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A race desegregation assistance center based at the University of Michigan, the Program for Educational Opportunity (PEO) was established by funding through the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The program was expanded to encompass race, gender, and national origin equity in public schools in the Great Lakes region. The PEO ceased operation in 2011. Administrative files, topical files, workshop and task force material, handbooks, and material pertaining to desegregation and equality in public schools in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and elsewhere in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Materials include reports from school districts, histories of desegregation, and recordings of conferences/workshops (1970-1993) including speakers Charles D. Moody, Junious Williams, Edward H. Steinman, and other notable individuals.

The records for the Program for Educational Opportunity, 1969-2002, (36.2 linear feet) are divided into twenty-two series: Administrative, Correspondence, Committees and Task Forces, Conferences and Workshops, Handbooks, Reports, Desegregation, Project for Fair Administration of School Discipline (PFASD), Public Schools, Topical Files, Administrative, Conferences, Center for Sex Equality in Schools (CSES), Desegregation Assistance Center, PFASD, Public Schools, Topical Files, Programs, Reports, CSES, Topical Files, and Recordings of Conferences and Workshops. All folders within series are arranged alphabetically. Series titles repeat due to multiple transfers of material received at different times.

Researchers of desegregation efforts and the controversy of school discipline will find many valuable resources in the record group such as research reports, case studies, and conference materials. Also well documented is the Ann Arbor Area School District within the general Public Schools series which includes information on various programs within the district, records from the Board of Education, community surveys, and statistical data on staff and students. The Conferences and Workshops and Committees and Task Forces are also series that are particularly well documented; included are conference and workshop materials, reports, and in some cases, evaluations. The Recordings of Conferences and Workshops (1970-1993) includes 515 audiovisual recordings and covers topics such as human relations training, recruiting minority staff, combating racism and sexism in the curriculum, multi-cultural education, student rights and discipline, and the development of staff counseling skills.

Susan W. Kaufmann served as the Associate Director for Advocacy at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Education of Women. The collection documents her involvement with the Ann Arbor Mayor’s Task Force on Increasing Safety for Women, later the Washtenaw County Coalition on Gender Violence and Safety, and her research on the potential impact of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (also known as Proposal 2). The material includes extensive research and press clippings related to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, in addition to copies of presentations, correspondence, and other material related to Proposal 2.

The Susan W. Kaufmann collection documents her involvement with the Ann Arbor Mayor’s Task Force on Increasing Safety for Women, later the Washtenaw County Coalition on Gender Violence and Safety, and her research on the potential impact of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (also known as Proposal 2). The collection is divided into two series: Ann Arbor Mayor's Task Force on Increasing Safety for Women (0.2 linear feet) and Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (4.8 linear feet).