The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, named after the Japanese-American who took his internment during WWII to the Supreme Court, has historically resided within the Seattle University School of Law, where it has pursued its mission as “combatting discrimination, helping communities advocate for themselves, and training the next generation of lawyers who will champion efforts to achieve social justice.” However, the Center’s relationship with Seattle will end this month as the Center relocates to the University of California, Irvine when its founder and executive director, Professor Robert Chang, changes schools.
And Seattle is, apparently, trying to keep the money.
Seattle Law claims to be in the process of building a new center for civil rights to perform some of the same advocacy work in Washington and beyond previously run by the Korematsu Center. The school could argue that donor funds were intended to benefit that work and not specifically the name “Korematsu Center.”
Except…
The school has known that the Korematsu Center would be relocating for a year and according to a recent LinkedIn post by Professor Chang, they’ve used the last year to ASK the donors specifically what they wanted their money to benefit and they’ve said the Korematsu Center.
If donors endowed the Korematsu Center as opposed to “the unnamed Seattle U. civil rights center” then the money should stay with the Korematsu Center. This isn’t exactly a difficult issue spotter.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
