Fundraising Campaign for Center for Racial and Economic Justice

UC Law SF has launched a major fundraising campaign to expand the work of its Center for Racial and Economic Justice (CREJ). “As a public institution, we have the responsibility to oppose racial injustice in all its forms; as a law school, we have the skillset to address those injustices,” Chancellor and Dean David Faigman said in announcing the campaign.

“We have an obligation to meet this moment, in the wake of the horrific and unjustified killing of George Floyd by police, with actions, not just words.”

Launched in February 2020 under the leadership of Professors Shauna Marshall and Alina Ball, CREJ works to advance equity through legal education, scholarship, and collaboration. Faigman called on alumni and friends of UC Law SF to “join our effort to combat racial subordination by supporting our new Center.”

CREJ will bring nationally renowned thinkers on issues of racial and economic inequality to campus and provide the space to critically examine how the law can reinforce—or redress—inequality.

Fundraising will allow CREJ to expand its reach, bring new voices to our community, and amplify the dialogue on racial and economic justice. Also, CREJ is building internal institutional capacity by developing resources to help professors explore with students the racial issues that are inherent, but often ignored, in doctrinal law subjects, such as how race has influenced the development of real property law.

“In the past two weeks, we have all witnessed why CREJ is vital to our college’s ability to be relevant in national conversations and prepare our students to be leaders in ending anti-Blackness and the many other forms of racial injustices and biases continuing to plague our society,” Faigman said.

The initial goal is for donors to match the $150,000 financial investment UC Law SF has already made in CREJ. The CREJ Fund will be used to provide capacity-building support, hire CREJ-affiliated faculty and scholars to augment the school’s course offerings and racial justice intellectual community, and develop racial justice programming and events for the community and the public.

“As someone who has devoted my professional life in the pursuit of social justice, I recognize how important it is for the legal community, beginning with law students, to learn the true and enduring history of how our political and legal systems have been used to maintain the subordination experienced by people of color,” Professor Marshall said. “Our hope is to begin to end that ignorance, and with it, to begin a dialogue about transformative change.”