Higher Ed Law & Public Policy.

Catalog description

This course examines legal issues relevant to American colleges and universities to provide students with the fundamental knowledge of higher education law for administrators. This course will examine the origin and evolution of the laws and policies that govern race, gender, national origin and sexual orientation in the United States. The course will commence with a consideration of the legal status of groups under state and federal law. It will explore the impact of the post-civil war constitutional amendments on the legal status of groups during the Reconstruction Era. Subsequent developments, from the establishment of state-sponsored segregation at the end of the 19th century, through the enactment of the civil rights legislation of the 1960s will be analyzed. The final weeks of the course will focus on contemporary civil rights issues including, among others, school desegregation, affirmative action, voting rights, criminal justice and fair housing. The course will examine emerging and consider the implications of the Supreme Court’s current approach to civil rights issues.