Diversity
Big Drop in Minority Law Students, Columbia Site Says
Posted Jan 17, 2008, 04:43 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
Nationwide enrollment of African-American and Mexican-American students in U.S. law schools is down significantly since 1992 and could drop further.
According to statistics reviewed by individuals at Columbia Law School and the Society of American Law Teachers and discussed on their website, law school enrollment by members of these racial minority groups has dropped by 8.6 percent over the past 15 years. And that has occurred despite a constant number of minority applications and an increasing number of law students overall during the same period, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. It apparently got the scoop from an upcoming article in the National Law Journal.
The statistics, which were compiled by the nonprofit Law School Admission Council, show a disturbing trend away from making law school admissions process more inclusive of minority applicants, experts say.
And "it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better," predicts Vernellia Randall. A professor at the University of Dayton School of Law in Ohio, she has put together a report on "America's Whitest Law Schools."
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Comments
Posted by J.D. - 6 months, 4 hours, 49 minutes ago
PUHHLEEZE.... There’s a “a disturbing trend away from making law school admissions process more inclusive of minority applicants”????
Umm, no. Law schools are obsessed with minorities and skin color. Trying to get minorities into law school for the sake of getting minorities into law school is sad.
CLEARLY, there is a problem. But the problem has nothing to do with law schools. And social programs like affirmative action do nothing to improve the situation.
Only when the Left realizes that better grade schools, high schools, and demanding that minority parents play a role in bringing up their children will we see increases in turn out at the upper levels of education.
This has nothing to do with law schools or firms. It has everything to do with families and individuals. You can’t FORCE people into applying and FORCE law schools into admitting someone because they are a certain color.
This is a land of equal opportunity—not equal outcome.
Posted by Disgusted with J.D. - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 23 hours, 26 minutes ago
J.D., your postings on the ABA website are disgusting. Whenever there the slightest mention of race, you post some racist tirade that includes broad generalizations of people whom you know nothing about. I’m a successful attorney, the daughter of two well educated professionals and, you guessed it, black. I, like many of my friends of all races, worked very hard for the success we have achieved, yet when someone like you sees my success, you assume it’s because of some handout. Do you think the same about your white colleagues? Are white people the only people who are capable of success based solely upon merit? I guess you’ve never met a white person who attended the best schools, was admitted to an Ivy League University or given a job because of Daddy’s connections? I’m all for merit, but let’s not pretend that “white achievement” is not the result of a long standing history of white privilege.
Posted by Agree with Disgusted with J.D. - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 21 hours, 56 minutes ago
Here, Here! Thanks for expressing what successful African-American attorneys face!
Posted by J.D. - 5 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 52 minutes ago
Your assumptions are horribly misguided.
In fact, I am WELL-aware of privileged whites who have gotten to where they are because daddy or mommy made a phone call or donated thousands of dollars to a school. It’s disgusting and wrong. Like affirmative action, it does not reward merit.
What you clearly fail to understand is that my posting is in support of a policy that REWARDS merit --- and nothing else. You note that you are concerned that when people see a minority in law school or a good job, they “assume it’s because of some hand out.” It’s horrible, but BECAUSE of Affirmative Action programs, people are logically going to assume that. I wish people did not make an assumption. And they wouldn’t if they knew that people got into schools BASED ONLY on their abilities. Unfortunately, your clear support for race-based, separatist, racialist policies is CREATING the very result you despise!
Look, when I hear someone is an “Ivy league graduate” it means nothing to me until I have a few questions answered: (1) did the person’s mommy or daddy have any role in the admissions process? (2) did the person’s skin color give them bonus points? (3) did they get in on a sports scholarship?
If each of those are answered in the negative, then there is reason to be impressed. WHY? Because it indicates they got in on their own merit. Don’t you wish we had a society where we could conclude a person got to where they are because they worked hard? I wish we did. And I’m sure you are a hard worker (one has to be to graduate from law school). But because of racialist policies that you support, you are always going to have people assuming your race played a role in your admission. It’s sad, and I know that MLK, Jr. wishes that schools were not so race-focused.
BTW, it seems you overlooked my concern about better grade schools and high schools in underprivileged areas of the country. If you focus on that, we can pull up poor people of all racial stripes to the point were we DON’T need race-focused policies. That would be good for us all. It would finally get us to the colorblind society MLK, Jr. wanted. But until then, Affirmative Action is a band-aid on a wound that is only going to get worse.
Posted by J.D. - 5 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 4 hours, 40 minutes ago
P.S. I am a white boy who—unlike you—does not have “two well educated professionals” as parents. But unfortunately, Affirmative Action programs assume the opposite. And this assumption is based on our physical appearances. I can’t think of any policy more racist at its core. It’s all based on stereotypes, and the program’s advocates themselves believe these stereotypes to be true (i.e. all white applicants are smart, well-educated, and connected; all black applicants are impoverished, needy, without family support). Obviously this isn’t always the case, as you clearly point out. But A.A. does allow for that distinction.
P.P.S. Advocating for A.A. is lazy. Advocating for better grade schools and high schools—my position—takes much more work AND would be much more beneficial for all.