On March 27, 2003, in front of a crowd of more than 500 gathered to honor writer Salman Rushdie at the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area’s annual Bill of Rights Dinner, the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law was honored with a rare Special Recognition Award to celebrate its accreditation progress and for its commitment to important ACLU principles!

According to the ACLU, “The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, locally conceived and locally developed, reflects in part the broad yearning of the residents of the District for self-determination.” The ACLU Dinner program continued, “The District's only public law school was founded in 1988 as the successor to the pioneering Antioch School of Law. Key were stalwart ACLUers Dave Clarke, the Chair of the D.C. Council, and Hilda Mason, then Chair of the Council's Education Committee (and co-winner, with her husband, Charlie, of the ACLU's 1993 Edgerton Civil Liberties Award), with a powerful assist from the legendary Joe Rauh, a long-time Antioch board member and founding board member of the successor School, civil rights advocate, statehood activist and ACLU contributor. They crafted the School's mission in keeping with the Antioch tradition: recruit students from racial, ethnic and other backgrounds traditionally underrepresented at the bar and represent the legal needs of low-income District residents to the maximum extent feasible through the School's legal clinics.”