Colorado Law celebrated the grand opening of its newest student lounge, the Solidarity Suite, on April 13, 2022. Managed and cared for by student leaders on the Council for Racial Justice and Equity, the suite has become an integral part of the Colorado Law community.
Founding members of the CRJE with former dean S. James Anaya and Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence Fernando Guzmán.
Founding the Suite
The actualization of Colorado Law’s Solidarity Suite was—in every sense of the phrase—a collaborative effort. The idea for creating a safe space for minoritized students at CU was one of the first things VanMichael Moore ’22, former Black Law Students Association (BLSA) co-president, heard from a 3L student of color when he began his law school journey in 2019. “We were just chatting about me being a Black man, and her a Latina woman, at this predominantly white institution. There was a common feeling of being isolated from the sense of community that most white students took for granted,” he recalled.
Still, creating a space for solidarity remained an unlikely aspiration until the following year, when our country faced what many described as a racial reckoning. In the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, the BLSA executive board, including Moore and his classmates Clement Asante ’22, Hanna Wynn ’22, and Kehinde Winful ’22, wrote an open letter urging the Colorado Law community to take a public stance in opposing police violence against unarmed Black people. Many students and staff members responded with overwhelming support, voicing a collective willingness to engage in allyship and advocacy for the Black community.
Capitalizing on the momentum of the moment, the BLSA collaborated with other student leaders of color—including JosĂ© GarcĂa-Madrid ’22 of the Latinx Law Student Association (LLSA)—and demanded that the administration implement policies to better serve BIPOC students. On the list of items demanding attention was the creation of a space on campus that would garner a sense of community and camaraderie for students of color.
This coalition of diverse students established the Council for Racial Justice and Equity (CRJE) and soon galvanized support from Fernando Guzmán, the law school’s assistant dean for diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence, and S. James Anaya, former dean. During the 2020–21 school year, after a series of negotiations between the BLSA, CRJE, and administration that included open forums for student input led by Essence Duncan ’23, Anaya confirmed that many of the proposals by the BLSA and CRJE, including the Solidarity Suite, would be implemented. He designated room 1B02A in the newly renovated garden level of the law school to
become the new lounge.
Implementation and Grand Opening of the Suite
Fall 2021 was the first time that the majority of students were back in the Wolf Law Building after a year and a half of remote learning during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the first time that student organizations had access to the Solidarity Suite, and students were initially uncertain about how they might use the space. Within a few days, however, the suite became a refuge for BIPOC students and a vibrant space for law students schoolwide to study together, grow, and reimagine how the legal arena can best serve our diverse range of communities. The suite’s uses ranged from hosting the Women of Color Collective’s monthly meetings to planning celebrations like the LLSA’s DĂa de Los Muertos. Ultimately, the suite evolved into a space for students to celebrate diversity on their own terms.
Throughout the 2021–22 school year, Kelsea Suarez ’23 designed and painted the suite with meaningful artwork and two quotes. One quote, by African revolutionary Thomas Sankara, reads, “We must dare to invent the future.” For Suarez, the quote provides a vision that “we do not come to law school to assimilate to be like every other lawyer, but rather that we dare to break out of that mold and be our own type of lawyer,” she said. The second quote, by Aboriginal activist Lilla Watson, speaks to the concept of solidarity: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
In April 2022, the Council for Racial Justice and Equity student leadership, including Suarez and co-facilitators Larrisa Alire ’23, Liam Garcia ’23, and Verónica González ’23, held a grand opening of the Solidarity Suite with the entire Colorado Law community to commemorate and celebrate the hard work put in by multiple classes of BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] students. It was a night to remember with lots of food, laughter, live jazz music from the CU Jam Society, and local BIPOC artists showing off their art!
L-R: Solidarity Suite mural artist Kelsea Suarez '23 and 2021-22 CRJE co-facilitators Verónica González '23, Liam Garcia '23, and Larrisa Alire '23.
The Future
The Solidarity Suite played a significant role in the 1L journeys of the Colorado Law Class of 2024. Claire Song ’24, Michele Manceaux ’24, and Leo Nguyen ’24 recall that when they began law school, they needed to learn how to navigate a new in-person learning environment, an ongoing pandemic, and a predominantly white institution. The suite helped the 1Ls quickly find each other and face these challenges together. Small moments like eating lunch together made a big difference. They found time to laugh, smile, and celebrate each other’s wins, even with a heavy course load.
In the suite, these 1Ls built amazing relationships with 2Ls and 3Ls who helped them navigate law school as people of color. From this safe space, the Class of 2024 grew a community of talented peers and mentors who empowered them to get involved in affinity groups. The space hosted many meetings for students to participate and learn more about how each group advocated for inclusive learning. Now in leadership positions of affinity groups, Song, Manceaux, and Nguyen are grateful for what the suite gave to their class and are excited to incorporate the suite into events celebrating incoming BIPOC students.
In the future, students will continue to strengthen the suite community by expanding and adding artwork, creating connection opportunities for new students, and providing a space for affinity groups to promote their events and efforts. Song, Manceaux, and Nguyen are also working to solidify the Solidarity Suite’s role in the Colorado Law community by undertaking new initiatives. The CRJE is building a lending library for students to share study materials and supplements. Affinity groups can use the suite as a meeting space for mentoring relationships between students, faculty, attorneys, and judges, thus transforming the suite into a physical nexus between Colorado Law students and the wider legal community. Additionally, student leaders and community members can request use of the space for larger events by emailing CRJE@colorado.edu.
The Council for Racial Justice and Equity is a student-led activist organization that works to challenge existing policies and practices at Colorado Law to increase diversity, equity, and racial justice. The Council is currently led by co-facilitators Malia Eastman, Leo Nguyen, and Jemil Kassahun, all of whom are in the Class of 2024.
Colorado Law students and Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence Fernando Guzmán.