The Calhoun Family Fellowship at Seattle University School of Law was established through the generosity of The Calhoun Family, Seattle, WA, in 2018. This fellowship provides an opportunity to engage with lawyers, judges, those directly impacted by the legal system, and community advocates who are working on issues of race equity in the criminal legal system and beyond. The fellowship also includes a trip to Montgomery, AL, that explores the legacy of slavery and the many forms of racial disparity in our criminal legal system by visiting Equal Justice Initiative’s museum and memorial, and engaging in discussion about racial justice work with EJI staff and staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Previous Calhoun Family Fellows have:
- Studied targeted readings on race and equal justice, focused on criminal law
- Met with WA Supreme Court Justices Mary Yu and Sheryl Gordon McCloud, ACLU deputy legal director Jeff Robinson, and a number of practitioners and community advocates
- Presented proposals to the Minority and Justice Commission meeting that resulted in a Washington State Supreme Court symposium on the need for reparations
- Worked with Community Passageways, a felony diversion and prevention organization that assists young people
- Researched the history of racial bias in Washington, the demographics of elected prosecutors, and the racial makeup of juvenile defendants who were offered diversion programs
- Produced a memorandum on the legislative history of a statute regarding traffic fines and the history of a court rule establishing fines
- Observed court proceedings and met with judges
- Filed amicus briefs in the Washington State Supreme Court on the importance of jury diversity
Professors Melissa Lee and Jessica Levin supervise the fellowship program.
