Sharp and enthusiastic, Ashley Anderson was broadly engaged as a high school student in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Varsity captain of the academic team. National Honor Society member. Two-time participant in the VEX Robotics World Championship, where she competed against kids from communities far from her home in Cherokee County. And through college at Harvard University and the years that followed, Anderson developed a strong focus and sense of purpose — a motivating ethic that she can now put into action as a Graton Scholar at UCLA School of Law.

As critical race theory has come under misguided attack in recent weeks, UCLA School of Law professors, including many of the foremost experts in the field, have been in high demand. Our faculty members have driven the conversation in the media and elsewhere, setting the record straight on what CRT is – and isn’t – and reframing the conversation around the established principles that they have applied for decades.