ERASE Racism Announces 2011 Honorees 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011  

For 10 years, ERASE Racism has been working to eliminate barriers to racial equity on Long Island. We invite you to join us for our Tenth Anniversary Celebration and Benefit Reception on June 7, 2011 at The Garden City Hotel as we celebrate our achievements to date and as we honor some special individuals and companies.

• The Abraham Krasnoff Courage and Commitment Award for 2011, given to those who have demonstrated a deep commitment to racial equity, will be presented to Howard A. Glickstein, Dean Emeritus, Touro Law Center and to  Dr. Ruth J. Simmons, President, Brown University. 
• The ERASE Racism Corporate Leadership Award will be presented to John D. Cameron, Jr. of Cameron Engineering & Associates LLP for his leadership as Chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council's efforts to increase racial equity in Long Island's public schools and to  Omni New York, LLC for its commitment to increasing quality affordable housing on Long Island.  Former Major League Baseball player and Omni Managing Director Maurice "Mo" Vaughn will accept the award.

The Abraham Krasnoff Courage and Commitment Award 2011 Honorees

Dr. Ruth Simmons, President, Brown University 

• President of Brown University, and first African American president of an Ivy League Institution.
• Led efforts to create the Sidney Frank Endowed Scholarship Fund, worth $100 million, which has eliminated loans for all of Brown University's neediest students.
• Developed the The Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence, which has raised $10 million for the city's k-12 public schools.
• Created Urban Education Fellowship, offering full paid four year tuition to Brown University graduates who work in Providence's public schools.
• Expanded Brown University's efforts to support the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative.
• Appointed by President Obama as a member of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships.
• Former president of Smith College, the first African American woman to head a major college or university.
• Inaugurated the first engineering program at a U.S. women's college.
• As Princeton University's Director of Studies she led the 1980's Race and Relations Report and was responsible for offering professorships to such scholars as Cornel West, Henry Louis Gates, and Toni Morrison.
• Has been a featured speaker at the White House, the World Economic Forum, the National Press Club, the Association of American Universities, and the American Council on Education.

 Howard Glickstein, Dean Emeritus, Touro Law Center

• Served as a Staff Attorney with the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
• Helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
• General Counsel, and later Staff Director, of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
• Former director of the Equal Employment Litigation Clinic at Howard University School of Law
• Served as Director of the Notre Dame Center for Civil Rights
• Dean Emeritus of Touro College Jacob D. Fushsberg Law Center
• Led the effort to move Touro Law Center from Huntington to Central Islip
• Established Touro Law Center's pro bono requirement for graduation
• Obtained full ABA accreditation for Touro Law Center and for the University of Bridgeport  School of Law
• Current Co-Chair of ERASE Racism's Board of Directors 

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How can we deliver a rigorous course of study to all students in racially integrated schools and classrooms? On February 14, 2011 ERASE Racism held a Regional Forum for Education Equity to answer this question.  After participants viewed ERASE Racism's documentary A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS: Race and Education on Long Island, the morning plenary speaker was Roger Tilles, member of the New York Board of Regents.  Although Mr. Tilles regrettably reported that there are no conversations taking place in Albany that focus on ways to racially integrate Long Island's public schools, he did explain that members of the Board of Regents are concerned about how Governor Cuomo's proposed budget cuts will affect communities of color, which already suffer from underfunded schools.

For the second half of the day participants took part in three concurrent workshops that proposed strategies for change.  Ms. RG France, Assistant Superintendent of Roosevelt Union Free School District led the discussion about the benefits of culturally responsive schools. Dr. Carol Burris, Principal of South Side High School spoke about increasing academic achievement by eliminating tracking and offering a rigorous curriculum to all students. Dr. Thomas Conoscenti, President/Chief Economist of Thomas Conoscenti & Associates made the case for consolidation by town as a way to achieve integration at the school level and lower taxes.

The closing plenary, led by Dr. Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of Sociology and Education at Columbia University, explained Long Island's education inequities in a national context, relating the region's racially segregated neighborhoods to national statistics that show an increasingly diverse, yet segregated, population.

If you were not able to attend the Regional Forum for Education Equity you can visit the website in the next several weeks for follow-up activities and opportunities to join the conversation about implementing policy recommendations.