I was very excited to come to George Mason University School of Law (GMUSL). I knew that GMUSL has a great legal writing program, which I know will be helpful in my career.
Also, as a Virginia resident, I knew I would be able to get in-state tuition. Cost and location were important factors for me since I work full-time in D.C. Coming to GMUSL, I knew that it wasn’t diverse. I looked at the ABA Required Disclosures available on the website prior to accepting and saw how low the numbers were for both minority students and faculty. It was disappointing as I knew that I may be one of the few Black or Asian students in my classes, especially since it is a smaller school, but I didn’t let that stop me from attending.
Throughout the school year, I noticed that the events and activities at GMUSL weren’t as diverse or inclusive for a public university. The diverse organizations are very small and minimally funded. Money went to events that typically had some sort of drinking like Oktoberfest, Casino Night, Thirsty Thursdays, Bar Study, Virginia Gold Cup, and St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t mind having those events, but I didn’t see much input from the student body to have at least some sort of effort for diversity and inclusion.
Sometimes it’s a battle for student organizations, especially diverse organizations to receive funding. It seemed difficult for diverse organizations to receive funding because some don’t see the relevance of diverse organizations to legal issues/education. Some thought that funding diverse organizations would only be used for social gatherings. When I was helping to restart the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, I had a couple of students saying “well, there’s not a White Student Association.”
I’m not saying that there is no one on the faculty or in the administration that helps foster and support the diverse student community. I have had great support from members of the Career, Academic, and Alumni Services office and from the Admissions Office. I also have many classmates who are much more open to diversity issues. However, I can honestly say that it doesn’t appear to me as if diversity and inclusion are near the top of the list of the law school administration’s priorities.
Maybe as a result of the outcry from the renaming, things will change. My understanding, from the press release and from my interaction with some of the faculty, is that they pride themselves on the diversity of “ideas.” My understanding is that they pride themselves on not being a completely liberal thinking university as many other universities appear to be. It doesn’t appear to me that they are factoring in diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, disability, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender preference as others may presume with the term “diversity.”
There is a push to become one of the top law schools in the nation, by accepting this money and being able to bring in more students with higher GPAs and LSAT scores and more faculty. The money, however, comes with that name change. Yes, it is true that, at any law school, you will most likely have to read a Scalia opinion and many other writings by him. He had a significant impact on the legal landscape. However, his name comes with baggage that a number of students and alumni do not care to hold as our own.
