January 16, 2006

Cooley Hosts Former U.S. Secretary of Education as Part of Martin Luther King Jr. Day Activites

[ View a Slide Show of the Event ]

Lansing, Michigan – In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Thomas M. Cooley Law School hosted former U.S. Department of Education Secretary Rod Paige this afternoon for a discussion about Rosa Parks’ work and contributions to education.

"As an institution that is dedicated to promoting diversity, the Thomas M. Cooley Law School was honored to host Education Secretary Rod Paige, an individual who has meant so much to our education system,” Cooley President and Dean Don LeDuc said. “An even greater honor was to hear Paige’s insight into the important contributions of a civil rights icon, Ms. Rosa Parks."

Parks is best known for refusing to relinquish her seat to a white passenger on a racially segregated bus in Montgomery, Ala. on Dec. 1, 1955. Her subsequent arrest and trial for refusing to relinquish her seat ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history. After deciding to move from Alabama to Detroit in 1957, Parks continued to dedicate her life to the civil rights movement.

Paige built his career on a belief that education equalizes opportunity – a belief that very well could have been a motto for Parks. Paige, who grew up in segregated Mississippi, served as the seventh U.S. Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2005. The son of a principal and a librarian, Paige began working with students as a teacher and a coach early in his career. He then served for a decade as dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University (TSU).

In 1994, Paige left TSU to become superintendent of Houston Independent School District, the nation's seventh largest school district. In 2001, he was named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.

Paige is the first school superintendent ever to serve as secretary of education. Paige’s experience as an educator helped him pass President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Founded in 1972, Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the country. Cooley has three campuses across Michigan; its campus in downtown Lansing, its downtown Grand Rapids campus in west Michigan and its Rochester/Oakland University campus in southeast Michigan. In addition to the Juris Doctor program, students at Cooley can also pursue a Master of Laws degree in taxation or intellectual property. Find out more about Cooley Law School by visiting the Cooley Web site at www.cooley.edu.