News Release

Gerald Torres

Date: March 27, 2009

September 22

2009 Washburn University Oliver L. Brown Distinguished Visiting Scholar for Diversity Issues

Gerald Torres is a former president of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). He is a leading figure in critical race theory. Torres has served as deputy assistant attorney general for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and as counsel to then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

His latest book, The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy, was written with Harvard Law professor Lani Guinier. The book is one of the most provocative and challenging books on race written in years. His many articles include "Who Owns the Sky?" published in the Pace Law Review, "Taking and Giving: Police Power, Public Value, and Private Right" published in the Environmental Law Journal, and "Translating Yonnondio by Precedent and Evidence: The Mashpee Indian Case" published in the Duke Law Journal. Torres received the Legal Services Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) for his work to advance the legal rights of Latinos. He teaches at the University of Texas Law School in Austin.

This program is co-sponsored by Washburn University.

Free and open to the public, September 22, 2009, 7:00 pm, at Memorial Union Ballroom, Washburn University, 1700 SW College Street, Topeka, Kansas, 66621.

To RSVP by September 17, please call the Brown Foundation, [phone] or email by clicking here.