CARLISLE, Pa. — More than 100 people gathered at Penn State Dickinson Law in October for the Second Annual Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) Convening, three days of networking, sharing and growing together to create an antiracist law school, legal academy and legal profession.
From sessions devoted to design thinking and voter access, to the powerful closing keynote address given by New York Times bestselling author Eddie Glaude Jr., the convening reflected the love ethos central to the ADI’s mission of dismantling structures that scaffold systemic racial inequality and intersectional injustice.
“Throughout these three days and as you listen to Dr. Glaude speak, you will begin to understand why we embrace love as a value and an ethic in legal education,” said Penn State Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway, executive director of the ADI.
The work of fighting for institutional antiracism can feel heavy, according to organizers; the ADI convening encouraged attendees to find the joy in that work when possible.
“I think it's important, particularly in moments of crisis, that we cultivate the habit of laughter, understanding that life has its layers. If you're not able to laugh in the face of the concern, it deepens the problem,” said Glaude, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University.
Carleen Carey, founder of Akoma Leadership Consulting, who moderated the “Applied Design Thinking in the Context of 303(C)” panel, said, “That self-care and joy aspect is absolutely vital. We are experiencing the hardest parts of oppressive systems daily, and only the fact that we are together, the joy of community care, makes getting through it possible."
Participants included faculty and staff from across Penn State campuses, people in legal education, community members, and those writing chapters for the ADI-shepherded book series, titled “Building an Antiracist Law School, Legal Academy, and Legal Profession,” which will be published by ADI partner University of California Press.
“We gathered to celebrate the work that has been accomplished and to energize ourselves for the work ahead,” said ADI Program Manager Tawanda Hunter Stallworth. “Conveners have committed to learning themselves and teaching their colleagues inside and outside of the legal academy about systemic inequity and injustice. They have taken and are taking action to dismantle it.”
A fuller picture of historic events
The convening highlighted different elements of the ADI’s three-pillar approach based on systems design, institutional antiracism and critical pedagogy. Conveners attended sessions in three cohorts: admissions and financial aid, teaching and learning, and leadership and community.
Film screenings illuminated challenges faced by members of marginalized communities. Panels explored how to reframe competencies from the pathway to the classroom and discussed voter access. About two dozen attendees visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Gettysburg College Associate Professor of African Studies Scott Hancock discussed “Antiracism on the Battlefield.” He noted the lack of battlefield monuments or mentions of Black people or other people of color in contrast with the context of Confederate monuments and their placement.
Kelsey Risman, director of program evaluation at AccessLex Institute and a panel presenter, had never visited Gettysburg despite living in Baltimore for years.
“The ADI provided a best-case scenario of introducing and presenting that content through a lens that I felt was fair and accurate,” said Risman. “I’m happy to learn the full story of the impactful events that happened there.”
‘I really want to be a part’ of the ADI’s mission
Tomar Pierson-Brown, assistant professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a presenter on the “Applied Design Thinking in the Context of 303(C)” panel, came away from the convening inspired by design thinking’s capacity to produce meaningful change.
“What I love about the ADI is it gives us this framework to think about how institutions function, so we can unravel them and create institutional change. I really want to be a part of that,” said Pierson-Brown, a chapter contributor to the UC Press book series.
Day two of the convening opened with a conversation between Conway and Anu Gupta, author of the new book “Breaking Bias” and founder of Be More with Anu, an edtech company that trains organizations in breaking bias using science-backed tools. They discussed combating conscious and unconscious bias by practicing mindfulness, stereotype replacement, individuation, curiosity and empathy. Gupta, a systems designer and chapter contributor to the UC Press book series, also led attendees in a self-love meditation.
The leadership and community cohort discussed voter access and engagement at the Cumberland County Historical Society on day two. After sitting on that panel, Carlisle Mayor Sean Shultz, Dickinson Law class of 2003, said he looked forward to sharing insights he gained.
“I am a member of the Mayors Innovation Project, a nationwide project of the University of Wisconsin, and I brought up the antiracism efforts of the law school during a conference with other mayors. I am so proud of my law school in Carlisle empowered by a tremendous university in Penn State. Anytime I get a chance to talk about what we are doing here, I am glad to do it,” said Shultz.
POD presentations spark conversation and curiosity
Day two of the convening also featured presentations by the PODs (mini thinktanks) established this summer as part of Penn State’s five-year ADI scaleup to support and grow strong, interdependent and interdisciplinary partnerships to advance institutional antiracism and bolster diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB).
The POD focuses are:
- Building Leadership Capacity with Antiracism
- Transformative Justice: Methods for Dismantling a System of Incarceration
- Antiracist Leadership Certificate
- Antiracist Justice Frames: K-12 Engagement, Community Engagement, Sustainability, and Praxis
- Reimagining Higher Education Policy from Undergraduate Admissions to Graduate and Professional Degree Attainment
The five PODs outlined their projects, and the audience offered feedback to help each group sharpen their work.
Making time for laughter and connection
After two days of learning and growth, it was time for celebration during a banquet at Allenberry Resort in Boiling Springs. A cocktail hour preceded dinner and a program led by Penn State Dickinson Law Associate Dean for Antiracism and Critical Pedagogy Shaakirrah R. Sanders.
The ADI presented several honors, including giving Conway and four other Black women law school deans the Changemaker Award for creating the Association of American Law Schools Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse in 2020. The other honorees were Danielle Holley, currently Mount Holyoke College President and former dean of Howard University School of Law; Professor Kimberly Mutcherson, former dean of Rutgers Law School-Camden and currently Phyllis W. Beck Visiting Chair in Law at Temple University, Beasley School of Law; Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Boston University School of Law dean; and Carla D. Pratt, currently Oklahoma University Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Chair in Civil Rights, Race and Justice and former dean of Washburn University School of Law.
Nicole Dyszlewski, Roger Williams University Law School Assistant Dean of Academic Innovation and UC Press Book series contributor, earned the Disruptive Collaborator Award. Penn State Dickinson Law students Ethan Kincaid, class of 2025, and Isaac Praseedom, class of 2025, received the Student Intern Awards. Conway also recognized Access Lex and the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), two early funders of the ADI, for their unwavering support. Christopher P. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of AccessLex, and Jay L. Austin, founder and inaugural executive director of LSAC’s Reaffirming Individuals Supporting Education (RISE) Alliance, gave brief remarks about their commitment to the ADI.
Mele Tupou Vaitohi, a visiting scholar at Penn State Dickinson Law from New Zealand, delivered the banquet keynote.
“As a Pacific Islander and Tongan, participating in the ADI event was a profound privilege and honor,” said Tupou Vaitohi, whose home institution is Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka. “Being included and truly heard was meaningful, especially as I navigated the program’s insights through racially complex realities. Together, we explored and shared understandings that went beyond our individual perspectives of 'antiracist' without a hyphen, opening space for learning through one another's experiences. Listening to others made me recognize the roles each of us play and how we show up from our unique social locations — especially in these racially charged times.”
Everyone had plenty to process as the convening closed Friday with Glaude’s speech. Kali Tennis, a Harrisburg resident who works for a nonprofit, mused about how to apply the ADI approach outside of academia.
“I wondered if there was space here for collaboration and multi-sector, cross-system collaboration — I’m on the East Shore, and the ADI is on the West Shore. Is there a model here we can import across the river? And the answer is yes,” said Tennis.
According to attendees, the convening accomplished its goal of getting people to look at things in new ways, including finding joy and even hope where they previously saw none.
“I’ve come to understand the justice system as a racist system,” said filmmaker Shuja Moore, whose “Pardon Me” screened on the convening’s first day. “Part of its functionality is to disenfranchise poor people and people of color while providing jobs and supporting the economy for another group of people. Understanding America's past, we must protect against this. So, to be part of an event thinking about how to change the system, almost a thinktank within a law school, is really eye-opening and shocking. I am still processing what this could mean.”