Cultural Competence & The Curriculum

I am a co-chair of our Multiculturalism Affairs Committee here at SLU Law, and our (faculty/staff/student) committee is in the midst of discussions about ways to enhance ‘cultural competence’ at SLU Law.  One thought as to how to do so is to introduce changes into the curriculum, concertedly oriented towards exposing students to the legal and social issues faced, both historically and contemporarily, by racial minorities, immigrants, women, Native Americans, queer folk, the disabled, and others.  Discussions are at a very preliminary stage, but different thoughts have already emerged about how best to better incorporate the teaching of cultural competence into the curriculum.  Some people seem to favor adding ‘diversity elements’ to each 1L course; others favor some sort of separate, required first-year course aimed at getting students to think seriously about in/justice in the American legal system over time; while others want to see us add a ‘justice track’ to the curriculum which would culminate—after several courses and other prerequisites—in some sort of certificate or other recognition on one’s transcript.  Of course, none of these are mutually exclusive.

I’m curious about other people’s experiences at other law schools with these kinds of curricular proposals.  I’m aware that CUNY-Law has some sort of required 1L course on justice, and I would love to hear more from people there, and also anywhere else where people have at least discussed these sort of curriculum changes—even if no changes were ultimately made.  What were the challenges you faced in instituting these kinds of curricular changes?  Were they sustainable?  Did they face opposition?  From colleagues, or from students, or from other quarters?  What changes did you see in your law school after adopting the kinds of curricular changes I’m discussing here?  Thanks to everyone in advance for your comments and discussion.

Comments

[Paul Horwitz]

A couple of ideas: 1) Why not include all of these issues, and others, in a required first-year course on Catholic Legal/Social Thought? 2) The second point is more of an add-on, but if you're going to expand your first-year curriculum, I also encourage you to have a mandatory first-year course examining standard tools and concepts of economics and public policy, and a closely related one on legislation and regulation.

[Miriam Cherry]

Jeff, thanks for posting this - I think we are on the same page today, since I am in the middle of writing a piece on teaching employment discrimination law - cultural competence concepts are so important in this context - I will send you a longer message (off blog). Enjoying your posts here so far, BTW! Miriam

[Jeff Redding]

Paul, as to your second point, up until about 10 years ago, SLU Law required Tax Law as a required 1L course in order to expose students to all of the issues you identified, so maybe Back to the Future will be possible. As to your first point, I think the Jesuit Mission would certainly be part of the classroom discussion, but I would be somewhat (though not irreversibly) reluctant to attach a particular denomination's name to this kind of course. Certainly, part of the classroom discussion has to revolve around religious pluralism & the law (how could it not?). I'd be appreciative of others suggestions as to a potential 1L course title. "Law, Culture, & Justice"???

[LASF]

"One thought as to how to do so is to introduce changes into the curriculum, concertedly oriented towards exposing students to the legal and social issues faced, both historically and contemporarily, by racial minorities, immigrants, women, Native Americans, queer folk, the disabled, and others."

Even excluding "Others" you've already identified 80% or so of the American population, so perhaps the question is how it will be relevant to the students to take legal issues and problems (contracts, torts) that are broadly applicable across various subgroups and atomize them into "women's issue," "queer issues," etc? Does the Rule against Perpetuities apply different to a gay Latino woman than to a disable immigrant Asian-American? Teach basic legal knowledge and reasoning skills last year, save the politicized courses for upper-level electives.

[Jeff Redding]

LASF, thanks for your perspective; I think it demonstrates the challenges we have in coming to understand the politics of our existing legal system. I like your question about the Rule of Perpetuities; it sounds like a potential exam question/paper topic. I don't have a ready answer for it, but it's certainly no problem that the reach of a course extends to "80%" of the population; the challenge though is having students think about how everyone is in a majority (because of the continuing seductiveness of notions like 'common-sense') and also everyone is in a minority, simultaneously. This is all to say that I think this kind of 1L course should be the most challenging and most rigorous course, for both the professor and the students. I love your challenges and hope we could engage with them in an ongoing discussion, like a course!