How 爱游戏体育 Is Supporting Diversity in Law School in the Harvard Admissions Case
At the Law School Admission Council, our origin story is tied to the advancement of equity in education. Before 爱游戏体育 was founded, law school admission too often was driven by the prestige of a candidate鈥檚 school or family connection rather than the candidate鈥檚 potential for success in legal studies. For more than 70 years, we鈥檝e sought to level the playing field by promoting quality, access, and equity in legal education.
In that spirit, 爱游戏体育 was honored to join more than three dozen other legal organizations in signing on to an amicus brief in the ongoing Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard case. In a nutshell, the plaintiffs in this case, which was filed in 2014, seek to force Harvard University to stop considering diversity in its undergraduate admission process. A judge ruled in favor of Harvard last year, and the case is now in the appeals process.
The , emphasizes that diversity in college classes advances learning, enriches environments, and prepares students for an increasingly complex society. 爱游戏体育 fully supports this argument and the efforts of its member law schools, including Harvard, that believe diversity adds an important component to the value of their incoming classes. It鈥檚 critical for 爱游戏体育 to continue to be an advocate for diversity and encourage schools to evaluate candidates holistically.
As we鈥檝e often said, candidates are not numbers, whether that is their LSAT score or their undergraduate GPA. Each of those should be factors in a holistic admission process, but so should consideration of a candidate鈥檚 full background and experiences. Leanne Shank, 爱游戏体育鈥檚 general counsel and senior vice president for legal and corporate affairs, says it鈥檚 important to note that 鈥湴蜗诽逵� is driven by our goal of enhancing pipeline-building and diversity in law schools and the legal profession.鈥� Shank says, 鈥淏y supporting Harvard in this case, we鈥檙e supporting their belief in diversity as a compelling interest that justifies the consideration and use of race as one factor in a holistic approach to making admission decisions.鈥�
Kent D. Lollis, 爱游戏体育鈥檚 vice president and chief diversity officer, notes that 爱游戏体育 has participated on similar briefs in previous cases in this area, dating back to Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in the late 1970s. 鈥淲e have been active in every case that鈥檚 come to the court since then,鈥� Lollis says. 鈥淭he arguments have become much more complicated, but the outcomes have been the same. We know how important this is to fairness in admission, and 爱游戏体育 will continue to advocate for a fair and inclusive admission process that ensures all qualified students have access to higher education.鈥�
While 爱游戏体育 is not a leading participant in this case, we felt it was important to show our support for Harvard and other schools that use diversity as one of many factors in admission. There are no easy answers, and the debate about race and ethnicity in education is far from over, but 爱游戏体育 will continue to support schools and candidates in this important effort 鈥� and, in turn, continue to pursue our own mission of building a more just and prosperous world.
