University of Buffalo law school focusing on promoting 'anti-racist culture,' says welcome letter: EXCLUSIVE

The University of Buffalo law school distributed announcements as a part of a welcome packet to new students stating its goal of becoming a more “anti-racist” institution.

“[W]e have reexamined our curriculum and programming to explore ways to honor Black lives, not merely in a reactionary way, but in a way that provides a framework for understanding the historical and legal context of systemic racism in the United States,” the letter, exclusively obtained by Campus Reform, states.

The letter tells new UB students that they would receive a law review article, “A Bronx Tale: Disposable People, the Legacy of Slavery, and the Social Death of Kalief Browder.” The article alleges that America is systemically racist. 

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“[T]hose who are black, poor, and in urban spaces live in a kind of social limbo where they are not considered worthy of the same level of recognition, social protection, or rights,” the article alleges. “[T]heir lives don’t matter.” 

The letter in UB’s welcome packet argues that the themes of alleged American racism discussed in the article are “not relegated to the past, but merely continue in different forms today.”

The document also seems to take aim at the Supreme Court’s decisions in recent years to overturn Roe v. Wade as well as affirmative action in college admissions, stating that the Court’s decisions supposedly “stripped away fundamental rights relied upon by women” and went against “efforts to remedy hundreds of years of racism and inequity.”

UB alleges that “we have . . . witnessed ongoing demands for justice stemming from centuries of systemic racism and racially motivated violence against people of color, especially Black people, in the United States.” In response to these events and the Supreme Court’s decisions, UB stated that “faculty and administration are continuing to take steps toward building an ever more equitable and anti-racist culture in our legal communities.” 

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“As you read, we would like you to consider the conditions in the United States, as well asL [sic] in our current legal system, that allowed for such great miscarriages of justice,” the handout says.

The letter is signed by the Vice Dean for “Diversity, Equity and Belonging,” the director of the “Office of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging,” the Vice Dean for Experiential Education and Social Justice Initiatives, and the Vice Dean and Associate Dean for Student Affairs. 

Campus Reform has contacted Buffalo University Law School and signers of the letter for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.