Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Session 3, 1:30-2:15pm
Student Body Diversity: A View from the Trenches
Gail S. Stephenson
Program Code: T3F
The recent amendment to ABA Standard 212 requires law schools to "demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity." The amendment has been very controversial. My law review article, Student Body Diversity: A View from the Trenches, which will be published in 38 Cumberland Law Review (Winter 2007), attempts to debunk some of the myths perpetuated on various blogs regarding the effect of a diverse student body (e.g., minority students can’t succeed in law school and will serve only to bring down the bar passage rate at formerly non-diverse schools). The article realistically addresses both the challenges and the rewards of a diverse student body and concludes that the benefits outweigh the challenges.
I propose to present my research in poster form. I envision a large scale. One side of the scale holds the benefits of a diverse student body (helps students understand those different from themselves, breaks down racial stereotypes, promotes robust classroom discussion, improves learning outcomes, and prepares students for a diverse society). The other side holds the challenges (culture clash, accommodating different learning styles, developing curriculum relevant to all, avoiding poster-child syndrome, and avoiding having unreasonable expectations and making unreasonable comparisons.) The scales are tipped in favor of the benefits.