Law Schools Quietly Adjusting Messaging on DEI Policies
“Adjusting their recruiting and messaging approach to avoid becoming a target, raising questions over the future of diversity in the legal profession.”
They don’t need to make adjustments, just drop the policies entirely.
From American Lawyer:
As federal and state agencies continue to crack down on diversity-focused resources and programs, many law schools are quietly adjusting their recruiting and messaging approach to avoid becoming a target, raising questions over the future of diversity in the legal profession.
While the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard was a catalyst for diversity, equity and inclusion policy reform at most universities, the second Trump administration has been swift to implement further restrictions on diversity programming and resources at institutions.
Dan Tokaji, dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School, said that as a result of the SFFA ruling, the school is “no longer engaging in race-conscious admissions,” he said. “We have seen a decline in admissions among some racial groups,” which, he added, he would expect to ultimately have “an impact on the racial diversity of practicing lawyers as well.” …
Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump issued two consecutive executive orders in January that deemed diversity efforts illegal in institutions and government organizations. In the following weeks, after facing further pressure from the U.S. Department of Education, the American Bar Association voted to extend the suspension of the enforcement of its diversity requirements for law schools through August 2026.
In addition to federal actions, at least 14 states have implemented their own anti-DEI orders, largely targeting funding for diversity programming…
Amid this rising pressure, many prominent universities and law schools, as well as the Law School Admission Council, have further altered their DEI admissions information on their websites since the beginning of the year, either by tweaking language to focus less on race-based diversity, removing links to diversity-related scholarships or, in some cases, taking down their diversity pages and initiatives altogether. …
The ABA Council also voted in November to allow law schools to submit a variance that would allow a school to admit up to 100% of its class without an admissions test, which some say could help applicants from underserved communities. … So far, 14 schools have received the variance.
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I think that it will take 10 years for race neutrality to take hold. Right now there are just too many people with influence that are still beholden to the idea of racial preferences that are laying low until DJT is out of office.
“The ABA Council also voted in November to allow law schools to submit a variance that would allow a school to admit up to 100% of its class without an admissions test, which some say could help applicants from underserved communities. … So far, 14 schools have received the variance.”
They are fighting tooth and nail to prevent law schools from regaining excellence. What are the 14 law schools that you don’t even have to take a test to enter. I want to use lawyers that graduated from those schools, because I want to make sure my lawyer is dumb.
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