Libia Gil, assistant deputy secretary and director of the U.S. Education Department’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), will address the National Conference on the Rights of Linguistic Minorities at 9:45 a.m. PT on Friday, Sept. 12, in San Francisco, Calif.
The conference is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Lau v. Nichols 1974 Supreme Court decision, which expanded the rights of students nationwide with limited English proficiency. The basis of the decision was Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of national origin, ruling that language is inextricably linked to national origin.
Gil will discuss the significance of the decision as well as enforcement challenges and equity opportunities to support increased academic success for English learners. The Obama Administration’s commitment to equity in education underlies nearly every significant activity of the Department, from the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility, and School Improvement Grants, to its Race to the Top – Opportunity proposal, among others.
The event is being sponsored jointly by several groups: Asian American Studies at University of California Berkeley, Law School of Santa Clara University; San Francisco School District, and Chinese for Affirmative Action.