3/31/06--The Boston College Third World Law Journal will host a symposium addressing the next generation of challenges in determining access to adequate education for at-risk students. The symposium, “Ensuring an ‘Adequate’ Education for Our Nation’s Youth: How We Can Overcome the Barriers,” will take place on April 21 from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in East Wing Room 120 on the Law School campus.

Professor Derrick Bell, who most recently authored Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform, will deliver the keynote address. The first panel will discuss the role that courts and legislatures might play in ensuring education adequacy under state constitutions and in the current context of education reform requirements. The second panel will focus on how Massachusetts can improve education for at-risk students in the wake of the decision in Hancock v. Commissioner of Education, which refused to issue an order requiring the state to increase funding to finish its incomplete education reforms.

The symposium is free and open to the public. Please contact John Gordon at (617) 552-8557 or gordonjo@bc.edu for more information.

Schedule of Events

1:30 - 1:40 pm
Welcome - John Garvey, Dean of B.C. Law School

1:40 - 1:50 pm
Introduction of Derrick Bell - Professor Farley

2:00 - 2:20 pm
Keynote Address - Derrick Bell

2:30 - 3:45 pm
National Panel
(Moderated by Fr. Joseph O'Keefe, Dean B.C. Lynch School of Education)

3:45 - 4:00 pm
Coffee Break

4:00 - 5:15 pm
State Panel
(Moderated by Norah Wylie, Assoc. Dean for Students, B.C. Law School)

5:15 pm
Closing Remarks

5:30 pm
Barat House Reception

Panelists include:
- Thomas F. Birmingham, Former state legislator & chief architect of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act
- Kathy Boundy, Co-director, Center for Law & Justice
- Lawrence C. Johnson, Coordinator, Reintegration Project, Fifth Street Renaissance
- William Koski, Eric & Nancy Wright Professor of Clinical Education and Professor of Law, Stanford University
- Diana Pullin, Professor of Education, Law & Public Policy, Boston College
- Michael Rebell, Executive Director and Counsel, Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc.
- Alan Rom, Executive Director, Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, & Plaintiff’s attorney in Hancock v. Commissioner of Education
- Michael Weismann, Plaintiff’s attorney in Hancock v. Commissioner of Education

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