Affirmative action may be hurting black law students more than helping them, according to a controversial new survey by a University of California-Los Angeles law professor.
Richard H. Sander will release his study this month in the Stanford Law Review.
Sander argues affirmative action hinders black law students more than it helps them, because once admitted to major law schools, many are unable to compete and are more likely to earn poor grades, drop out and fail state bar exams.
Sander’s study has received widespread and sometimes unfavorable attention. Critics accuse the study of reaching inflammatory conclusions.
One University of Wisconsin law professor, who wished to remain anonymous, said he finds the study offensive.
“How long are the conservatives going to push this?” he said. “We need to change the conservative point of view. If not [affirmative action], then what? What else is there?”
Others have expressed concern that publicizing the study’s findings will discourage blacks from applying to law school, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
Percy Bates, a professor in the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor School of Education and director of Programs for Education Opportunity, questions the study’s design.
“[Publishing the findings] might have negative consequences, but more importantly it’s going to be up for scrutiny and criticism,” he said.
He added it is complicated to create a study that takes into consideration both the admissions process and why students drop out.
“Without knowing at least the design of the study I question its validity,” Bates said.
The Law School Admission Council’s last comprehensive study of bar-passage rates from 1991 to 1997, which Sander used for his study, found a wide gap between the scores of minority students and their white counterparts.
Among other findings, Sander’s study shows after the first year of law school, 51 percent of black students have grade point averages that place them in the bottom tenth of their classes, compared with 5 percent of white students. Among students who entered law school in 1991, an estimated 80 percent of white students graduated and passed the bar exam on their first attempt, compared with 45 percent of black students.
Bates said numbers are insufficient to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of affirmative action. He said this study was the first he has heard of showing students did not fare well once admitted and added admissions offices do not simply “reach into the air” for qualified students.
“One would have to know what the drop out rate would be independently of affirmative action,” Bates said. “It has been my impression that the students who are admitted tend to be those who do quite well.”
Sander, who has graduate degrees in law and economics and heads the UCLA’s Empirical Research Group, stands by his research in spite of criticism from affirmative action advocates.
He suggests not an end to all racial preferences, but a scaling back of affirmative action if its measures are ultimately hurting black students more than benefiting them, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
A spokeswoman for the UCLA Law School said the university does not take affirmative action into consideration during the admissions process.
