IMPACT OF SFFA VS. UNC & HARVARD ON ADVANCING A JEDI CULTURE ON CAMPUS

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Join Transform Mid-Atlantic and members of the Presidents Council as they host a panel discussion featuring the voices of legal scholars, affirmative action experts, and higher education practitioners to learn more about the institutional implications and impact of the recent Supreme Court decision(s) of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) vs. The University of North Carolina and SFFA vs. Harvard University. Panelists will provide analysis of the decisions and the effects that the Court’s ruling will have on the work and progress of higher education institutions to advance a culture of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) within their campus communities. Learn more about the the SFFA vs. Harvard case by visiting this webpage.

The event will be moderated by Ms. Nicole Mozee, J.D., Assistant Professor of Law at the Wilmington University School of Law and Deputy Attorney General for the Delaware Department of Justice and Assistant Professor of Law at Wilmington University School of Law. Panelists include:

• Mr. Harold McDougall, J.D. – Professor of Law – Howard University 
• Dr. Vinay Harpalani, J.D. – Lee & Leon Karelitz Chair in Evidence & Procedure / Professor of Law – The University of New Mexico 
• Mr. Leland Ware, J.D. – Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law & Public Policy / Professor of Africana Studies – University of Delaware Biden School of Public Policy and Administration
• Mr. Pace J. McConkie, J.D. – Director of the Robert M. Bell Center for Civil Rights in Education – Morgan State University 

Read more about each panelist below.

This event is free and open to all college and university representatives – including presidents, vice presidents for student affairs, provosts, faculty, community-engaged practitioners, and others – and their community partners. Panelists will speak about the court’s decision and its immediate and long term effects on the state of affirmative action policies in the United States. They will address how higher education institutions might continue institutionalizing a JEDI culture on campus in the wake of the decision and outlining ways that senior institutional leaders can respond and plan for the future.

A Q&A and guided discussion will follow the panelists’ remarks. Live closed captioning will be available.

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About the moderator and panelists:

Moderator: Ms. Nicole Mozee, J.D. | Assistant Professor of Law | Wilmington University School of Law
Ms. Nicole Mozee, J.D. advocates for civil liberties, civil rights, and social justice. She works as a Deputy Attorney General for the Delaware Department of Justice Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust to investigate and prosecute civil rights violations, incidents and crimes of bias and hate, public official misconduct, and law enforcement use-of-force cases. Since 2023, she has also served as an assistant professor of law at the Wilmington University School of Law. Mozee successfully prosecuted the Division’s first hate crime conviction and the state’s first-ever conviction of a sitting elected official. Before joining the Delaware DOJ, Mozee worked in government and policy, family law, and employment discrimination. She was associate legal counsel for Del. Gov. John Carney, a staff attorney at Delaware Volunteer Legal Services, and a labor enforcement officer for the Delaware Department of Labor Office of Anti-Discrimination. She is also an active member of the Delaware State Bar Association’s Multicultural Judges & Lawyer Section and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr’s Breakfast and Day of Service Executive Committee. Read more about Deputy Attorney General Mozee here.

Mr. Harold McDougall, J.D. | Professor of Law | Howard University
Professor Harold McDougall has been a member of the Howard faculty since 2000, teaching courses on property, sustainable development, and civil rights. He has a background in civil rights and community organizing and has served the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as Washington Bureau Chief and the National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) as U.N. Delegate. He has served on the National Governing Board of Common Cause, the Board of Directors of the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (Fulbright Scholars Program), and the Board of Trustees of the Paul J. Aicher Foundation (Study Circles Resource Center/Everyday Democracy). He has consulted for the Kellogg, Kettering, and Village Foundations, and the Montgomery County, MD, County Executive’s Office. A Fulbright alumnus (Jamaica 1999) he was granted a Fulbright Alumni Initiatives award for his work on sustainable development in Jamaica. Read more about Professor McDougall here.

Dr. Vinay Harpalani, J.D., Ph.D. | Lee & Leon Karelitz Chair in Evidence & Procedure / Professor of Law | The University of New Mexico
Vinay Harpalani teaches courses in constitutional law, civil rights, civil procedure, and employment discrimination. His scholarship focuses on the intersections between race, education, and law, as he explores the nuances of racial diversity and identity from various disciplinary perspectives. His writings have covered topics such as affirmative action in university admissions, racial ambiguity, skin color discrimination, and the psychological development of racial identity. Professor Harpalani’s 2012 law review article, “Diversity Within Racial Groups and the Constitutionality of Race-Conscious Admissions”, which was published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, was cited in eight U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin I and II, and was quoted (with citation omitted) in Justice Samuel Alito’s dissent in Fisher II. Several of his articles have also been cited in legal briefs or opinions at the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the New York Court of Appeals. Read more about Dr. Harpalani here.

Mr. Leland Ware, J.D. | Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law & Public Policy / Professor of Africana Studies | University of Delaware Biden School of Public Policy and Administration
Professor Ware’s research focuses on civil rights and civil liberties law, employment law, and constitutional law. He is the author of more than 90 articles in academic journals and other publications regarding various aspects of Civil Rights Law. Additionally, he has co-authored two books including: “Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture and the Constitution” and “Choosing Equality: Essays and Narratives on the Desegregation Experience,” the latter of which U.S. President Joe Biden wrote a forward to the text. In addition to his positions at the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, Professor Ware serves as a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware. He is also the author of numerous editorials and thought pieces focusing on the Supreme Court, Civicl Rights Law, and other topics. Read more about Professor Ware here.

Mr. Pace J. McConkie, J.D. | Director of the Robert M. Bell Center for Civil Rights in Education | Morgan State University
Pace Jefferson McConkie is a civil rights attorney with a primary focus in the areas of constitutional law and pertinent state and federal civil rights law, particularly as pertaining to discrimination on the basis of race, color and ethnicity, racial inequities, equal protection, education law, equal educational opportunity, school desegregation, integration and diversity, and the First Amendment. His work covers advice, representation and advocacy relating to public education from elementary and secondary schools through the collegiate and graduate school levels of postsecondary education. He is the founder and director of the Robert M. Bell Center for Civil Rights in Education, established at Morgan State University, to unite research, teaching, training and advocacy on integral civil rights issues in education at all levels, particularly with respect to African American and other minority students seeking real and meaningful opportunities for educational excellence and advancement. Read more about Mr. McConkie here.