New University of Hawaii law school initiative touts diversity, inclusion

In her career, Camille Nelson said she’s been the first too many times — the first female dean of the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law and the first woman and person of color to lead the Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

Noelani Kalipi said she’s been in similar situations, often being the only female officer in the room when she served with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, the legal arm of the U.S. Army, and one of the only young women of color when she worked on the Hill.

Nelson, Kalipi and UH law school officials are launching a new leadership program next month that they say will target diversity, inclusion and representation among Hawaii’s legal professionals. The Island Leadership Lab will include curriculum, case studies and guest speakers to train Hawaii’s future legal and business leaders.

“Leadership is not a closed category. Perspective, context, history and culture matter just as much as expertise,” said Nelson, who was born in Jamaica and immigrated twice, first as a child with her family to Canada and then as an adult to attend law school in New York. “As a Black woman, I wish I had this type of opportunity where someone lays out the chance for you to even contemplate your future as a leader. For us to say that you are a leader too is important.”

Offered as four-hour credit/no-credit classes on Saturdays, the pilot program will run from Oct. 16 to Nov. 20, with the goal to continue it long term, Nelson said. Students interested in enrolling in the class, which is capped at 18, can sign up via UH’s registrar’s office website. Officials hope to hold the seminars in person but might shift to virtual depending on the COVID-19 situation. Although the seminar is open to all upper-­level law students, Nelson said the initiative could be particularly beneficial to women, people of color and those who come from nontraditional backgrounds.

Kalipi said she is modeling the curriculum after a similar program she developed for high school students on Hawaii island, as well as her work as an Omidyar Fellow with the Hawaii Leadership Forum. Along with ethnic and gender diversity, she also emphasized the importance of leaders coming from different backgrounds.

“A lot of the work I was involved in was helping people to understand the systems … and then how to make the systems work for you while you change them,” Kalipi said. “We definitely want to change how people characterize leadership. We need to understand where everyone is coming from to make those words a reality.”

Nelson added that several graduates of UH’s law school, which has an enrollment of about 350 students, work in business, finance, nonprofits and public policy, so the program aims to prepare them to be leaders in any field.

She and Kalipi also said there is room for improvement when it comes to judicial diversity. The law school’s program comes at a time when some officials have called for more diversity in the state’s high courts. In July, Daniel Gluck withdrew his nomination to the state’s Intermediate Court of Appeals following heated debate about inequity and disenfranchisement in Hawaii’s highest courts and legal community.

“By being real about diversity, inclusion and empowerment, I think ultimately you get better decisions for more people,” Nelson said. “This is one step to try to build those pathways to leadership positions. We’re trying to invest in (the students) and open doors in ways that weren’t open to those of us who came before them.”

———

Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national serv­ice organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under­covered issues and communities.