College of Law Hosting 'Ferguson, Race, and the Law' Discussion
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 27, 2015) — The University of Kentucky College of Law will host "A Conversation about Ferguson, Race, and the Law" today at noon in Room 215 of the Law Building.
Allison Connelly, James and Mary Lassiter Professor of Law, and Melynda Price, Robert E. Harding, Jr. Associate Professor of Law, will present at the event, and Cortney Lollar, assistant professor of law, will moderate.
"Tuesday’s forum is part of an ongoing series within the College of Law to provide an opportunity for students to consider the importance of diversity within the legal profession, and society as a whole," said James M. Donovan, chair of the UK College of Law Diversity Committee and director of the Law Library.
Prior to joining the law school, Connelly spent 13 years as a state public defender providing direct representation, including death penalty representation, to needy individuals at all levels of the criminal justice system. She rose through the ranks to become the only woman ever named as Kentucky’s Public Advocate, the head of Kentucky's statewide public defender system.
Joining Connelly in presenting, Price will pull from her research focused on race, gender and citizenship, the politics of punishment and the role of law in the politics of race and ethnicity in the U.S. and at its borders. In 2008, Price was awarded a Ford Foundation Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas School of Law. During this time, she worked on a book project tentatively titled "At the Cross: Race, Religion and Citizenship in the Politics of the Death Penalty Among African Americans."
"We hope this discussion will clarify some of the legal questions surrounding recent events in Ferguson and elsewhere, and allow students to express how these concerns touch on their own lives and experiences," Donovan said.
"A Conversation about Ferguson, Race, and the Law" is sponsored by the UK College of Law Diversity Committee.