Program:

Diversity and the Rule of Law: Complementary or Contradictory?

Moderated by: Honorable Barbara M. Keenan, U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

The Virginia Women Attorneys Association and the Diversity Conference of the Virginia State Bar have partnered to bring to the Virginia State Bar 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.

Program Speakers:

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 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 conservative 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.

Freeman Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland - Baltimore County, 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.