Jane Dolkart, Chair LGBT Committee and Margaret Barry, co-president at Lift the Ban Rally, March 7, 2008

SALT members are engaged in social justice work within and outside of the academy.

Academic freedom is especially vulnerable, with professors and administrators under fire for controversial views. SALT has issued position papers responding to the firing of Ward Churchill and the temporary withdrawal of the offer to Erwin Chemerinsky to become dean of the first new state law school in California in forty years--UC Irvine.

With the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights joining the U.S. Department of Education to stifle affirmative action as a means of assuring diversity in American law schools, SALT's Affirmative Action Committee is producing talking points, analysis, and strategies to counter these efforts with legislators, educators, and students. SALT is calling for Congressional oversight hearings of the Department of Education. On January 3, 2008, the Congressional Research Service issued its report finding that the Bush administration manipulated the nomination process by stacking the Commision on Civil Rights with Republican ideologues. Read the January 3, 2008 report Political Balance Requirement for the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

With the Department of Education pressuring the ABA, the accrediting agency of American law schools, to link law school accreditation to bar passage rates, SALT is active in demystifying the statistics and developing alternative assessments to the bar exam. At a time when the number of African American and Mexican American students is decreasing, despite the increase overall in the available seats in law schools, SALT believes the Department of Education and ABA should be exploring effective ways to ensure that the next generation of lawyers and judges reflects the demographics of this country. Explore the resources to fight for fair admissions by going to the website developed by SALT member Conrad Johnson at Columbia Law School, Disturbing Trend in Law School Diversity.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, SALT has joined with students across the nation to offer legal services to the devastated communities and to assure that rebuilding does not exclude the working people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Although the United States Supreme Court has held the Solomon Amendment constitutional, SALT continues to work to remove the restrictions on gays and lesbians serving in the military. The LGBT Committee holds an annual lobbying day in Washington.

With all of our civil rights in jeopardy since 9/11, SALT is working to regain the balance between human security and cvil liberties.