The University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law will host the 2019 Ben J. Altheimer Symposium, organized by the school’s Law Review, on Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The symposium, organized by the school’s Law Review, will be themed “Blocking the Pathways: Eradicating the School-to-Prison Pipeline.”

The “school-to-prison pipeline” describes increasingly strict disciplinary policies that criminalize youth, putting students into contact with law enforcement at a young age. Speakers at the symposium will address how the pipeline disproportionately affects youths from disadvantaged backgrounds. The goal of the symposium is to define the issue and propose solutions for the problems created by the pipeline. 

Speakers from the Intercultural Development Research Association, the National Center for Youth Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Texas Appleseed will address topics, including mental health among juveniles, racial disparities in the pipeline, police presence in schools, and creating positive school climates.

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited and registration is required. The symposium will be simulcast at the University of Arkansas Law School in Fayetteville. CLE credit is pending. 

The Ben J. Altheimer Symposium is an annual event at which the UA Little Law Review and the UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law welcome prominent scholars and speakers to the law school to explore topics of interest to the legal and scholarly community. Selected symposium presenters also contribute scholarly articles to a special publication of the UA Little Rock Law Review that is devoted to the symposium topic.

For more information about the 2019 symposium, please contact Amanda Partridge at ajpartridge@ualr.edu. Visit the symposium website to register.