Faculty Directory
Raquel Muñiz
Associate Professor
Associate Professor, School of Law
Raquel Muñiz
J.D., Ph.D.
Contact
Campion Hall Room 226
Telephone: 617-552-2401
Email: raquel.munizcastro@bc.edu
Education
- Ph.D., Penn State University
- J.D., Penn State Law
- B.A., Texas A&M International University
Courses
Educational Law and Public Policy
Education Law for District Leaders
Law, Policy, and Politics of Higher Education in the (Inter)National Context
Law and Higher Education Seminar
Research Interests
Law and Education Policy
Expertise
- Educational Leadership & Policy
- Equity and Social Justice
- Higher Education
Department
Profile
Dr. Muñiz’s research is grounded in examining oppressive power structures and the strategies to disrupt them in education. Specifically, she examines the ways in which racialization shows up at the intersection of law, policy, politics, and the culture of resistance. Through this racial equity-centered work, she seeks to inform educational equity discourse and scholarship. To do this, she employs a systems thinking lens that counters deficit narratives and centers the onto-epistemological perspectives of students of color as they experience and respond to oppressive power structures. Dr. Muñiz's research is organized around two strands: (a) how law and policy shape educational equity and (b) how the diffusion of knowledge in law and policy, including the diffusion of research, can improve educational equity.
Select Publications
Muñiz, R., Lewis, M. M., Okello, W., Achampong, G., Mata, A., & Meyers, S. (2025). A critical knowledge praxis framework for policymakers and practitioners. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X251333699
Muñiz, R., & Natow, R. (2025). Diminished administrative power post-Loper: Implications for educational research and policy. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X251329362
Muñiz, R. (2024). The need for educational research engagement with courts, public policy, and practice in a post-Dobbs era. Educational Researcher, 53(1), 59-65. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X231209969
Muñiz, R. (2024). Exploring litigation of anti-CRT state action: Considering the issues, challenges, and risks. Syracuse Law Review, 74, 1071-1100. https://lawreview.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Muniz.pdf
Muñiz, R., Lewis, M. M., Tumer, T., & Kane, E. (2023). The story of DACA as told by “friends of the court”: The role of racialization, citizenship, and interest convergence in policy discourse. American Journal of Education 129(3), 297-324. https://doi.org/10.1086/724305
Muñiz, R., Woolsey, M., Keffer, S., & Barragán, S. (2023). A systematic review of critical systems thinking in the education field: Gaps and opportunities for equitable education system change. International Journal of Educational Reform, 32(3), 251-268. https://doi.org/10.1177/10567879231157372
Muñiz, R. (2023). A theory of racialized judicial decision-making. Michigan Journal of Race & Law, 28(2), 101-175. https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl/vol28/iss2/4/
Muñiz, R., Lewis, M. M., Cavanagh, G., & Woolsey, M. (2022). The social context of the law: A critical analysis of reliance interests in the Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California. Southern California Law Review, 95(4), 857-952. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4380738
Muñiz, R. (2021). Education law and policy in the time of COVID-19: Using a legal framework to expose educational inequity. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-18. https://doi.org:10.1177/23328584211054107
Muñiz, R. (2020). Muddy sensemaking: Making sense of socio-emotional skills amidst a vague policy context. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 28(114), 1-38. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.28.5235
Select Grants
W.T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program Class of 2029. ($350,000). Strategies and conditions facilitating and hindering education law attorneys’ use of research evidence, PI.
The Spencer Foundation ($49,958). What’s the worth of a legal education today? Using normative case studies to examine Latinx students’ articulations of the value proposition of law schools across differently-institutions, Co-PI (w/Co-PI Dr. Andrés Castro Samayoa), 2019 – 2021.
AccessLex Institute & American Institutes for Research (AIR) ($49,978). What’s it all for? Exploring how Latinx students and university officials at differently-ranked law schools articulate legal education’s value through normative case studies, Co-PI (w/Co-PI Dr. Andrés Castro Samayoa), 2019 – 2020.