Deborah Archer was elected president of the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union. The board, consisting of 69 members, sets matters of organizational policy and substantive civil liberties policies. It also oversees issues related to general financial management and the relationship between the national ACLU and its affiliates. Professor Archer is the first African American woman to hold the position in the organization’s 101-year history.
Deborah Archer is a tenured professor of clinical law and director of the Civil Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law, and co-faculty director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law. Professor Archer previously served as the inaugural dean of diversity and inclusion and as associate dean for academic affairs and student engagement at New York Law School. She has been a member of the ACLU board since 2009, and a general counsel and member of the executive committee of the board since 2017.
“It is an honor to come full circle and now lead the organization as board president,” said Professor Archer. “The ACLU has proven itself as an invaluable voice in the fight for civil rights in the last four years of the Trump era, and we are better positioned than ever to face the work ahead. This organization has been part of every important battle for civil liberties during our first century, and we are committed to continuing that legacy as we enter our second. I could not be more excited to get to work.”
Professor Archer is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the Yale Law School.