I’ve posted in this space data that shows blacks who pass up the best law school that admits them, and go to their “second-choice” school, are closer in credentials to their classmates and have much better outcomes during and after law school. The postings have generated much discussion. Professor Dirk Jenter, while defending me from […]
Author Archive | Rick Sander
Responding to Critics (2): “Second-choice” students
This is the second in a series of postings further explaining my work on the use and effects of racial preferences in law schools, and responding to critics of my work. One of the central claims in my research is that black law students are often “mismatched” by large racial preferences, placing them at schools […]
Responding to Critics (1): A New Test of the Mismatch Theory:
The basic argument of Systemic Analysis is simple: if there is a very large disparity at a school between the entering credentials of the “median” student and the credentials of students receiving large preferences, then the credentials gap will hurt those the preferences are intended to help. A large number of those receiving large preferences […]
Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools: Responding to the Critics
Although my article on affirmative action appeared in the Stanford Law Review less than five months ago, a legion of critics has sprung into print, publishing rebuttals with very non-ivory-tower speed. By my (probably incomplete) count, eleven articles entirely devoted to “debunking” Systemic Analysis have been published or accepted for publication in legal or education […]
Affirmative Action in Law Schools:
Entry Four: What Would the Black Bar Look Like With a Reduction or Elimination of Law School Racial Preferences? Perhaps one of the reasons that few legal academics have delved very far into the issue of law school racial preferences is the widespread assumption that, whatever the other costs and benefits of the system, admissions […]
Affirmative Action in Law Schools
Entry Three: Black law graduates in the job market (My apologies for posting my planned Wednesday post today) Tuesday, I wrote about some of the perverse effects racial preferences have upon blacks in law school and on the bar. There was already some awareness that some of these problems existed, though most of my colleagues […]
Affirmative Action in Law Schools, Pt. 2
Entry Two: The Effects of Preferences on Grades, Graduation, and the Bar As I discussed yesterday, a very large majority of American law schools essentially race-norm black and white academic credentials when they admit their classes. Since the black/white credentials gap in the applicant pool is quite large, this means a typical law school has […]
Affirmative Action in Law Schools, Pt.1
Over the next few days, I’m going to be summarizing key findings from my article on law school racial preferences, and discussing the findings with readers. Today is: Entry One: The General Operation of Racial Preferences When law schools talk about race-based admissions preferences – something they generally discuss as little as possible — they […]