HUD official speaks at Law Review symposium

Danielle DeRoseDanielle DeRoseDaily Pennsylvanian Staff Writer The annual conference is intended to address issues of great intellectual interest and depth, according to Dan Cohen, a third-year Law student, who helped organized the event. Law School Dean Colin Diver welcomed the participants to "Shaping American Communities: Segregation, Housing and the Urban Poor," followed by opening remarks from Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Roberta Achtenberg. Achtenberg discussed HUD's involvement with housing in the past, and emphasized that HUD is changing its policies to allow every citizen equal housing opportunities. She highlighted the government's commitment to safe housing for everyone, outlining policies and ideas about reducing housing segregation and the problems of a homogeneous, poor inner city. "When American society is becoming more heterogeneous than ever before, it is more important than ever before to hold fast to the special sense of openness and acceptance which has made America?one of the most special places on earth," she said. The symposium consisted of five panels, each discussing a paper written by various law school professors. Panelists included Sociology Professor Douglas Massey and Law School Professor Michael Schill. Gary Orfield of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Brooke Overby from Tulane Law School and Alex Johnson, Jr. from the University of Virginia School of Law also served as panelists. The panelists presented their papers before a group of noted scholars from university law schools, institutes and publications, Cohen said. They discussed the problem of residential segregation in cities, linked with violent crime. Proposed solutions included housing integration, moving people in concentrated poverty areas into other places and abolishing racial classification, Cohen explained. Panelists also spoke of the problems of segregation in schools as a result of residential segregation, and the need for equal lending opportunities by financial institutions, he added. More than 100 people attended the symposium, which was organized by the Articles Office of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. "It was very unique because we had people from all different backgrounds," Cohen said. "It was really stimulating and the participants were happy." The papers submitted by the participants will be published in Issue 5 of Volume 143 of the Law Review, due out in June. The symposium was also sponsored by the New York University School of Law Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.