Who We Are

The Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging seeks to do paradigm-shifting work at a critical time in history, in which rapid demographic changes are reshaping national and global communities. Responding to the unique challenges and opportunities of this moment, the Center aims to advance interdisciplinary scholarship on diversity, inclusion, and belonging; support the NYU Law community as it strives to live up to those values; and share expertise with the broader world through targeted engagement with external institutions.

Although it originated in civil rights law, the field of diversity and inclusion has in recent decades moved into other disciplines. The Center seeks to revive the field's legal roots, and the Law School provides a natural home for that aspiration. As one of the first law schools to admit women, to implement a nondiscrimination policy on the basis of sexual orientation, and to function as part of a global network university, NYU Law has long been a leader on matters of diversity and inclusion. The Center builds on these proud traditions.

The desire to belong and to be fully included in society is a universal human trait. The Center aims to maximize the potential of every individual to flourish, with a particular focus on those who, historically and in the present day, have been impeded in their quest for belonging.

Speaker Series

The Center offers an annual speaker series featuring leaders from academia and the public and private sectors on a range of topics relating to diversity and inclusion.

Speakers for the 2019-20 academic year were:

• Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law at NYU School of Law [September 26, 2019]. Watch the video recording.
• Katherine Phillips, Reuben Mark Professor of Organizational Character at Columbia Business School, and Director of the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership & Ethics at Columbia Business School [October 29, 2019]. Watch the video recording.
• Dolly Chugh, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern School of Business and author of The Person You Mean To Be: How Good People Fight Bias (2018) [February 20, 2020]; Watch the video recording.

Our 2019-20 speaker series was generously sponsored by:

• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
• Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
• Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
• DLA Piper
• Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
• Kirkland & Ellis LLP
• Latham & Watkins LLP
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
• Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
• Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
• Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
• White & Case LLP

Learn more about the Center's speaker series.