Further Information on the ABA's Improper Conduct in Enforcing Diversity Standards Gail Heriot

I hope you saw the op-ed I did for the Wall Street Journal in April detailing the ABA's efforts to withhold re-accreditation for George Mason University Law School, but if you didn't, it's still there for you.  It tells the story of how a law school whose student body was 16.16% minority was not "diverse" enough to satisfy the ABA's over-the-top diversity standards. 

I have further information now.  Sadly, a very large portion of the minority students that the ABA pressured George Mason to admit did not do well.  A full 45% of the African American students experienced academic failure (defined in GMU's academic regulations as a GPA below 2.15) in their first year.  Only 4% of other students did so.

In a recent letter from GMU's Dean Dan Polsby to the ABA, which the Center for Equal Opportunity obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request, he complained of the difficulty of complying with the ABA's misguided policy towards GMU: 

"We have an obligation to refrain from victimizing applicants, regardless of race or color, by admitting them to an educational program in which  they appear likely to fail.  This obligation is recognized in Standard 501(b), but we believe it exists independently of any ABA regulations.  Adhering to this principle is the  greatest obstacle to our efforts to increase the diversity of the George Mason student body."

The pity is that, as Richard's Sander's research suggests, some of these who failed at GMU might have succeeded at less competitive schools and had a greater chance of ultimately passing the bar.  Because somebody at the ABA thought that it was more important for George Mason's student body to look like America, a number of students have now wasted a year of their lives and saddled themselves with debt with little or no chance of ever practicing law.

Comments

[krome]

"Because somebody at the ABA thought that it was more important for George Mason's student body to look like America, a number of students have now wasted a year of their lives and saddled themselves with debt with little or no chance of ever practicing law."

And that means absolutely nothing to the Diversity Patrol. In act, it may be to their liking, as it gives them the ammunition to expand their efforts (if so many more of them fail, then they should be required to be over-represented, shouldn't they?).

[josil]

Can a failed student at G. Mason law school sue the ABA? and if so, on what grounds?

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