PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School announced on Friday the creation of the Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander Post-Graduate Fellowship, after suspending a scholarship in her honor last month.
Penn Carey Law School received backlash after suspending the Sadie Alexander full tuition scholarship program and rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. According to their website, this new fellowship in her name strengthens the school’s commitment to access, both to its innovative and interdisciplinary legal education and, for its graduates, to impactful careers of their choosing.
Philadelphia Councilmember Jaime Gauthier was a critic of the DEI rollbacks, but said this move is a step in the right direction.
“This feels like a response, and I think it's a good thing. I also, though, want to see the entire university reinstate its DEI programs and go even further to ensure that there is equity at the university, that there is inclusion at the university,” said Gauthier. “That's what makes institutions better.”
Along with the new fellowship, which will cover tuition for graduates whose work advances civil rights, there are new, full-tuition scholarships for incoming students with the greatest need. Gauthier said the entire university should follow suit.
“In times like these, we need powerful, wealthy institutions that have the wherewithal to fight back against the president's racism, to actually do it,” said Gauthier. “So I commend the law school for reinstating or coming up with a new version of the scholarship.”
Sadie Alexander was the law school’s first Black female graduate and one of the first Black women in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Economics. Gauthier called her a barrier-breaking Black woman.
“This is not a time for Penn to bow down to President Trump. This is a time for the institution to model the people that they claim to hold in high esteem, whether we're talking about Sadie Alexander or whether we're talking about William Penn,” Gauthier added.