For one thing, said Aaron N. Taylor, a professor at St. Louis University’s School of Law, while trends at law schools show an increase in enrollment for students of color, these trends only hold true for those students at schools with the lowest median LSAT scores. At the “elite” schools, the reverse is true.
Blake Morant, dean of the George Washington University School of Law, said a lot of this is attributable to external factors.
“There are certain externalities that … have made focusing on diversity and achieving it more complicated,” he said.
For one, outside ranking entities—particularly U.S. News and World Report—place a heavy emphasis on the admissions requirements and makeup of the incoming class as a factor to determine quality of institution, he said. And since consumers put a great amount of stock in these rankings, he added, the top schools are under a lot of pressure to place well, if they are to attract high-quality students.
Of course, a magazine ranking committee is not the sole determinant for the diversity disparities between top-tier and lower-tier institutions.
“It’s much more complex than that,” said Morant. He adds that “there are so many pressures on law schools today, in terms of bringing in an entering class” that is high-achieving but still considers diversity, still promotes experiential learning and reflects a global perspective on campus.
