum and another perspective on the issue of policies which promote racial or ethnic preferences. These legal experts will be joined on the panel by the President of the University of Maryland - Baltimore County, Freeman Hrabowski, who leads an institution attracting the highest rate of minority students going into science, technology, engineering and mathematics PhD programs, and serving students from more than 145 countries. President Hrabowski was named one of the top 10 college presidents in the country by Time Magazine in 2009 and one of the 100 most influential leaders in the world by Time Magazine in 2012. This ninety-minute forum, will be moderated by U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Barbara M. Keenan.
A reception jointly sponsored by the VWAA and the Diversity Conference will follow the program, at 4:15 p.m., in the Garden Suite, Cavalier Oceanfront Hotel.
Updated: May 15, 2013