Continued suspension of diversity standard suggested by ABA Legal Ed committee
The suspension of ABA accreditation Standard 206, originally titled “Diversity and Inclusion,” should be extended until Aug. 31, 2026, according to a May 2 memo from the standards committee of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
Addressed to the section’s council ahead of its May 9 meeting, the memo suggests monitoring “emergent developments.” Those include implications of several executive orders, including one April 23 taking aim at higher education accreditors and specifically referencing the council, as well as the ABA’s pending litigation against the U.S. Department of Justice.
The council is recognized by the Department of Education as the sole accrediting body for U.S. law schools and is an independent arm of the ABA for that function. Most states require applicants of the state bar to be graduates of an ABA-accredited law school.
In February, the council suspended enforcement of the contentious standard until Aug. 31 of this year. That followed a January executive order mandating the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and demands by the Department of Education that academic institutions eliminate DEI polices or risk federal funding cuts.
Those executive orders direct the secretary of the Education Department to deny, suspend or terminate an accreditor’s recognition if they take into account a school’s diversity. The secretary must “realign” accreditation by requiring universities to use student outcome data without referring to demographic data, according to the April 23 executive order. Additionally, the April 23 order demands universities to “prioritize intellectual diversity” among faculty.
The standard committee’s memo clarifies that during suspension, the council would not take action related to Standard 206, including guidance and evaluations regarding compliance, and no member institution will be held accountable for compliance.
“The council should find that extraordinary circumstances exist in which compliance with Standard 206 will continue to constitute extreme hardship for multiple law schools,” according to the committee’s memo.
See also:
ABA Legal Ed council suspended diversity standard; AG Bondi wants it scrapped
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