Luke Herrine, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, received the Freedom Scholar award for his work as a student debt abolitionist.
Herrine received the award from Marguerite Casey Foundation, an organization with the stated goal of supporting “leaders, scholars and initiatives focused on shifting the balance of power in society.” The award is given to scholars whose research supports social movements and includes a $250,000 award.
“I feel deeply humbled and honored to receive this award,” Herrine said.
Herrine said the award means a lot to him because he’s an assistant professor, and the award isn’t for junior scholars, but for impact overall.
Herrine is a co-founder of Debt Collective and advocated for mass debt cancellation, influencing organizations such as the Department of Education, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Agriculture. He helped devise a legal strategy that successfully resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of millions of student debt.
“I worked with students who went to for-profit colleges and were basically lied to and abused by those colleges [and] taken advantage of, and we organized them to refuse to pay their loans with the Department of Education and to flood the department education with legal claims that hadn’t really been effectively made before,” he said.
Herrine said he continues to be involved with strategizing ways to make higher education more affordable and accessible and to find relief for people who have been “forced into debt by our system.”
“Each Freedom Scholar is engaged with work to produce knowledge, research, and road maps to shift power to those communities who have long been excluded from having it,” said Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of MCF. “They’re shining light on a path to a more just future where everyone has what they need to live a good life.”
