Our Mission
Diversity is a crucial and invaluable component of the intellectual, educational, and social mission of our community. At Oregon Law, we believe that strengthening our efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical to our overall efforts to achieve excellence as a competitive, world-class law school.
Our immediate aim is to foster a more inclusive learning and working environment for students, faculty, staff, and community partners—one that is successful, thriving, and more resilient because of its diversity. Our broader aim is to learn, teach, and practice the principles of equity and justice in all we do, helping to ensure that all people have the opportunity to grow, contribute, and develop.
Our Diversity Action Plan
The University of Oregon is located within the traditional homelands of the Southern Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855, Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon. Learn more about this native history on campus with the Many Nations Longhouse.
Oregon Law is uniquely positioned with the tools, skills, and knowledge to shape and bend the arc towards justice. This fund, initiated by an alumnus from the 1982 JD class, will help ensure that our robust efforts to drive equitable change are resourced and sustained. Your gift will help us respond to the moment and movement by increasing our capacity to directly support students and the robust diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives already under way.
Equity-focused Curriculum
Coursing through our legal system are rules, choices, traditions, assumptions, and interpretations that have denied power to some while privileging others. Some of these patterns of power and inequity are overt, but all too often these patterns remain hidden or obscured. Thus, before you graduate, you are required to take at least one class that addresses such patterns of power.
Faculty Scholarship and Research in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and civil rights
Oregon Law’s faculty are engaged in a wide variety of research and teach on topics that touch every day lives. Their work encompasses a wide range of fields including human rights, civil rights, international law, and criminal law.
Learn more about their valuable research, which focuses on themes of diversity and inclusion.
Community Engagement
Throughout the year, Oregon Law hosts several events that are open to the public. These events are meant to engage members of the UO campus and community at-large as well as foster open discussions about topics surrounding diversity and inclusion.
Derrick Bell Lecture
The Derrick Bell Lecture Series is named after the first African-American Dean of the UO School of Law, Derrick Bell. Dean Bell’s tenure at Oregon Law began in 1980. During his time at the School of Law, his commitment to civil rights, race and law intersections were essential to ushering in a new era at Oregon Law. To honor his legacy, the School of Law partners with the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, along with other campus departments to host the annual lecture series.
Rennard Strickland Lecture
This annual fall lecture is named in honor of Rennard Strickland, the first Oregon Law dean of Osage and Cherokee heritage. He served from 1997 to 2002. A leading authority on Native American Law, he is considered a pioneer in introducing Indian law into university curriculum.
Celebrating Our Students
Our goal is to develop students to their full potential, help them find their voice, and learn how to use that voice to advocate for justice, their clients and their cause. Students are also encouraged to be active participants in making Oregon Law a place where everyone can live, learn, and flourish.
As a first-generation law student, Japanese American, and daughter of immigrant parents, the 2021 Minoru Yasui Fellow Anna Reutin hopes that the fellowship program continues to inspire students to approach issues of civil rights, racial justice, and representation head-on.
“We all offer a unique perspective based on our life experiences that shape who we are and how we think. At UO, I truly believe that we are moving in a direction that allows us to celebrate our differences and use them as an opportunity to learn from one another.”
Student Affinity Groups
Student organizations play a critical role in providing our students with support, community, and advocacy. Among these are several affinity groups representing the different diversity and cultural groups here at Oregon Law. These include:
- 1st Generation College Graduates
- Affinity Organization Coalition
- Asian Pacific American Law Student Association
- Black Law Student Association
- J. Reuben Clark Society
- Jewish Law Student Association
- Latinx Law Students Association
- Native American Law Student Association
- Oregon Law Students Aligned Against Ableism
- OUTLaws (LGBTQ+ law student group)
- Women’s Law Forum
Resources for Diversity & Inclusion
We offer a variety of support services and strive every day to create an inclusive and culturally relevant law school community.
At Oregon Law, we adhere to the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) Diversity in Law School and Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) Information for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Applicants.
We are also supported by the broader campus efforts of the UO's Division of Equity and Inclusion.
Community Input
Submit a Suggestion
Report an Incident
At Oregon Law, we strive to engage with diverse points of view, see and hold multiple perspectives, and understand others from their perspective. We welcome specific feedback on what we can do to build a more inclusive environment that builds on each other’s perspectives, strengths, knowledge, and abilities to maximize our community’s potential.
When a violation of the University of Oregon Student Conduct Code, law school Honor Code or other policy or rule governing student conduct is alleged, or whenever a member of the law School Community believes such a violation has occurred, they are encouraged to submit an incident report.