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.”