UCLA law school gets $1 million gift honoring founder of Critical Race Studies program

Fellowships for those planning to work in ‘Latinx legal academia’

The UCLA School of Law was the recent recipient of a $1 million gift from alumnus Alicia Miñana de Lovelace to honor the founder of the school’s Critical Race Studies program.

The Laura E. Gómez Teaching Fellowship on Latinx People and the Law will fund fellowships for “four to five” students who plan to work in “Latinx legal academia,” the Daily Bruin reports.

The fellows “will be compensated for their research and teaching” — which includes a seminar on “how electoral, immigration and criminal law impact Latinx people” — and have a term of service of up to nine years.

Gómez, who’s set to retire, was the first director of the law school’s Critical Race Studies program, served as dean of the Division of Social Sciences, and as vice-dean of the School of Law according to her faculty page. She also was faculty advisor to the Latino student group La Raza, the Chicano-Latino Law Review, and the Womyn of Color Collective.

Miñana de Lovelace currently serves as a co-chair of the UCLA Second Century Council, which advises the chancellor on university philanthropy strategy.

From the story:

While teaching, fellows will also be mentored by Critical Race Studies professors, [Critical Race Studies program Director Jasleen] Kohli said. The mentorship program will provide a much-needed pipeline to connect Latinx students with the legal field by giving them further insight into the field, she added.

Kohli also said that the Critical Race Studies program at the School of Law is one of the nation’s only academic programs dedicated to teaching about race and the law, making its faculty mentorship opportunities unique.

“We have a lot of really great faculty who could provide mentorship for the next generation of legal scholars,” she said. “That’s what we seek to do.”

Some articles written by the fellows will be published in law reviews, further strengthening their experiences, Kohli said.

“This is a really important thinking field where we want to nurture young scholars and build the field,” said Ariela Gross, a distinguished professor at the School of Law.

In a 2020 interview, Gómez (pictured) said reparations for the Latino (or Latinx) community is “a long due conversation,” noting the ruination of Central America’s “indigenous way of life” by the United States military and corporations.