Equity And Opportunity Studies Fellowship Conference 2015

Please join us at Rutgers University-Newark for the 2015 Equity and Opportunity Studies Fellowship culminating scholarship conference. The conference will take place on Thursday, September 24th, 2015 from 4-6:30pm in Esterly Lounge, located on the second floor of Engelhard Hall, 190 University Avenue in downtown Newark, NJ. Fellows will be presenting their year-long interdisciplinary research papers on how racial and economic inequality is reproduced to sustain geographies of relative opportunity throughout Northern New Jersey.

AnnouncementGuest UserAugust 12, 2015Inequality, Race

For America, Real Progress Achieved Nearly By Accident

It is tempting to look for signs of America’s direction in the late June ritual of reading the U.S. Supreme Court’s most momentous decisions of the term. Last week’s rulings in support of marriage equality, fair housing and Obamacare would suggest that on fundamental issues of daily life — the equal status of all love, the idea of housing as a link to life chances and the opening of access to healthcare for millions — the United States just took a giant step toward updating the constitutional principle of liberty with dignity.

CommentaryGuest UserJuly 1, 2015

The Rough Ride From Baltimore To A Place Near You

The death of Freddie Gray, a 25 year-old black man, in the custody of Baltimore police appeared to be just another suspicious death of an unarmed black person in what had become a litany. It followed the deaths of Walter Scott in South Carolina, and before him Eric Davis in Mississippi and before him Akai Gurley, John Crawford, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown and Eric Garner going back to last summer. The country was not numb to acts of apparent police brutality anymore—far from it. But we had begun to study and protest its occurrences with the conviction of …

CommentaryGuest UserMay 15, 2015Inequality, Poverty, Race

CLiME At 2: Fellowships, Interdisciplinary Partnership And Research Collaboratives

2015 marks the second full year of operations for the Center on Law in Metropolitan Equity, and we are busy expanding the discourse on structural—often place-based—inequality in the Greater Rutgers University Newark region and across metropolitan America. Thanks to the support of Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Provost Todd Clear and a growing partnership with the Graduate School under Dean Kyle Farmbry’s stewardship, CLiME has been able to embark on a broad array of exciting (and challenging) new activities that demonstrate our mission to connect law with …

AnnouncementGuest UserMarch 25, 2015Inequality, Poverty

Student Blog Post: Issues In Urban Equity And Newark Traffic Citations

The young man in front of me in municipal court, calmly reiterated his previous statement: “I’d rather take 10 days in jail right now, than go home and come back for a few more hours of court in a week. I’d rather you take my freedom away for 10 full days, than retain a public defender free of charge, and get my paper work in order.” That was the response I got from a defendant in traffic court in Newark, New Jersey on an otherwise normal afternoon. This was a simple case: A polite and generally pleasant young man was pulled over and charged with driving on a suspended license.

CommentaryGuest UserMarch 24, 2015

Less Than Human: Do Some Police Take A Step Beyond Simple Prejudice?

When I tried to engage a friend in a conversation about the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, my friend wearily waved his hand for me to stop. “Can’t do it,” he said politely. “It happens so often I’m inured to the pain. If I think too long about it I might just …” His voice trailed off. My friend is a black man. He is raising a black man. His response is one of three that tended to follow Saturday’s tragic news. You can either protect yourself by neutralizing your rage, as he did. You can defend your community and …

CommentaryGuest UserAugust 14, 2014Race

CLiME Annual Scholarship Conference 2014

Nationally recognized metropolitan scholar and former Albuquerque Mayor David Rusk will present his article, Measuring Regional Equity, followed by a moderated discussion with the distinguished audience of elected officials, scholars, activists, representatives of non-profits and the public. CLiME Director and Rutgers Law Professor David D. Troutt will also give a talk on the structure of place-based inequality, including a reading from his new book, The Price of Paradise: The Costs of Inequality and a Vision for a More Equitable America.

AnnouncementGuest UserFebruary 11, 2014Inequality, Poverty

Prof. Troutt At The Regional Fair Housing & Equity Assessment Workshop

CLiME Director Daivd Troutt will provide an overview account of government data trends at the Regional Fair Housing and Equity Assessment Workshop Friday, November 22, 2013 at the Bloustein School at Rutgers University. The workshop will bring together stakeholders and subject matter experts in the region to learn about the analysis to date and help guide the project.

AnnouncementGuest UserNovember 15, 2013Inequality, Poverty, Race

Structure, Place And Opportunity

People don’t tend to think of their lives within structures, but rather as days, relationships and places. Families seek supportive schools, reasonable commutes, quality local stores or, when they have time, nice parks to relax in. Working people worry about commutes, neighbors they can trust rather than fear and affordable tax rates. Matters of racial disparity or class differences are not common features of our everyday thoughts. We have enough to worry about meeting needs in the time available, with the people we encounter and in the places where our needs are likely to be met.

AnnouncementGuest UserJuly 3, 2013Inequality, Poverty, Race

Voting Rights: Scalia V. Minority Protection

It’s rare to reach a point in our national sense of humor that a sitting Supreme Court justice emerges as the butt of popular jokes for comments he made during an oral argument. That’s what happened last week, however, after Justice Antonin Scalia asked lawyers defending Congress’s extension of Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act whether maintaining the pre-clearance formula for nine “covered” states, which are subject to federal oversight, was really just a “racial entitlement” program and not a constitutional necessity.

CommentaryGuest UserMarch 5, 2013Inequality, Race

Geography As Destiny

If Occupy Wall Street protesters and tea partiers agree on anything, it’s the loss of a stable middle class. Yet while the public debate has focused on overarching federal policies, neither group has pointed to the threat right here on the ground: the inequity of place. Real estate agents and home buyers have long known that location — where we live, learn, shop and join in community — determines most of the opportunities available to Americans. Opportunity is the touchstone to becoming a member of the middle class. As much as brains, pluck or work ethic, geography is destiny …

CommentaryGuest UserNovember 14, 2011Gentrification, Inequality, Poverty, Race

Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity