Osamudia James

Acting Dean & Professor of Law

Social Justice/Public Interest Concentration Affiliated Faculty
LL.M. 2008, University of Wisconsin Law School
J.D. 2004, Georgetown University Law Center
B.A. 2001, University of Pennsylvania

Phone: 305-284-2394

Office: C224

Professor Osamudia James received a B.A cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, a J.D. cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2004, and an LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she served as a William H. Hastie Fellow from 2006 to 2008. Previously, she was an associate with King & Spalding in Washington, DC.

Professor James writes and teaches in the areas of Education Law, Race and the Law, Administrative Law, and Torts. Her scholarship explores the interaction of law and identity in the context of public education, and some of her more recent work includes "White Like Me: The Diversity Rationale's Negative Impact on White Identity Formation," published in the New York University Law Review, "Opt-Out Education: School Choice as Racial Subordination," published in the Iowa Law Review, and “Valuing Identity,” published in the Minnesota Law Review. Her media commentary also focuses on identity, and has been printed in the pages of the New York Times, The Washington Post, and other outlets. Professor James is a co-recipient of the 2014 Derrick A. Bell, Jr. Award, and was honored with the Miami Law Hausler Golden Apple Teaching Award in 2017.

Publications

Police Video Won't Deliver Justice. Philando Castile's Case Proved It, The Washington Post (2017).

Valuing Identity, 102 Minn. L. Rev. (2017).

Trump Sees Black America as a Dystopian Hellhole. So Do Most White People., The Washington Post (2016).

What Rachel Dolezal Doesn't Understand: Being Black Is About More Than Just How You Look, The Washington Post (2015).

Now We Can Finally Say Goodbye to the White Savior Myth of Atticus, N.Y. Times (2015).

When For-Profit Colleges Close, Student Debt Should be Forgiven, N.Y. Times (2015).

Soapbox: Racial Segregation in Schools, No Matter How Unintended, Should be Illegal, Miami Herald (2015).

White Like Me: The Negative Impact of the Diversity Rationale on White Identity Formation, 89 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 425 (2014).

Opt-Out Education: School Choice as Racial Subordination, 99 Iowa L. Rev. 1083 (2014).

Something of Race Remains: Identity in Public Education, 2 Miami L. Mag. 27 (2013).

Minority-Targeted Aid in Higher Education, Affirmative Action: Contemporary Perspectives (2013).

Let's Fix Our Budget Priorities, N.Y. Times (2012).

Predatory Ed: The Conflict Between Public Good and For-Profit Higher Education, 38 J.C. & U.L. 45 (2011).

Dog Wags Tail: The Continuing Viability of Minority-Targeted Aid in Higher Education, 85 Ind. L.J. 851 (2010).

The Declining Significance of Presidential Races?, with Angela Onwuachi-Willig, 72 Law & Contemp. Probs. 89 (2009).

Closing the Door on Public School Integration , Our Promise: Achieving Educational Equity for America's Children (2009).

Business as Usual: The Roberts Court's Continued Neglect of Adequacy and Equity Concerns in American Education, 59 S.C. L. Rev. 793 (2008).

Breaking Free of Chevron's Constraints: "Zuni Public School District No. 89 v. U.S. Department of Education", 56 U. Kan. L. Rev. 147 (2007).

Civil Rights and the Choice Movement in Education, National Bar Association Fall Newsletter.

The Rules Don't Go Far Enough, NY Times.

Media Appearances

Live with Thomas Roberts, Have Rachel Dolezal’s Answers Changed Public Opinion? June 16 2015

Quoted, Charley Hannagan, Rachel Dolezal Raises Questions About Our Perceptions of Race and Identity (What They’re Saying), Syracuse.com June 16 2015

The Rundown with Jose Diaz-Balart, Rachel Dolezal: ‘I Feel Isolated With My Identity My Entire Life,’ June 16 2015

CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin June 15 2015 Professor James joins CNN news anchor Brook Baldwin to discuss Rachel Dolezal and racial identity.

Radio: “Take Two,” Furor Over NAACP Head Sparks Widespread Debate On Racial Identity, KPCC 89.3 FM June 15 2015 Professor James is interviewed by KPCC Radio to discuss Rachel Dolezal and racial identity.

Quoted, Christina Veiga, Miami-Dade School Committee Backs Regular Attendance Boundaries for Coral Gables, THE MIAMI HERALD February 26 2015

Quoted, Christina Veiga and Monique O. Madan, School Boundary Debate Divides Coral Gables, THE MIAMI HERALD February 25 2015

Presentations

Selected Presentations

Panelist, Race As Resilience, The Present and Future of Civil Rights Movements: Race and Reform in 21st Century America, Duke Law School (forthcoming November 2015).

Invited Panelist, Merit and Identity in Higher Ed, Symposium on Higher Education Access, UC Irvine School of Law (forthcoming September 2015).

Invited External Speaker, Race As Resilience, Wake Forest University School of Law, February 2015.

Invited Panelist, Identity and Pathologized Black Families, The Moynihan Report: 50 Years Later, Georgetown University Law Center, February 2015.

Co-convener, Panelist, Race As Resilience, An Uncomfortable Conversation: Vulnerabilities and Identities II, University of Miami School of Law, November 2014.

Panelist, White Like Me: The Diversity Rationale’s Negative Impact on White Identity Formation, Whiteness As Property: A 20-Year Appraisal, UCLA Law, October 2014.

Panelist, Race As Resilience, Whiteness As Property: A 20-Year Appraisal, UCLA Law, October 2014.

Invited Panelist, Something of Race Remains: Post-Identitarian Equity Frameworks in American Public Education, Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2014 Annual Conference, August 2014.

Presenter, Something of Race Remains: Post-Identitarian Equity Frameworks in American Public Education, Lutie A. Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Writing Workshop, University of Wisconsin Law School, June 2014.

Presenter, Something of Race Remains: Identity and Vulnerability in American Public Education, The Culp Colloquium, Duke University Law School, May 2014.

Panelist, Something of Race Remains: Identity and Vulnerability in American Public Education, 2014 CRT Conference, Yale Law School, April 2014.

Presenter, White Like Me: The Diversity Rationale’s Negative Impact on White Identity Formation, University of Florida Levin College of Law, January 2014.

Presenter, White Like Me: The Diversity Rationale’s Negative Impact on White Identity Formation, James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona, October 2013.