Chapman University recently entered an agreement with the Orange Unified School District to pay $3.7 million for the former Lydia D. Killefer School, which voluntarily desegregated in 1944, three years before the landmark Méndez v. Westminster decision. “The Killefer School is incredibly important to the history of Orange and of California,” Chapman University President Daniele Struppa said in a prepared statement. Jerome Ryan is part of a group of neighbors in Orange who argue that the former Lydia D. Killefer School should be kept a public civil rights landmark. Adam Duberstein, co-founder of the neighborhood group Respect Orange, said he knows Chapman will properly restore the historic structure if it acquires the property. It’s unclear how the University’s purchase of the Killefer School will affect the environmental impact analysis required to pursue this growth.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 24, 2020 01:07 UTC