About The RHB Center
Established in 1999 by Professor Janice D. Villiers, the late Judge Philip D. Roache and Justice Patricia P. Satterfield, The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development is the Law School’s oldest academic center. In name, vision and mission, The RHB Center honors the memory of Ronald H. Brown ’70, a Law School alumnus who served as the first African American Secretary of Commerce and the first African American Chair of the Democratic National Committee. 

Through The RHB Center and its official student publication, the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, the Law School steadfastly pursues its commitment to exploring, investigating, and providing a forum for discussing pressing issues of racial, social and economic justice. A national leader on issues of racial and ethnic diversity, The RHB Center offers cutting-edge academic events as well as signature pipeline programs, such as the award-winning Prep Program for College Students, designed to increase diversity in the legal profession, the legal academy, and higher education administration.

In collaboration with The RHB Center and its affiliated faculty, the Law School offers a range of courses that deepen students’ awareness of, and develop their ability to redress, injustices and inequities in their local, national and global communities.

For more information about The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development, please contact us. To support the Center and its initiatives, please visit the Law School's online giving page or contact the Office of Alumni Relations and Development at brian.woods@stjohns.edu or (718) 990-5792.