Legal Commentary

Richard Delgado's "Ask Mom" series on Blackprof is regularly fascinating and provocative, if I may sum up my reactions to it in a neutral and non-specific way.  Today's post is no exception.  "Mom" answers a question from a "reader" who writes to ask whether it is permissible for her to hold support sessions for students with grade-point averages of B or lower.  The "reader" began holding these sessions because she noticed that many of her lower-scoring students were black or Latino.  Some white students have complained that the sessions should be opened to all students no matter their grade-point average, and have suggested that the policy is covertly aimed at students of color alone.  "Mom" advises his "correspondent" to stick to her guns.

The fun in reading Delgado's Ask Mom series is in thinking about which aspects of his answers you agree with, which you disagree with, and so on, so I won't impose my own conclusions on you; decide for yourselves.  Two observations, though.  First, there is of course nothing wrong with aiming review sessions at students, of whatever color, who are having more trouble in class than their colleagues.  I agree fully with "Mom" that the "teacher" has "no obligation to offer additional sessions for A-minus students wishing to earn an A-plus."  But "Ask Mom" gives his own post the title "Should I exclude whites from my review sessions?"  So is the point that this "teacher" really wants to exclude whites from her reviews?  That her use of grades as a limit really is an imperfect but deliberate proxy for race?

The other observation is that the entire spectrum of Delgado's vision can apparently be summed up as follows: "white," "black," and "Latino."  That's it.  Missing from these categories are, among other things, "Asian," "American Indian," "Persian," "Arab," and so on.  Not to mention the very reason I've put quotes around all these words: also missing are "biracial," "complex mix," and "none of the above."  (Not to mention, as always, "disabled," although I acknowledge that's a different kind of category.)  At Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, the last law school I taught at full-time, Delgado's categories wouldn't have come within miles of describing the profound and exciting racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity of the student body.  It's an extraordinary place, and I would hate to think anyone would attempt to describe it with only three words.  He ought to pay it a visit sometime.