The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
At the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, we believe that equity-driven work is not just about the research we produce but the people who shape it. This summer, we celebrate the remarkable journeys of our community members who are transitioning into new roles, programs, and stages of life. Their contributions have left a…
A new working paper by Sungmee Kim, Ph.D., Cook Center Postdoctoral Associate, sheds light on a troubling consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic’s shift to remote learning: a rise in severe child maltreatment that went largely undetected by schools. Titled “The Unintended Cost of Distance Learning: An Analysis of Child Maltreatment,” the study is part of…
In a recent Bloomberg Law article, Carliss Chatman, associate professor at SMU Dedman School of Law and faculty affiliate of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, examines Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent in the Supreme Court’s decision to deny review in Nicholson v. W.L. York, Inc. Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor,…
Founding Director William Darity Jr. co-authored a new literature review in The BMJ that directly addresses one of the most persistent critiques of reparations: the claim that no feasible plan exists. The proposal outlines direct monetary payments as the clearest economic measure of the cumulative and intergenerational effects of white supremacy. The article argues that…
Cook Center Director William A. Darity Jr. will be among the featured speakers at an upcoming public hearing hosted by the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies (NYSCCRR) on Saturday, March 21st, 2026, in Staten Island, New York. The hearing, titled “Economic Development: Quantifying Harms,” is part of the Commission’s statewide effort to…
New research co-authored by Faculty Affiliate Sarah Gaither, Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, explores how something as routine as demographic forms can influence feelings of inclusion and identity among marginalized communities. Published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the study—“Enumeration or Exclusion? Demographic Forms and Latine Identity”—investigates how demographic questions may…
