Clinical Professor of Law, Dale E. Fowler School of Law, Chapman University
Board Member, Center for Equal Opportunity
Roger Clegg is a Board Member at and former President and General Counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity. He focuses on legal issues arising from civil rights laws--including the regulatory impact on business and the problems in higher education created by affirmative action. A former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Reagan and Bush administrations, Clegg held the second highest positions in both the Civil Rights Division (1987-91) and in the Environment and Natural Resources Division (1991-93). He has held several other positions at the U.S. Justice Department, including Assistant to the Solicitor General (1985-87), Associate Deputy Attorney General (1984-85), and Acting Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy (1984). Clegg is a graduate of Yale University Law School (1981).
Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway is Founder and President of the polling companyTM, inc./WomanTrend a privately-held, woman-owned corporation founded in 1995. The firm is headquartered in Washington, DC and maintains an office in New York City. Kellyanne is one of the most quoted and noted pollsters on the national scene, having provided commentary on over 1,200 television shows on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, HBO, Comedy Central, MTV and the Fox News Channel, and numerous radio shows and print stories.
Throughout her two decades in market research, Kellyanne has provided primary research and advice for clients in 46 of the 50 states and has directed hundreds of demographic and attitudinal survey projects for statewide and congressional political races, trade associations, and Fortune 100 companies. A professionally trained moderator, Kellyanne has personally directed more than 300 focus groups and other qualitative discussions. Clients have included Lifetime Television, The Heritage Foundation, Major League Baseball, The Federalist Society, Coalition of Community Pharmacists Association, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Mass Connections, American Express, ABC News, Ladies Home Journal, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Kellyanne has worked for leaders such as the late Congressman Jack Kemp; former Vice President Dan Quayle; Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; Senator Fred Thompson and Congressman Mike Pence, the Chairman of the House Republican Conference and the third-highest ranking Republican in the House.
A "fully-recovered" attorney, Kellyanne is admitted to practice law in four jurisdictions (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia). She has practiced law, clerked for a judge in Washington, DC and for four years, was an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law Center. Kellyanne is a magna cum laude graduate of Trinity College, Washington, D.C., where she earned a B.A. in Political Science, studied at Oxford University, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She holds a law degree, with honors, from George Washington University Law Center.
Founder and President, American Civil Rights Institute
Ward Connerly is founder and President of the American Civil Rights Institute – a national, not-for-profit organization aimed at educating the public about the need to move beyond race and, specifically, racial and gender preferences. Mr. Connerly has gained national attention as an outspoken advocate of equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, sex, or ethnic background.
Mr. Connerly is author of Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences and his new release Lessons from My Uncle James: Beyond Skin Color to the Content of Our Character. One part memoir, one part moral guide, Lessons from My Uncle James is a touching, funny and ultimately a philosophical book about living a principled and productive life regardless of skin color. Lessons illustrates how Mr. Connerly arrived at the ethics that have guided his life and is a new starting point for the discussion about character that America must have in order to move beyond race for good.
As a member of the University of California Board of Regents, Mr. Connerly focused the attention of the nation on the University's race-based system of preferences in its admissions policy. On July 20, 1995, following Mr. Connerly's lead, a majority of the Regents voted to end the University's use of race as a means for admissions. He was appointed to a 12-year term as UC Regent in March 1993.
In 1995, Mr. Connerly accepted chairmanship of the California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209) campaign. Under his leadership, the campaign successfully obtained more than 1 million signatures and qualified for the November 1996 ballot. California voters passed Proposition 209 by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin.
Mr. Connerly also led the efforts to pass initiatives in the States of Washington, Michigan, Nebraska and Arizona that were patterned after California's Proposition 209, to require equal treatment under the law for all residents in public education, public employment and public contracting.
Mr. Connerly has been profiled on 60 Minutes, the cover of Parade magazine, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek magazine, and virtually every major news magazine in America. He has also appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Crossfire, Hannity & Colmes, Meet the Press, Dateline, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and C-SPAN.
Mr. Connerly is President and Chief Executive Officer of Connerly & Associates, Inc., a Sacramento-based association management and land development consulting firm founded in 1973. He is regarded as one of the housing industry's top experts, possessing a comprehensive knowledge of housing and development issues. He has been inducted as a lifetime member into the California Building Industry Hall of Fame and has been a member of the Rotary Club of Sacramento for over 15 years.
Topics
What Happens if the Supreme Court Leaves the Door Open for Facially Race-Neutral Race Discrimination?
The Fairfax County, Virginia, School Board had a “problem”: too many Asian eighth graders were...
In the Name of Diversity
The University of California and other institutions in California now require academic job applicants to...
In the Name of Diversity
Civil Rights Practice Group Teleforum
TeleforumThe Hubris of Judges Threatens Our Ability to Govern Ourselves
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a ruling in February establishing new congressional voting districts for...
California’s SCA 5 and Racial Preferences in Education
Anthony (Tom) Caso
Note from the Editor: This article is about racial preferences in education, specifically in the...
2013 ABA Awards
ABA Watch previews some of the key honorees at this year’s ABA Annual Meeting in...
Book Reviews: Mismatch and Wounds That Will Not Heal
Roger B. Clegg
Note from the Editor: This feature reviews two new books on affirmative action in anticipation...
Key Findings: Statewide Survey of 600 Registered Voters in California
Kellyanne Conway
TO: Interested PartiesFROM: Kellyanne Conway, President & CEO the polling company™, inc./WomenTrendDATE: October 13, 2010RE: Key Findings: Statewide Survey of...
Bar Watch Bulletin August 9 & 10, 2008
The American Bar Association's Annual Meeting will be taking place from August 7-12 in New...
Fulfilling the American Vision of a Colorblind Government