Thursday, 5/22/97 Diversity of law school admissions plunges
Students say loss of affirmative action reduces UCLA’s appeal
By Gregory Mena Daily Bruin Contributor The 1997 graduating
class of the UCLA Law School could brag that no single ethnicity
made up the majority of law students. With the elimination of
affirmative action in admissions, this may not be true in the
future and certainly won’t be true for next year’s incoming class.
The number of African-American students accepted to the UCLA Law
School has dropped by 80 percent, and Latino students by 32
percent. However, the number of Asian Americans and white students
has increased slightly, according to statistics released late last
week. The UC Regents’ change in admissions policy in 1995 has
affected the professional schools for the 1997-1998 school year.
Undergraduate programs will be affected starting Spring 1998.
According to some, these changes will affect the learning
environment within the UCLA Law School and its attractiveness to
potential students. "We knew that there would be a decline in
minorities. We weren’t surprised at the outcome," said Michael
Rappaport, assistant dean of admissions at the school of law.
"Minorities should not be deterred in pursuing a career in law or
applying to UCLA or Berkeley," Rappaport said, noting that other UC
law schools are facing similar situations. The new admissions
policy is based on a combination of test scores, GPAs and a variety
of other factors – excluding race. The new process uses a new point
system to take into consideration socioeconomic factors. Law school
administrators use research to quantify an applicants background.
For example, the zip codes can be used to determine the
socioeconomic history of an applicant. The new point system
replaced the affirmative action policy used for the past 29 years.
From 1968 until this year, the school of law had used two different
sets of criteria for admitting students. Sixty percent of
admissions were based only on test scores and GPA, and 40 percent
of admissions included race among other factors such as language
fluency, disabilities, parents’ education and income. The UCLA Law
School has only admitted qualified students and has not used a
quota system, Rappaport emphasized. "The diversity of the UCLA Law
School is what drew me here," said Cassandra Franklin, lecturer in
law. Some faculty members expressed worry that the classroom
environment will be affected. "Depending on their cultural
background, students will come to class with different
assumptions," Franklin said. In less-diverse educational
institutions, students are not likely to challenge or to accept
views of students from different ethnic backgrounds, she said. Some
students say the change in admissions policy will continue to
discourage students from applying to UCLA. "In the past, diversity
was an aspect that students looked for when they decided on a law
school.," said Hans Mahr, law school graduate from the class of
1997. Recently-released statistics also show a a 10 percent drop in
the number of applicants to the UCLA Law School. Some students say
that this is directly related to the end of affirmative action.
"UCLA’s law school will lose one of its attractive qualities," Mahr
explained. Other students say that UCLA’s school of law will also
lose a significant number of gifted students. "Now, we have
talented minorities going to private universities with more
aggressive affirmative action policies like USC and Stanford," said
Serge Avakian, a second-year law student. In contrast to the
regent-governed UC system, private universities are still free to
establish their own affirmative action policies. "The admissions
office could have bent the rules to admit minorities because race
is related with socioeconomic status," Avakian added. Related
links: UCLA School of Law