In light of recent demands for racial justice, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, UnidosUS, and the National Women’s Law Center along with hundreds of other civil rights and education organizations, have written to Congress to again urge decision makers to enact antiracist education policies. Such steps are needed to support the educational success of historically marginalized students, including Black students and other students of color, Native students, students with disabilities, LGBTQ students, religious minorities, sexual assault survivors, and immigrant students, in PK-12 and higher education spaces.
The letter included the civil and human rights community’s policy recommendations for achieving justice and equal opportunity in education, noted below:
Civil Rights Principles for Safe, Healthy, and Inclusive School Climates, signed by 295 organizations, calls for Congress and PK-12 institutions to:
- Ensure rights of students
- Encourage schools to implement comprehensive and supportive discipline practices
- Address childhood trauma
- Enhance protections against harassment and discrimination in school
- Ensure accountability through accurate and comprehensive data collection
- Invest in school infrastructures that support positive school climates
- Eliminate school-based law enforcement
- Eliminate threats to students’ health and safety
In collaboration with members of the Higher Ed Civil Rights Coalition, The Civil Rights Principles for Higher Education, endorsed by 56 organizations,identifies fundamental elements of a higher education system that advances equity and protects students’ civil rights. The principles urge decision makers to push for:
- Civil rights enforcement
- Access
- Persistence and completion
- Affordability
- Data
- Accountability
- Exclusion of for-profits
- Protection for student loan borrowers
- Safe campus climate
- Investment in HBCUs and MSIs
“As we see support grow for transformative change to dismantle White supremacy, the coalition’s principles are key to ensuring positive educational experiences for Black students and other students who are too often marginalized both in the school setting as well as in the world. We hope that these principles and policy recommendations will offer policy leaders a path to supporting and protecting marginalized students and ensuring they have the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive,” said the letter, which is available here.
