Report: Affirmative Action Harms Minority Law Students

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FARAI CHIDEYA, host:

From NPR News this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.

Affirmative action may hurt not help some students of color on their way to law school. That's according to a new report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Affirmative action or the use of racial preferences, as the report calls it, has not only led to high dropout rates but increased the black-white income gap. Again, that's according to the commission.

In just a moment we'll hear from a group that disagrees with these findings. But first we've got Gerald Reynolds, he's the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Chairman Reynolds, welcome.

Mr. GERALD REYNOLDS (Chairman, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights): Thank you for having me.

CHIDEYA: So, how could a program that helped students of color get into the country's best schools hurt them in the long run?

Mr. REYNOLDS: Well, most law schools are forced to use racial preferences in order to have a diverse first year class, and what that means is that many minority students - not all - but many minority students in law schools have weaker academic credentials. There is evidence - and this is not definitive evidence - but there is evidence that one of the results of these racial preference admissions policies is that a significant percentage of minority students, dropout of law school, performed poorly, or failed to pass the bar on the first attempt.

Now, if you drop out of law school during the first year, you have incurred -at least most students would have incurred a significant debt. Most law students borrow money in order to finance their education. And so, to - when you allow a student in, the university should be comfortable that a student will have the ability and have the academic background in order to compete with the other classmates. And there's evidence that these racial preference policies put some blacks in a position where they have a difficult time competing. And some of the evidence - I would point to professor Sanders - I'm sorry, 2004 study where after first year - after the first year of law schools, 50 percent of black students have GPA's that placed them at the bottom 10 percent of the class.

CHIDEYA: Well, I'm sorry to interrupt you we just have a listener who actually wrote into the blog with a question, I want to make sure we get to that so we called her up and here is her question.

Ms. MOJO DERINDEI(ph) (Caller): Hello my name is Mojo Derindei. I'm from Oakland Parks, Florida. I have mixed feelings about this report. On one hand, I stand for affirmative action in giving an equal playing field to minorities. On the other hand, I want to be judge by my merit. However, I feel some of the theories on the report might be unfounded. For example the report said race-based admissions have been found to harm minority law students by setting them up for failure. How are the students been set up for failure? The report didn't give an answer and I really like to know how.

CHIDEYA: So can you clarify for her?

Mr. REYNOLDS: Oh, sure. As I said before 50 percent of black law students had GPA's that placed them at the bottom 10 percent of the class. Our opportunities as lawyers often - our opportunities are determined by first year grades. The interviews that you get, which firms that will look at you - the professional opportunities that you have often are key to our first year grades. And if you are a law student, regardless of your color, if you are at the bottom 10 percent your opportunities - professional opportunities have been significantly limited.

Also, if this program has the unintended effect of closing blacks to drop out at a significant rate then, again, these students will be forced to pay student loans without the benefit of having a law degree. And finally, there is evidence that these students who come in under racial preference policies have difficulty passing state bars.

CHIDEYA: Final question to throw in before we have to move on, when you think about America's schools which are so desperate in terms of race, in terms of opportunity, is there another way to fix this problem?

Mr. REYNOLDS: Well, the law school should be commended for caring about this issue but caring is not enough. This is a systemic problem. We have urban schools across the nations that are doing a miserable job of educating minority students. But to go back to the question that was just post, the caller is right. There are a lot of unanswered questions about this report and other reports. I think that it is imperative that law schools and state bar associations release data so that social scientists can review the data and see if this theory is right or not. And also, applicants should receive information so that they can make an informed decision about their - about going to law school.

CHIDEYA: Well, Mr. Reynolds, thank you so much.

Mr. REYNOLDS: Thank you.

CHIDEYA: Gerald Reynolds is chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

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