Commission of Civil Rights' Affirmative Action in American Law Schools Report

Evidence about the Potential Role for Affirmative Action in Higher Education by Braz Camargo, Todd Stinebrickner, Ralph Stinebrickner (NBER Report)

Abstract: In two recent cases involving the University of Michigan (Gratz v. Bollinger and Gruttinger v. Bollinger), the Supreme Court examined whether race should be allowed to play an explicit role in the admission decisions of schools. The arguments made in support of affirmative action admission policies in these cases and others raise two fundamental questions. First, do students actually have incorrect beliefs about individuals from different races at the time of college entrance? Second, if students do have incorrect beliefs at the time of college entrance, can diversity on a college campus change these beliefs? While a small literature has recently shed some light on the second question, no previous work has been able to provide direct evidence about the first one. In this paper we examine the first question by taking advantage of unique data collected specifically for this purpose.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has released Affirmative Action in American Law Schools (pdf). Recommendations from the executive summary:

• The National Academy of Sciences or other grant-making entities fund independent research on the impact of racial preferences on racial disparities in law school academic performance, bar passage rates, graduation rates, student loan default rates, and future income and that state bar associations cooperate with this research.
• Law schools voluntarily provide disclosure to the public and, at the very least, to potential applicants on student academic performance, attrition, graduation, bar passage, student loan default, and future income disaggregated by academic credentials.
• Congress enact legislation requiring law schools receiving federal financial assistance to disclose to the public detailed data on the extent to which they take race into account in making admissions decisions, the weight accorded membership in different racial or ethnic groups, whether targets or quotas are used, an explanation of how certain group membership is related to the diversity rationale, how frequently the need to use race-conscious admissions is used, a description of the consideration given race-neutral alternatives, and any correlation between academic credentials and placement in a remediation program, graduation rates, and student loan default rates.
• As an interim measure, that the Council use its accreditation authority to require law schools to disclose the data sought by the recommended legislation.
• States require bar admissions authorities to provide disclosure on bar passage rates disaggregated by academic credentials.
• The Council revise the recently adopted diversity standard to delete the requirement that law schools seeking accreditation demonstrate a commitment to diversity, thereby preserving the law schools’ freedom to craft their own educational missions.
• Law schools are clear that their constitutional and statutory obligations to nondiscrimination remain paramount and that their compliance with the Council’s standard will not be judged by the results achieved.