Law Professor Testifies on Failed Consent Decree
July 3, 2007
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Cassandra Jones Havard, associate professor of law, recently testified before the U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee concerning the Pigford Consent Decree, a lending discrimination lawsuit that black farmers brought against the U.S. Department of Agriculture nearly a decade ago. Jones Havard's testimony, which she delivered on June 21, covered two proposed bills, both of which would address the failed consent decree.
The testimony comes in the wake of an article that Jones Havard wrote on a related topic for the Stanford Law and Policy Review. The article provided an explanation of the U.S.D.A. credit system, and examined how black farmers have been excluded from that system and what reforms the department could put in place.
Havard was joined on the hearing panel by John W. Boyd Jr. , president of the National Black Farmers Association; A. Donald McEachin, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates; attorney Phillip L. Fraas; and John Zippert, director of program operations for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund. More about the hearing can be found here.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.