Resources for Engagement

Make Your Voice Count! - ​Take the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE)

You will be reciivng an email to participate in the Law School Survey of Student Engagemtn (LSSSE). WE encourage your participation as we will use the results to improve your experience and quality of education. Your responses help us identify what is going well and what could benefit from more attention or a different approach. Through your participation we will gain meaningful insights about how your educational experiences compare with other law schools.

Note: The survey is conducted by an independent research center, your responses and comments are anonymous to the law school.

Useful Tools

Posted below are tools to:

1. Engage in respectful dialogue with one another,
2. Language to help identify one’s feelings and emotions in order to name what actions are needed to return to “steady state”, and
3. Recommendations for habits of inclusion to practice while a member of the Pitt Law community.

• Guidelines for Effective Cross-Cultural Dialogue and the Closure Process
• Feelings as Messengers and the Feeling Wheel
• Habits of Inclusion
• Closure Process

OEIE Student Advisory Council

The Student Advisory Council (SAC) is an OEIE-affiliated student organization. The SAC will encourage and facilitate broad student participation regarding matters of diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and belonging as it pertains to the Pitt Law community.

The SAC will meet weekly in the 2nd Floor Conference Room (aka Room #225) on Tuesday afternoons from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. from Tuesday, January 23^rd through Tuesday, April 16^th during Spring Term 2024.

All JD, MSL, and LLM students are welcome to attend and participate in any, and all of the meetings. Any student is welcome to attend regardless of whether or not one has participated in past meetings.

We welcome you to attend any and all meetings of the SAC!

University of Pittsburgh On-Campus Demonstration and Protest Guidelines

Please find linked above, as a reference, the current University of Pittsburgh On-Campus Demonstration and Protest Guidelines. The guidelines outline parameters that must be adhered to by individuals who are involved in an on-campus demonstration or protest.

Note: Pitt affirms the rights of community members to engage in peaceful, orderly, and non-destructive demonstrations.

Support  & Connect With Minority-Owned Businesses 

412 Connect Provides easily accessible means by which students can connect with & support underrepresented communities. Participate in the Black Owned Business Scavenger hunt to not only support aspects of our community that face systemic challenges to their growth, but also its an opportunity to earn badges that can be traded for OCC credit. Throughout history the noble college student has risen to face the issues of the day, we challenge you to continue to strive towards a better tomorrow. Together we can all make a brighter shared future.

Get connected at 412Connect Home Page

Law Clerks for Diversity Mentorship Program

Law Clerks for Diversity is a simple but powerful idea that rests on two premises: (1) everybody who "makes it" has help, and (2) our profession, legal system, and country are better when representative of varied backgrounds, cultures, and experiences.  A wider array of experiences and perspectives from people from all walks of life adds immense value to the judicial decision-making process.  

The Law Clerks for Diversity mentorship program matches clerkship applicants (law students and recent graduates) with current and former federal law clerks.

Interested in joining as a mentee?   Apply here.

Interested in joining as a mentor?    Apply here.

For more information, please feel free to visit lawclerksfordiversity.com/blog and If you have any questions, please email lawclerksfordiversity@outlook.com.

The Neighborhood Academy Social Justice Education Initiative

Course Description:   The Social Justice Education Project offers University of Pittsburgh upper-level law, social work, and education students the opportunity to teach 11th grade students at The Neighborhood Academy High School located in the Stanton Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh (see link to article above).  

The Neighborhood Academy is an independent, college preparatory school that provides a holistic education and works to break the cycle of generational poverty.  Currently, all of the Academy students are Black.  

Pitt students will work with Pitt and Academy faculty to develop and teach a core social justice course for the Academy’s junior class.  They will introduce Academy students to selected constitutional law concepts and cases, the social history that informs the cases, and critical race theory.  Pitt students will also prepare Academy students to participate in a national moot appellate moot court competition sponsored by the Marshall-Brennan Center on Constitutional Literacy.  In addition, Pitt students will work with Academy students to develop and implement actual social justice projects in the Pittsburgh community.  

Pitt students will receive 6 credits for successful completion of the program – 3 credits for fall and 3 credits for spring.  They will participate in a weekly seminar meeting and work closely as a team to teach high school class sessions.  Students will be required to maintain a detailed journal of their legal rights research, appellate brief drafting, teaching preparation, and teaching experiences.  The journal will fulfill the W requirement.  

Students will need to arrange for transportation to the Academy.  They will be reimbursed for reasonable transportation expenses.   

Pitt ASA x SASA x Crisis Relief Club Discussion on East / Southeast Asian Violence Tool Kit

This nine page virtual toolkit includes organizations to support, mental health resources and educational resources which combat violence against descendants of East / Southeast Asian and related communities who are located throughout the United States.

We Need to talk about Asian American Hate (YouTube video)

Pitt Prison Education Project

Formed in 2016, The Pitt Prison Education Program (PPEP) is a network of Pitt faculty members from across the disciplines who teach courses in prisons in the western PA region. Courses are taught every semester on a variety of topics at SCI Fayette, Laurel Highlands, and Somerset. They feature small class sizes comprising incarcerated students and Pitt undergraduates. The courses are modeled on the Inside-Out prison exchange program that enables incarcerated and non-incarcerated people to encounter one another as human beings. The emphasis on collaborative learning invites people on both sides of prison walls to learn in a supportive environment. The classes embody Pitt’s commitment to excellence and are grounded in the pursuit of intellectual rigor, social justice, and personal growth.

• Color of Change's Demand #JusticeforJake petition 
• #MilwaukeeFreedomFund

George Floyd 

• Minnesota Freedom Fund
• Color of Change's #JusticeforFloyd petition 

Breonna Taylor

• FightforBreonna.org
• Color of Change's #JusticeforBre petition