“Constitutional scholars think of Brown v. Board of Education as a landmark civil rights case on racial equality. But it is really the first major landmark decision on children’s rights,” said CCF Director/David H. Levin Chair in Family Law Barbara Bennett Woodhouse. “Our conference brought together advocates for children’s rights and advocates of civil rights to explore how the two issues are integrally connected. I was especially pleased to see participation by local figures such as Joseph Buchanan — one of the first children (now a mature man) to integrate Gainesville schools — who were child heroes here in the movement for equal rights for all children.”

It is because of the children that it is appropriate the conference began with them, for their story is one history has all too often reduced to a side note. Students at P.K. Yonge coordinated the youth summit with conference organizers to examine the Brown decision and its effects on today’s students.

Students at the summit saw the film, “Eyes on the Prize,” which chronicles the struggle of African- American students as they integrated the public school system. These students were ground-breakers and fighters in the civil rights movement, though for most it was not of their choosing. These were children who took on adult problems and responsibilities and carried them with courage and dignity many of the P.K. Yonge students found inspirational.

“We were interested in looking at children as civil rights heroes,” said CSRRR Director Professor Katheryn Russell-Brown. “The Brown conference was an opportunity for those at UF and in the community to discuss the legacy of that decision and how we continue to deal with the issues it raised.”

“It was listening to these students that taught many of us at the conference how important the role of children is in the struggle for equality, particularly in the area of education,” said participant Grace Casas (UF JD 03). “They live on a daily basis the legacy of Brown. Their young age does not insulate them from dealing with issues such as race and inequality in education.”

The conference also included a screening of the award-winning documentary film, “The Intolerable Burden,” about effects of the Brown decision on a Mississippi town. Professors Leland Ware of the University of Delaware and Edgar Epps of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee gave keynote addresses. In addition to Professors Russell-Brown and Bennett Woodhouse, UF law school faculty taking part included Professors Nancy Dowd, Joan Flocks, Berta Hernandez- Truyol, Kenneth B. Nunn, Juan F. Perea, Sharon E. Rush, Sherrie Russell-Brown, Michelle Jacobs, Christopher Slobogin, Michael Wolf and Monique Haughton Worrell, and UF faculty Mark Fondacaro, Department of Psychology; and Anane Olatunji and Sevan Terzian, College of Education.

Close to 100 UF students, faculty and community members attended the second day of the conference to further explore the ramifications of Brown and collaborate on solving issues the Brown decision did not address.

“One of the most fascinating things was hearing different perspectives people brought,” said Casas. “By the end of the conference, people from various professions, academic disciplines and walks of life had come to understand why Brown is such a landmark case for the rights of children. But there also was an understanding of how critical it is that all people, regardless of race, gender or other distinguishing characteristics, work together to solve problems such as inequality and racism that impact children.”

Less well-known is that UF’s law school also is home to one of the country’s largest concentrations of faculty publishing in Critical Legal Studies, an interdisciplinary approach to the law.

“If you look at Critical Legal Studies and interdisciplinary schools that attempt to put law in a broader context within the social sciences and other fields, you have a rich group of faculty here doing this kind of work,” said Associate Professor Pedro Malavet, whose book graces the cover of the 2004 NYU Press Catalog.

Critical Legal Studies arose in the 1970s as professors began to contemplate the relationship between power and the law, incorporating history and social sciences into their critiques. From that emerged Critical Race Theory, which focuses on race and the law, and LatCrit, which concentrates on how the law affects Latinas/os.

With the creation of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations in the late 1990s, the UF College of Law has emerged on the forefront of Critical Legal Studies and/or Critical Race Theory, with books by UF law faculty Nancy Dowd and Michelle Jacobs (Feminist Legal Theory, An Anti-Essentialist Reader), Berta Hernandez-Truyol (Moral Imperialism, A Critical Anthology), Pedro Malavet (America’s Colony, The Political and Cultural Conflict Between the United States and Puerto Rico) and Katheryn Russell-Brown (The Color of Crime and Underground Codes) included in the NYU Press Law 2004 catalog. Professor Juan Perea has had two books in the catalog, Race and Races: Cases and Resources for a Diverse America and IMMIGRANTS OUT! The New Nativism and the Anti- Immigrant Impulse in the United States. New York University Press’ celebrated Critical America Series, written specifically for law students and academics, explores areas of the law not included in the casebooks, such as culture, anthropology and legal history. In addition, dozens of other faculty members (see sidebar) have participated in scholarship that attempts to view law in the broader context of the social sciences and other academic disciplines.

“Interdisciplinarity is clearly a strength of the faculty,” said Assistant Professor Mark Fenster, who has written on law, society and culture.

The interest UF law professors have shown in interdisciplinary scholarship has allowed the school to offer “nontraditional” courses of study to its students, including Law and Psychology, Gender and the Law, and African-American History and the Law. Student interest has been strong.

“It’s refreshing to study how the law works in the ‘real world,’” said Jill Mahler (2L), who is currently taking Professor Kenneth Nunn’s African- American History and the Law course. “The law doesn’t operate in a vacuum, and I think the work these professors have done can help law students understand what we’ll face when we graduate.”

For a complete list of publications and background on the faculty featured in this article, go online to www.law.ufl.edu/faculty.

These events will showcase many aspects of the strong, ongoing and mutually beneficial relationships among faculty, staff and students and the school’s alumni and friends. These relationships — and the financial support you and others provide — make many facilities, activities and programs here possible, and have helped the law school maintain and even improve its place as one of the nation’s top public law schools, as one well-known ranking reaffirmed last week.

I want to emphasize that law school (and university and college) rankings are not to be regarded as the true measure of an institution’s quality. Indeed, the methodological weaknesses in such rankings call into question the uses to which they are often put. But ignoring rankings is not an option, because we know others do not. Also, rankings can provide some indication of strengths, weaknesses, and trends, as long as care is taken to understand the limitations of underlying methodologies. And, at the end of the day, it is always pleasing to be recognized for our strengths.

This year, U.S. News reports that the Levin College of Law continues to be rated among the nation’s top law schools — 43rd from 45th last year. Our Graduate Tax Program continues to be in the nation’s top two and — for the first time — our Environmental Law Program is in the top 10 percent (17th). Our faculty ranked 34th in peer reputation and 40th in lawyer/judge reputation. And we are proud that the UF College of Law remains first among top-tier public law schools in the southeast for diversity. In the final analysis, these rough measures lead to the conclusion that the college continues to progress and its future is bright.

As we approach the end of my first year at the Levin College of Law, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for welcoming me to this outstanding institution, and for making me proud to be one of the newest members of the Levin College of Law family.

Please continue to let us know how we can serve you better. I cannot promise that every request will be granted; I do pledge that we will help every student and member of our college community work through issues and concerns, and we will take every reasonable step at our disposal to assist you. Please feel free to e-mail me personally at jerryr@law.ufl.edu. — Robert H. Jerry, II