Academic

DEAR MOM

By Richard Delgado

?The Undying Brotherhood of People of Color?

Robyn Gonzales Washington, IV asked Mom the other day how she would reply to a letter Professor Washington received from a student who had been admitted to her school.

The student identified herself as a person of color who was interested in pursuing a career of public-interest law and said she was writing Washington because she saw her photo on the law school?s website.  (Washington is black).  The student asked about professors, courses, and programs in the area of social justice and said that she had a number of other options but was leaning toward Washington?s school because of its superior offerings in this area.

Washington knows that the information in her school?s catalog and website is out of date and wildly inaccurate.  The only other black professor on the faculty is visiting at another school and unlikely to return.  The school recently had a third African American professor, but he took early retirement two years ago, and the school keeps him on the roster even though he only teaches one course a year as an adjunct.  The one Latino professor is conservative. The school lists several courses of a public-interest nature, but nobody ever teaches them.  The school?s dominant interest is corporate and business law.

MOM SAYS.  An unspoken rule holds that minorities are absolutely straight with each other when asked about their institutions.  So, if Professor A at school X asks B what things are like at school Y, where A is thinking of applying for a job, B ought to tell A the unvarnished truth, the good with the bad.  The quid pro quo is that A should always protect her source.

The trouble is that the student letter-writer may not know this rule.  She may blurt out that Washington told her that her school is to the right of Attila the Hun.  She may be conservative and use Washington?s answer against her later.  She may have a different idea of what a public interest career is, perhaps thinking of it in terms of a job with a right-wing litigation outfit suing environmentalists or universities that operate affirmative action programs.

In short, Washington needs to be careful what she says to the self-identified minority applicant.  Perhaps she could suggest that the student drop in to see her the next time she is in town and size her up before answering questions.  She could suggest that the student get in touch with the minority student association ?to get the students? point of view.?

She could ask her what specific area she is interested in.  If she says, for example, that she is interested in labor law, Washington could answer that her colleague who teaches this subject ?has a rich background of representing large corporations against union complaints? and let the student draw her own conclusions.

Mom says it is better to be safe than sorry and that Washington should resist the temptation to speak bluntly of her school, at least unless she knows the other party well.  She can say something like ?You can get a good, standard legal education here? and let the letter-writer read between the lines.  Prospective law students are supposed to be smart and have an ear for language.  One should not, of course, say things that one does not believe.  But no one is under an obligation to pour one?s heart out to a total stranger.  In some situations, the old maxim holds true:  Let the buyer beware.

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Full post as published by BlackProf on March 23, 2008 (boomark / email).