Professor Rice presented at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s New Approaches in Teaching and Learning Conference in January 2020. As part of a panel on “Teaching Controversial Topics,” Rice explored the challenges of teaching social justice, advocacy, and the rule of law.
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UMass Law Professor Rice presented at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s New Approaches in Teaching and Learning Conference in January 2020. As part of a panel on “Teaching Controversial Topics,” Rice explored the challenges of teaching social justice, advocacy, and the rule of law. Focusing on the implicitly controversial nature of social justice pedagogy, Rice reflected that legal education challenges students to study not only the law as it is but also how the law can be a forum of social change. Additionally, Rice presented on timely examples of how to explore these topics through respectful dialogue with diverse populations. He explained that lawyers cannot be passive advocates; advocacy necessarily involves challenging the status quo. Rice encouraged legal education to embrace—not evade—the uncomfortable nature of controversy.