April 20, 2011
On April 8, 2011, the
Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic
Development and the Asian Pacific American, Black, Latin
American and South Asian Law Students Associations (
APALSA,
BLSA,
LALSA and
SALSA) jointly hosted the 13th Annual Ronald H. Brown Alumni
Dinner at the Trump Soho Hotel in downtown Manhattan.
The event brought current students, faculty members, administrators
and alumni together to honor the memory of Ronald H. Brown ’70 and
to support the center established in his name. Brown graduated from
the Law School’s night program and achieved many “firsts” in his
career. He was the first African-American partner at Patton Boggs
LLP, the first African-American Chairman of the Democratic National
Committee and the first African-American U.S. Secretary of
Commerce. He died tragically in a 1996 plane crash during a trade
mission in the Balkans.
Photo Gallery
Three years later, the Law School established The RHB Center to
continue Brown’s fight to advance opportunities for members of
underrepresented groups. One of the many ways in which the Center
fulfills its mission is through the
Ronald H. Brown Prep Program for College Students, which
prepares students from underrepresented backgrounds to compete
successfully as law school applicants. The Prep Program is the 2011
recipient of the American Bar Association’s
Alexander Award for Pipeline Excellence. Fighting the national
trend of declining Black and Latino law school admission rates,
students participating in the Prep Program have an 80% acceptance
rate, as compared to a nationwide acceptance rate of 40%for
African-American applicants. Prep Program students have increased
their LSAT scores by 10 points, received an aggregate of six
million dollars in scholarships and been accepted to various law
schools, including Yale, Boston College, UCLA, UC Davis, UC
Berkeley and St. John’s.
This year, each host student association selected an honoree who
shares Brown’s commitment to furthering social justice. APALSA
honored Erica Smith-Klocek ’99, partner at Morgan, Lewis &
Bockius LLP; BLSA honored Hon. Patricia P. Satterfield ’77, Justice
of the Supreme Court of the State of New York (ret.); LALSA honored
Hon. Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick ’67, Senior Associate Judge on the
New York State Court of Appeals; and SALSA honored Ro Khanna,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial
Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Classmates, friends,
and family turned out to pay tribute to these deserving
individuals. “It was wonderful to see how many people attended the
event just to support the honorees,” said APALSA President Cathy Ng
‘11. It was a testament to the respect they have garnered during
their careers and how much we, as law students, can hope to achieve
in the future.”
The evening also included the presentation of the Ronald H. Brown
Center William Tucker Garvin Awards to Nicole Giambarrese, Kisha
Miles and Monica Moran, the first Prep Program students to graduate
from law school. Highlighting the Prep Program’s evolution, Center
Director
Leonard M. Baynes said: “It has grown from a four day program
to a nine week program that students can participate in for two
years. Sixty Prep Program alumni will be in law schools across the
country by August 2011. The results show how we can change the
color of the legal profession one student at a time.”
“This year the Ronald H. Brown Alumni Dinner was revived and
reenergized in a way that can only be described as legendary,” said
BLSA Vice President Kiosha Ford ‘11. “The event embodies the spirit
of Ronald H. Brown and the honorees could not have been more
closely aligned with his image and what he stood for.” BLSA
President Nneka J. Martin ’11 agreed. “It was a privilege to honor
Justice Satterfield, while also paying homage to a distinguished
alumnus and celebrating the achievements of Prep Program
graduates." Echoing her sentiments, LALSA President Joel Acevedo
‘11 noted: “While an annual event is insufficient to honor Ronald
H. Brown, the Dinner gives students an unparalleled opportunity to
work as a team to celebrate his legacy while expressing our
admiration and respect for honorees, who, like Mr. Brown, are
deserving of everlasting recognition.”