4/4/97
CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558
Civil rights advocate William L. Taylor will deliver a lecture titled "Clinton's Education Reform Agenda: Where's the Beef?" at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at Cubberley Auditorium. The event, part of the School of Education's Cubberley Lecture series, is free and open to the public.
In his talk, Taylor will comment on President Clinton's education reform proposals and their failure to address critical issues in public education.
"While there is value in the Clinton proposals, they do not pass the acid test of offering opportunity to children who are the worst off in society: those who live and go to school in areas of concentrated poverty and lack access to the best teachers and other important resources," says Taylor, a visiting professor at Stanford University's law school.
Taylor has been an advocate of civil rights and quality education for more than 40 years, as an attorney and federal policy maker. He has played significant roles in the passage of landmark civil rights legislation, including the 1965 Voting Rights Act and its extension in 1982, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. In his private practice, he represents minority and low-income children seeking equal educational opportunities.
A graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Law School, Taylor began his legal career in 1954 on the staff of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In the 1960s, he served as general counsel and later as staff director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Taylor founded the Center for National Policy Review in 1970 and currently serves as chairman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Taylor taught civil rights law at Catholic University Law School from 1972 to 1985, and has been an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center since 1987.
Named after the School of Education's first dean, Elwood Cubberley, the lecture series was established to encourage discussion about current issues in education. Previous speakers have included Timothy Wirth, the U.S. undersecretary for global affairs, and Ramon Cortines, former chancellor of the New York City public school system.
Founded in 1917, the Stanford School of Education is one of the foremost graduate schools of education in the world. Its 400 graduate students and 40 faculty members are engaged in ground-breaking, interdisciplinary inquiry that shapes educational practice as well as theory.
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By Elaine Ray