Norma V. Cantu
| Norma V. Cantu | |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 November 1954 Brownsville, Texas |
| Occupation | Lawyer, Educator |
Norma V. Cantú (born November 2, 1954) is an American civil rights lawyer and educator. She is currently a professor of both its law and education at the University of Texas at Austin. She served as the Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office for Civil Rights under President Bill Clinton and as regional counsel for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
In 1977, at the age of 22, Cantú received her law degree from Harvard Law School. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Texas-Pan American in 1973. She graduated from Brownsville High School(now Hanna High School) in Brownsville, Texas in 1971.
Cantú started her career as an English teacher in Brownsville, Texas, in 1974. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she worked with the Nursing Home Task Force of the Texas Attorney General's office and as an English teacher in San Antonio, Texas.
She joined MALDEF in 1979, serving as a trial and appellate lawyer in federal and state courts in class action impact civil rights cases. In 1983, she was named the National Director of the Carnegie Endowment-funded Education, Litigation and Advocacy Project at MALDEF and also worked as a Staff Attorney on the Chicana Rights Project. In 1985, she became the regional counsel and education director of MALDEF, overseeing its offices in Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. That same year, she was named as one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S." by Hispanic Business Magazine. While at MALDEF she litigated scores of important cases affecting educational funding, disability rights, student disciplinary policies, access to special services for English-language learners, and racially hostile environments.
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