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 2020-21 academic year are:
- Pamela Newkirk, Professor of Journalism at NYU Arthur Carter Journalism Institute and author of Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business (2019) [September 17, 2020]. Read about the event. Watch the video.
- John Sides, and Michael Tesler, authors of Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America (2018) [October 8, 2020]. Watch the recording.
- Robin Ely, Harvard Business School professor and renowned organizational behavior scholar on issues of gender inequality and work/family narratives. [October 27, 2020] Watch the recording.
- Jill Filipovic (JD ’08), [April 8, 2021]. Watch the recording.
Our 2020-21 speaker series is generously sponsored by:
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
- Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
- DLA Piper
- 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.