California’s ban on race-conscious admissions policies in
public institutions could give some law schools seeking to enroll
minorities an edge over the UCLA School of Law, some public
officials say.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling green-lighting the
consideration of race in higher education admissions will not
directly affect the School of Law as a result of Proposition 209
““ a voter-sponsored initiative that, among other things,
banned the consideration of race in admissions in
California’s public universities starting in 1998.
Leo Trujillo-Cox, the School of Law’s director of
outreach, said Proposition 209 hampers the UCLA law school’s
efforts to admit a diverse student body.
“Having to operate under a different system of rules than
all other private schools and most other public schools makes it
difficult, on a lot of levels, for UCLA to achieve its own
goals,” he said.
Following Proposition 209, enrollment of underrepresented
minority students decreased at the University of California, and
although the School of Law has acted “aggressively and
imaginatively,” the level of minority enrollment has never
returned to its pre-1998 status, Trujillo-Cox said.
Aside from outreach programs to compensate for the loss of
affirmative action, Trujillo-Cox said the School of Law
restructured its admissions procedures to closely examine
applicants’ socioeconomic background, which often correlates
with race.
“We redid our admissions process to be as sensitive (as
possible) within the constraints,” he said.
Still, the percent of minority students enrolled at the School
of Law falls below that of some private law schools including
Stanford Law School and the law school at the University of
Southern California, whose minority enrollment rates are close to
43 percent.
Bill Hoye, associate dean of USC Law admissions, said
USC’s law school considers race as a factor in admissions
because a diverse classroom gives students “a richer
educational experience.”
Students applying to Stanford Law School have the option to
provide their race, but Stanford Spokesman Jack Hubbard said the
law school does not look at race when deciding whom to admit.
“We’re very much behind affirmative action, but we
deal with each application on an individual basis,” he
said.
And even some California law schools facing the same constraints
as UCLA have managed to recruit more minority students than the
UCLA School of Law.
UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall has a student population
consisting of 34.8 percent minorities ““ about 6 percent
higher than the percentage at the UCLA School of Law, according to
the American Bar Association’s Law School Admissions
Council’s Official Guide to ABA-approved Law Schools.
UCLA law Professor Richard Sander said some public law schools
in California have been able to recruit more minorities than UCLA
because they implement policies some say are at odds with
Proposition 209.
“I don’t really think outreach has anything to do
with it. What differentiates schools is their willingness to
violate the law,” he said.
Sander attributes the School of Law’s lack of diversity to
its stricter adherence to state restrictions.
“Schools that believe they should be somewhat in
compliance with the law will have lower enrollment rates,” he
said.
But Robert Berring, Boalt Hall’s interim dean, said
Berkeley’s law school has managed to attract minority
students using a number of methods ““ none of which violate
Proposition 209.
“We are so closely watched by everybody. Our numbers are
monitored, our processes are watched,” he said, adding that
if Boalt Hall didn’t comply with the law, “people would
come down on us like a ton of bricks.”
Berring said Boalt Hall sends admissions office representatives
to schools with large minority populations to increase its pool of
minority applicants via recruitment.
One method used to increase minority enrollment is to have
alumni groups, law firms and bar associations offer scholarships
for minority students, Berring said.
This method complies with the law because it isn’t the
university offering the scholarships, he added.
Regardless, California’s ban on affirmative action could
make the UC system’s law schools “seem a less friendly
place” for minorities than private ones, Sander said.
First-year law student Brandon Guzman said some students are
reluctant to enroll in a law school lacking ethnic diversity.
Guzman added that diversity is beneficial in the classroom
because students of different ethnic backgrounds bring unique
perspectives on law.