Thread by @briangallini

1/ I have so enjoyed watching the impressive anti-racism efforts of law schools—including my own. #LegalEd has a long way to go, but we’re doing the work. As we do, though, I can’t help but feel tension between this work and the US News rankings. THREAD
aals.org/antiracist-cle…

2/ For those outside the loop, the US News rankings incentivize law school admission practices that alienate students from historically underrepresented backgrounds—e.g., those identifying as American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian.
lssse.indiana.edu/wp-content/upl…

3/ Let me explain via an illustrative example from my friend, @TheEdLawProf (whose work I recommend). In his piece, “The Marginalization of Black Aspiring Lawyers,” @FIULAWREVIEW, Taylor writes:

4/ “In the 2016-17 admission cycle, it took about 1,960 Black applicants to yield 1,000 offers of admission, compared to only 1,204 among White applicants and 1,333 overall.”
arc.accesslex.org/di-admissions/…

5/ “These trends,” Taylor continues, “are explained in large part by racial and ethnic disparities in average LSAT scores. The average score for Black test-takers is 142--11 points lower than the average for White and Asian test-takers of 153.3.”

6/ Taylor therefore concludes that “for large proportions of Black law school applicants—49 percent in 2016-17—their marginalization in the admission process ends in outright exclusion.”

7/ What’s worse, the discriminatory effect of these pre-admission practices follows many underrepresented students (those who beat the odds) beyond their first day of law school.

8/ Many of these students pay closer to their law school’s “sticker price” than their peers because US News incentivizes law schools to provide larger merit scholarships to students with higher LSAT scores.

9/ That is, US News leverages its rankings methodology to encourage law schools to have and report “stronger admissions profiles.” Specifically, it weighs “selectivity” at fully 21% of the rankings algorithm (including 11.25% on LSAT alone).
usnews.com/education/best…

10/ But the problem persists even further. Recent data from AccessLex reveals that underrepresented students “are disproportionately represented among students who do not persist beyond the first year.”
accesslex.org/xblog/aba-data…

11/ In the past, law school deans have signed letters opposing the rankings, but I think it’s time to do more.
scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewconten…

12/ I hope law schools consider the harsh underlying reality of these numbers and reconsider when & whether to celebrate - and even whether they participate in - the rankings. Otherwise, we may undermine the good anti-racist work being done across law school curricula.

13/ I speak only for myself, but in the coming months, I’ll be encouraging my community to reconsider our approach to these rankings. By participating in this endless game, are we serving a good social purpose? Or are we inflicting social harm?
premium.usnews.com/best-graduate-…

14/ We are, after all, knee deep in the important work of diversifying the legal profession, reducing student debt, enhancing services to support student mental health, and maximizing our Signature Strengths to generate problem solving (and happy) lawyers.
willamette.edu/law/about/sign…