CFER’s 2026 annual conference registration is open! Between now and July 7th, you can enjoy an early bird special for our two-day conference program, which will be hosted on July 24th and July 25th in Irvine.

For our fourth annual conference, CFER will bring together experts, reformers, elected officials and advocates in deep dives into important policy issues on education, race relations, governance and more. So far, we have confirmed a prestigious lineup of speakers and panelists, to include:

• Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Devon Westhill
• CFER Executive Vice President Gail Heriot
• Pacific Research Institute Senior Director of Education Studies Lance Izumi
• Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Andrew Quinio
• UCLA Professor of Law Richard Sander
• PUSD Community Watch Cofounder Lenice Sechris
• California Policy Center President Jackson Reese
• College Fix Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Kabbany
• Parents Defending Education Research Director Rhyen Staley
• Orange County Board of Education President Mari Barke
• CFER Advisor Joe Nalven
• Equal Rights Advocate Nan Zhong
• Equal Rights for All PAC Vice President Tony Guan

While we are nearly two years into a new federal administration that is willing to take on the ideological swamp, many pro-education, pro-common-sense and pro-equality policy developments are yet to become meaningfully impactful to course correct the former trajectory of race- and gender-based identity politics. For the conference’s keynote address, we will be joined by USDA Assistant Secretary Devon Westhill who will unpack for us the series of federal policy changes pertaining to civil rights and equal justice. Secretary Westhill has a long tenure in civil rights advocacy, as the former president of the Center for Equal Opportunity. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the USDA in President Trump’s first term. Following the keynote speech, Professor Gail Heriot and Dr. Lance Izumi will engage in a panel discussion on federal policies, with a focus on developments in reforming college accreditation and defunding minority serving institutions.

Federal-level redress to combat discrimination and indoctrination, however encouraging, may seem out of reach for Californian parents, residents and voters who continue to contend with state and local attempts to defy the redress. A recent Department of Justice investigation found that UCLA engaged in racial discrimination in its medical school admissions. The investigation dovetails two federal lawsuits against the entire UC system regarding its racially balancing undergraduate admissions. To bridge the federal-level developments and state-level realities, our conference program will feature a panel discussion between Mr. Andrew Quinio and Professor Richard Sander, who will explore relevant state policies and the resistance against federal reforms from major players such as the University of California system.

We understand that politics is downstream from culture and intend to bring our discussions to the local level. CFER President Frank Xu will be joined by Mr. Jackson Reese and Ms. Lenice Sechrist in a panel on local organizing, sharing insights and success stories on how parents and community advocates have proactively promoted excellence and accountability. Our program will also delve into the issues of curriculum and public opinions with a discussion by Ms. Jennifer Kabbany, Mr. Rhyen Staley and Hon. Mari Barke. Last but not least, Dr. Joe Nalven, Mr. Tony Guan and Mr. Nan Zhong will have a conversation on the role of AI in changing the landscape of civil rights advocacy.

We hope this succinct program overview gives you a good preview of our upcoming annual event. Again, please take advantage of our early bird special to sign up to attend the conference. The special expires on July 6th. If you are a CFER member (“stakeholder” level and above), you may also qualify for a discount ticket at $20. You can log in to your member portal to check your membership pricing.

ICYMI, CFER and allies are doing a Capitol Tour on Monday (May 11th) in Sacramento to raise awareness on ACA 7. Please see our flyer below. If you are interested and available, we would love for you to join us! Sign up to join here.

Thank you for your support and trust, as always!