Date of Lecture: September 17, 2012
About the Speaker: The Michael R. Klein Professor of Law at Harvard, Randall Kennedy focuses his research on the intersection of racial conflict and legal institutions in American life. His books include "Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency" (Pantheon 2011), "Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity and Adoption" (Pantheon Books 2003), and "Race, Crime, and the Law" (Pantheon 1997). He is currently completing a book on affirmative action. He served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, was a Rhodes Scholar and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
About the Lecture: In October 2012, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a case which threatens to end race-based affirmative action practices in admissions programs at public colleges and universities. Prof. Kennedy highlights the history of race-based affirmative action in higher education, offers a prediction of the Supreme Court's ruling in the case, and explains his support for "sensible" affirmative action policies as restorative justice to disadvantaged populations.
Watch the lecture below or download it free from iTunes U.
*This event was followed by a campus fishbowl-style discussion of Affirmative Action at Holy Cross on October 1, 2012. Learn more and watch that video here.