Chika Okafor

Assistant Professor of Law

Phone
(312) 503-5075

Email
chika.okafor@law.northwestern.edu

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Related Links
drchikaokafor.com

Assistant
Lisa Weiner

Assistant Phone
(312) 503-8340

Assistant Email
lisa.weiner@law.northwestern.edu

Biography

Professor Chika O. Okafor is a law, economics, and inequality scholar who teaches constitutional law and climate/energy law. His research originated the concept of “social network discrimination”—the insight that minorities receive systematically fewer opportunities even under race-neutral policies, simply because their social group is smaller. This work, published in the Journal of Law and Economics, reveals how colorblind systems can reproduce inequality without intentional discrimination, and has shaped public discourse around landmark Supreme Court decisions on voting rights and affirmative action. His ongoing research extends social network discrimination into new domains, including voting rights and redistricting, and he also studies the impact of election cycles on criminal sentencing. His research has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, he has been interviewed on NPR-affiliate WBEZ's In the Loop and Illinois Public Radio's The 21st Show, and his writing has appeared in the Boston Globe, Slate, the Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, and Democracy Docket.

Professor Okafor joined the Northwestern Pritzker Law faculty in 2025. He also holds dual courtesy appointments in the Economics Department and the Kellogg School of Management, and is a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. 

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