The American Bar Association House of Delegates (HOD) approved new policy against laws that limit teaching about race or gender during a one-day meeting today that concluded the 2024 Midyear Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.
The new policy, approved by a voice vote, also opposes bans on books that cover those subjects. It specifically expressed opposition of any attempt by governmental entities to restrict the teaching, inclusion of studies or access to resources on the “experiences, roles and contributions” of any individual or group on the basis of such areas as gender, race and ethnicity.
The HOD, which is the association’s 597-member policymaking body, also approved nearly 30 other new policies that include requiring free-speech policies for the nation’s law schools, encouraging written policies for the removal of prosecutors for misconduct and urging governmental entities to follow federal reporting guidelines related to deaths in criminal custody situations.
Resolution 505 cited Florida’s 2022 Stop W.O.K.E. Act, which included measures prohibiting teachers from discussing matters related to race, color, national origin or sex ― effectively curtailing any discussion of slavery and marginalization in American history. In Texas, an appointee of the governor a few days ago put the brakes on American Indian/Native studies courses. In South Carolina, a bill that would limit certain teachings on race in public schools and allow parents to challenge educational materials is moving through the state’s House of Representatives.
The law school free speech standard spelled out under Resolution 300 establishes Standard 208 for the nation’s 196 law schools now accredited by the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which serves as an independent arm of the ABA for the approval of law schools. The new standard requires schools to adopt a policy that would allow faculty, students and staff “to communicate ideas that may be controversial or unpopular, including through robust debate, demonstrations or protests,” and would forbid activities that disrupt or impinge on free speech. But it wouldn’t impose specific policy language.
Law school faculty have long enjoyed protections for academic freedom. But the new standard is the first to address free speech for the entire law school community. The move follows student protests at Stanford Law School and Yale Law School, which disrupted controversial conservative speakers, and comes amid campus tensions in the aftermath of the conflict in the Middle East, which began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
To read the rest of the release, please visit https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/02/aba-house-policy-votes-aba-midyear/