Black History Month

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 91 No. 1 Pg. 23
• Publication year: 2022
• Pages: 23
• topic: Civil Rights

Black History Month No. 91 J. Kan. Bar Assn 1, 23 (2022) Kansas Bar Journal February, 2022

January 2022

Advocating for Equity and Inclusion at Washburn University's School of Law: Dean Carla Pratt

An introduction on behalf of the KBA:

I graduated from Washburn University School of Law in May of 2007. Washburn Law was both a professional and personal blessing. It is where I learned how to think like a lawyer and where I discovered my love for the courtroom. Washburn is known for its top notch and down-to-earth faculty who are truly invested in student success. I experienced this firsthand while attending Washburn Law. It also is the place where I met, proposed to and married my wife, Attorney Shanelle Dupree, over 15 years ago. I am deeply invested in Washburn Law's continued success.

I served as the president of the Student Body during my third year at Washburn. As the Student Body President, I was on the search committee in 2007. Ten years later, when I learned Washburn was searching for a new dean, I made certain to watch all the online interviews. Carla Pratt stood out. She was tactfully honest about Washburn Law's strengths and areas for improvements and offered new ideas. During her interview, she said, "Commitment to diversity is half the battle...having a person of color at the helm sends a message." Carla is not only the first woman of color to lead Washburn Law School, but she has a long history of excellent and impactful diversity and inclusion work. I rewatched Dean Pratt's interview to write this foreword, and she has overdelivered in this area and many others.

Dean Pratt has integrated diversity, equity and inclusion into the fabric of Washburn by building upon the foundation that Washburn Law has laid for decades. The historic Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board Education, had Washburn lawyers on both sides. Brown v. Board made equal access to public education possible, and it is arguably one of the most important cases in the 20th century. Dean Pratt, while rapidly securing funds for the new law school building, incorporated the idea of cementing the Brown v. Board legacy into the new building. Dean Pratt continues to highlight and tell the story of Washburn Law lawyers who advocated to end "separate but equal."

Dean Pratt has mobilized faculty involvement by making diversity, equity and inclusion a consistent area of focus. This bubbled to the surface when she issued a statement regarding the murder of George Floyd, which shook the collective conscious of the world. Her public statement paved the way, and faculty members of Washburn Law issued an Anti-Racist Resolution, which was adopted by the Washburn Law faculty on June 8, 2020.

Dean Pratt also is a national leader among deans regarding racial justice. Through the Association of American Law Schools, she is one of several deans who established the Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project. This project is responding to racism in the United States through the viewpoint of the law school leadership.

Dean Pratt is involved in making law school accessible to all students, including historically marginalized people, a phase I refer to as the three B's: "black, brown and broke" folks. This is seen throughout her scholarly articles, advocacy and Midwest values. She now has a national platform by being appointed to the ABA Council which is recognized by the US Department of...