MSU Law Honored for Know Your Rights Day High School Program

MSU Law earns high praise for its innovative Know Your Rights Day program as the recipient of the MSU Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. This coveted award was bestowed on MSU Law for the powerful message of support and training it brings to Detroit’s Cass Tech High School students through its Know Your Rights Day initiative.

The Know Your Rights Day program was originated by an MSU Law professor after Cass Tech high school teachers expressed concerns about student safety following incidents of police violence. MSU Law’s First Amendment Law Clinic has been providing workshops to Cass Tech high school journalists for the past seven years as part of the fall semester curriculum. The Know Your Rights Day program is a voluntary effort led and supported by MSU Law faculty, staff, and students during spring semester.

In the Know Your Rights workshops, Cass Tech students learn about their 4th Amendment constitutional rights, how to respond properly during police stops, and how to protect themselves from potentially threatening encounters with the police. The event opens the door for intimate discussion about violence and discrimination based on race. It gives students a space to share experiences of bias and trauma and encourages them to join in the national discussion of what to do about it. The 2023 program held in April was led by 3L students Joshua Cambri and Valerie Uduji under the supervision of First Amendment Clinic Director Nancy Costello.

About Know Your Rights Day Program

Launched in 2016, the Know Your Rights Day program emerged from the First Amendment Workshops on student free expression and free press rights. In response to the growing concerns about student safety when involved in difficult police encounters, then law student Gabrielle Boyer Ragland and Professor Costello developed the program and recruited law student presenters and Cass Tech teachers interested in participating. The program continued as a virtual presentation during the height of the pandemic in 2021 and 2022 led by then law students Megan Shaya and Maya Pascal who revised the program for Zoom.

Building on the success of the inaugural in-person and virtual Know Your Rights Day programs, law students Joshua Cambri and Valerie Uduji took the helm under the supervision of Professor Costello. After updating the program content, recruiting and preparing law students, including Clinic alumni and members of the Black Law Student Association, and organizing teacher participation, the MSU Law team taught more than 55 workshops at Cass Tech on April 14, 2023, to over 1000 high school students.

MSU Law’s Know Your Rights Day innovators will receive the Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion during a ceremony on February 9, 2024, from 4:00-6:00 pm followed by a reception at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. The event is open and registration required. The award will recognize the passion and commitment of MSU Law alumni Gabrielle Boyer Ragland, Megan Shaya, and Maya Pascal; current law students Joshua Cambri and Valerie Uduji; and Clinic Director Costello. The program has received invaluable support from MSU Law Assistant Dean for Diversity and Equity Services Mary Ann Fergusion; Professor Catherine Grosso; Director of Pipeline Programming, Outreach, and Education Audra Foster; and Facility Conference/Event Coordinator Margie Aimery.