Washington University’s School of Law may have the highest percentage of African-American students when compared to other major law schools in Missouri, but it still lies far below the national average. According to a report from the Mound City Bar Association (MCBA), the oldest black bar association west of the Mississippi, black students only composed 6.2 percent of the total number of law students in the 2004-2005 school year.
“[Diversity has] certainly been discussed,” said Janet Bolin, associate dean of admissions at Washington University’s School of Law. “It’s a very real and very urgent need.”
Bolin emphasized that diversity is more of a pipeline issue, meaning that preparations should be started from a young age. “[We need to be] getting young people from early on, on a path that will help them to get them to college and to law school,” said Bolin.
She explained that students from different backgrounds might not be as aware of what is needed to get into colleges and graduate schools and thus do not have the same opportunities as other students.
Bolin also explained that the University does recruit heavily at historically black colleges, but agrees that more needs to be done.
“We need to.put more efforts into our recruitment efforts, such as getting more information and more opportunities for people to visit or talk to people in the program, such as professors or graduates of the program,” continued Bolin.
There are also efforts being made within the St. Louis community, according to Bolin. There are organizations that work with high school students from the public school system providing internships and helping to educate students on higher education at a young age.
In addition, the dean of students and the dean of admissions met with the Black Law Students Association and the undergraduate pre-law society to attract a more diverse population.
Law students also acknowledge the efforts by the faculty.
“I know we’ve talked to the admissions office and other deans here who want to increase diversity and are working with students,” said first year law student Pooja Kadakia.
The lack of diversity is definitely noticed. “I came from the U.C. school system in California, which is a lot more diverse than this; we have like 50 percent Asians,” said Kadakia.
In addition, current students and alumni have been reaching out to students of various backgrounds to inform prospective students about their experiences. “They are definitely trying to recruit minorities and give support to minority student groups here if possible,” said Kadakia.
Diversity did not play a major role for all students in deciding which law school to attend.
“I chose Wash. U. because the admissions office treated me like a person instead of a number – diversity didn’t really factor in,” said first year law student Tia Parks.
“Wash. U. is disadvantaged in terms of location. I think most black students go to the East Coast or the West Coast,” said Debora Rogo, a first year law student.
“People tend to go back to where they are from or to a major legal community. St. Louis is in there, but the big ones that come to mind are Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.,” said Bolin.
“I am very comfortable here even though there aren’t that many minorities. We are a very tight-knit community,” said Parks. “I think that when minorities see a low proportion of minorities they think that it’s because they’re unwelcome.”
In a letter to the MCBA, Ellen Suni, dean of the University of Missouri – Kansas City, said that in spite of the low numbers of minorities in the law school, “We are very pleased with our low attrition and high bar passage rates for minority students and graduates over the past several years, which confirm that we are indeed admitting students who will be successful.”
Suni elaborated that the UMKC School of Law extended offers to three professors of color, two of whom accepted. Other institutions examined in the MCBA study include St. Louis University and the University of Missouri Columbia.
Currently, the Washington University School of Law has one tenured professor of Asian descent and three professors of African or African-American decent.
“[Dean Syverud] has stated on repeated occasions that [diversity] is a priority for him, meaning a full range – not only race and gender but also intellectual diversity. Political diversity is also an interest, and is something our new dean takes very seriously when he joined the faculty around a year ago,” said Christopher Bracey, associate professor of law and admissions committee member. “[Diversity] is an issue I care about as a faculty of color.”
“Entry level hiring was aggressive in recruiting minority and women level positions,” said Bracey. “We have an atypically strong representation of women on our faculty and I think we have some political diversity, but that could be improved as well. We’re making a good effort but there’s work to be done.”
Bracey explained that although the school has provided many hiring opportunities to minorities, the problem lies in the acceptance rate.
In terms of classroom diversity, the lack of minorities is definitely noticeable.
“It’s not that we’re not making the effort, I’d love to see a more diverse population” said Bracey. “It would benefit all students.”