Syracuse Law Review/ACS Sponsered Symposium - "EDUCATION ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITY"

On behalf of the Syracuse Law Review, the American Constitution Society, and the Women's Law Society, we are delighted to share our lineup of panel discussions and speeches that will be featured as part of our Symposium on Education Access and Opportunity. Again, the event is Saturday, October 14, from 10:30 am to 5 pm, in-person at Dineen and online via Zoom. Lunch will be provided. A full schedule of events with a list of speakers is available on our website at lawreview.syr.edu.

Panel discussions with will include:

Towards Inclusive K-12 Education: Rights, Restrictions, and Reforms (10:50 – 11:50 am);
Tackling the Major Questions of Student Debt (12 – 1 pm); and
The Future of DEIA after Students for Fair Admissions (2:30 – 3:30 pm)

Additionally, Dr. Julia Rose Kraut will join us virtually for a lunch and learn session on Education and Empowerment: Civics, Law, and History in the Classroom (1 – 2:30 pm). Dr. Kraut is a Resident Education Fellow at the Historical Society of the New York Courts. The Society’s mission is to preserve, protect and promote the legal history of New York, including the proud heritage of its courts and the development of the Rule of Law. The Society promotes its mission through educational outreach to New York State students, and public programs and publications on these themes which inform our knowledge and role as citizens today.

Finally, Mr. Jeremiah Bourgeois will deliver our keynote speech, Opportunity Cost: Pursuing Higher Education with Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder (3:40 – 4:40 pm). In 1992, at age 14, Jeremiah became one of the youngest children in the U.S. to receive a mandatory life sentence without parole. Notwithstanding his sentence, he committed himself to higher education and earned his bachelor’s degree in legal studies and criminology, graduating magna cum laude. He utilized his education to tutor prisoners working to earn their GEDs and became an advisor to the University Beyond Bars, a non-profit that enables prisoners to obtain a college education in the Washington State Department of Corrections. Jeremiah also began publishing articles and commentaries in law journals about what he experienced and witnessed within the prison system. Jeremiah’s legal commentary critiquing the parole board’s practices resulted in a hearing in the Washington State Senate, and the Washington State Court of Appeals adopted his legal analysis in a landmark decision which ended the unlawful confinement of prisoners serving sentences for crimes committed when they were children. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, Jeremiah was resentenced and later granted parole in 2019. Since being freed, Jeremiah has committed himself to highlighting injustice and fighting for reform through Beyond the Blindfold of Justice, a legal advocacy project he created in collaboration with the Washington State-based nonprofit Freedom Project. He continues to use his writing and his voice to advocate for those who have fallen victim to mass incarceration, highlight the difficulty of reentry, and illuminate his personal challenges adjusting to society. Jeremiah is now a matriculated law student at Gonzaga University.

All students, faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the public are welcome to attend. Please visit our website (lawreview.syr.edu) to RSVP. We hope to see you there!