Christopher Edley Jr., a prominent legal and public policy scholar who co-founded the Harvard Civil Rights Project with Dr. Gary Orfield, died over the weekend. He was 71 years old.
“Chris Edley is a smart, caring, and determined man who can navigate the maze of top levels of law, politics, and research with ease and force,” said Orfield, a distinguished research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Education. He was a champion of justice.” -Director of the UCLA Civil Rights Project.
“It was very interesting to work with him on the civil rights project,” Orfield said. Various. “He was able to engage in complex, heated, multifaceted discussions, get to the heart of the issue, and, seemingly without effort, come up with three basic points and suggestions for how to move forward. At the same time, I was able to ease the tension with others.'' Great sense of humor. It passed too quickly. ”
Edley has spent over 20 years professor of At Harvard Law School, he and Orfield founded the Civil Rights Project in response to a 1996 court ruling that curbed race-conscious admissions policies at many universities. The case arose from a reverse affirmative action lawsuit brought by Cheryl Hopwood, a white student who was denied admission to the University of Texas School of Law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled against UT's practice.
Mr. Edley joined the University of California, Berkeley, as dean of its law school in 2004, but left that position in 2013 to take medical leave to battle prostate cancer. He returned to the University of California, Berkeley School of Law as the William H. Orrick, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law and co-founded the Opportunity Institute in 2016 with Ann O'Leary, who served as chief of staff to California Governor Gavin Newsom. . The Berkeley-based nonprofit leverages its cradle-to-career reach across four different demographic groups to advance social equity through education.
A graduate of Swarthmore College, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Law School, Edley served as an advisor to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. He also held senior positions in five presidential campaigns and served as policy director for Michael Dukakis. He also served as a senior policy advisor to Al Gore, Howard Dean, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. In 1993, he served as senior economic advisor during President Clinton's transition, where he was responsible for housing policy and the regulation of financial institutions. In 2008, he served as President Obama's transition director with overall responsibility for health care, education, and immigration.
Edley was married to Maria Echaveste, President Bill Clinton's former chief of staff.
“When Chris Edley hired me at @BerkeleyLaw, my life changed forever,” said Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor at New York University School of Law. I wrote it on Twitter). “He was a beloved mentor and friend who believed completely in the transformative power of education. This is an unimaginable loss to Berkeley and all of us who loved and respected him.”
In 2012, Various Edley and Orfield were recipients of the Dr. John Hope Franklin Award, which annually recognizes excellence in higher education and is named after the pioneering black historian.
Dr. Stella Flores, a professor of higher education and policy at the University of Texas at Austin, was hired as a graduate student at the Harvard Civil Rights Project in 2001.
“I chose Harvard because of the unique partnership he and Gary Orfield built around policy, law, and civil rights.” said Flores. “The union has trained generations of students in how to investigate and operationalize equity principles in research, policy, and law in real time.”
Flores said Edley's energy and optimism when it comes to finding the right angle for a solution is unparalleled.
“I'll never forget what he said when it seemed hopeless to the students and general audience. Look where we are now. We will get through this.””.
Edley took a personal interest in the people he interacted with.
“When Chris pays attention to you, he looks at you like you have the most important thing to say in the world.” said Flores. “This gaze began when I was a graduate student, when I stumbled over my words while talking to this very important policy maker, and when I was a tenured professor on a National Academies committee on equity metrics in America's schools. I remember it never changed until I started working with him. . ”
Edley's rise from the academy to the White House is an example of a life story in which “every influential policy and research circle in the United States remains a model of service and influence for many of us,” Flores said. said. “My deepest sympathies go out to everyone who is grieving. This is a deep loss.”