The Activism, Protest, & Civil Disobedience Clinic provides students with options to engage in legal and policy issues related to nonviolent political action. Clinic work may include direct client representation, amicus engagement, policy advocacy, and training and counseling for activist groups. Depending on client and community needs, students will advise, train, and consult with local and national activists, strategizing effective methods to protect nonviolent activism, participate in criminal and civil rights litigation at trial and on appeal, conduct legal and factual research and analysis, comment on proposed legislative, regulatory, and educational policy proposals, and advocate for legal and policy changes where appropriate.
Participants in the clinic are advisors rather than protesters themselves, and clinic students will be required to refrain from participation as protesters in demonstrations or protest activities during their work with the clinic. Clinic students will participate with faculty in selecting project priorities, considering factors including a project’s pedagogical value, precedential potential, likelihood of addressing systemic issues, and ability to generate public awareness of the value of protest.