Joseph E. Aoun, a leader in higher education policy and a renowned scholar in linguistics, is the seventh President of Northeastern University.
President Aoun has strategically aligned the University’s research enterprise with three global imperatives—health, security, and sustainability. Northeastern’s faculty focus on interdisciplinary research, entrepreneurship, and transforming academic research into commercial solutions for the world’s most pressing problems. During President Aoun’s tenure, the University has realized a 189 percent growth in external research funding, along with approximately 1,500 patent applications filed by faculty and students.
The 1974 court-ordered busing decision was meant to integrate Boston Public Schools. It was the opportunity that Black parents had hoped would lead to better schools for their children. But it never happened.Â
Fifty years after federal district court Judge W. Arthur Garrity’s desegregation order, Boston Public Schools continues to operate a system that leaves many Black and Latino students behind.Â
Join Boston Globe reporters and community leaders, including some who were directly involved in the busing decision, for a two-part panel discussion. We'll look back at this historic decision, examining where we are now as a community and what we can continue to strive for in the future.Â
Refreshments will be served.
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Robert Lewis Jr. is an East Boston native who attended East Boston High School during the busing crisis. He is now a Boston community leader, most recently as executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, where he has set a strategic focus on health, education, and workforce readiness for area youth.
Michelle Wu is the Mayor of Boston. She is a daughter of immigrants, Boston Public Schools mom to two boys, MBTA commuter, and fierce believer that we can solve our deepest challenges through building community. As Mayor, Michelle is working in coalition to deliver bold, systemic change and make Boston a city for everyone.Â
Lyda Peters has worked for nearly five decades as an educator and community activist, focused on educational equity and civil rights. A former Boston Public School teacher and university professor, Peters is also the president of the Ruth M. Batson Educational Foundation, and fought alongside Batson for school integration in the 1960s and 70s.Â
Dr. Denise Pruitt is the chair of Health Studies at MassBay Community College, which includes medical assisting and phlebotomy, and teaches community health at Tufts Medical School. Also known as Chief Ladybug, she is an indigenous American with Croatan, Massachusetts Praying Indian, and Potawatomi tribal affiliations. One of the original plaintiffs in Morgan v. Hennigan, Dr. Pruitt was bused from Dorchester to Hyde Park High from 1975 to 1978.
Eric Van Loon, Esq. is a legal mediator and arbitrator who has worked for 30 years in dispute resolution, following his time serving under Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. In the 1970s, as a Harvard Center for Law and Education attorney, he was part of the legal team that litigated both the discrimination and desegregation phases of the Morgan v. Hennigan civil rights case.
Robert Lewis Jr. is an East Boston native who attended East Boston High School during the busing crisis. He is now a Boston community leader, most recently as executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, where he has set a strategic focus on health, education, and workforce readiness for area youth.
Michelle Wu is the Mayor of Boston. She is a daughter of immigrants, Boston Public Schools mom to two boys, MBTA commuter, and fierce believer that we can solve our deepest challenges through building community. As Mayor, Michelle is working in coalition to deliver bold, systemic change and make Boston a city for everyone.Â
Lyda Peters has worked for nearly five decades as an educator and community activist, focused on educational equity and civil rights. A former Boston Public School teacher and university professor, Peters is also the president of the Ruth M. Batson Educational Foundation, and fought alongside Batson for school integration in the 1960s and 70s.Â
Dr. Denise Pruitt is the chair of Health Studies at MassBay Community College, which includes medical assisting and phlebotomy, and teaches community health at Tufts Medical School. Also known as Chief Ladybug, she is an indigenous American with Croatan, Massachusetts Praying Indian, and Potawatomi tribal affiliations. One of the original plaintiffs in Morgan v. Hennigan, Dr. Pruitt was bused from Dorchester to Hyde Park High from 1975 to 1978.
Eric Van Loon, Esq. is a legal mediator and arbitrator who has worked for 30 years in dispute resolution, following his time serving under Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. In the 1970s, as a Harvard Center for Law and Education attorney, he was part of the legal team that litigated both the discrimination and desegregation phases of the Morgan v. Hennigan civil rights case.
Paul Kennedy is the principal of the Joseph Lee K - 8 School in Dorchester, where he has served in the role since 2022. He has worked in Boston Public Schools since 2009. During this time, Mr. Kennedy has worked in several schools and held roles ranging from an inclusion teacher to school principal.
Milton Valencia, a panel moderator, is the Boston Globe’s criminal justice editor, and contributed to the Globe’s series spotlighting the 50th anniversary of busing and school desegregation in Boston. He previously served as deputy editor of the Globe’s inaugural Money, Power, Inequality team that focuses on addressing the racial wealth gap in Boston and the region, an area of concentration he has focused on for more than two decades as an award-winning journalist.
