Legal News

Law Prof Who Opposes Affirmative Action Denied Access to Bar Stats

By Dan Slater

Richard Sander (pictured), a UCLA law prof who, according to his bio, studies “social and economic inequality,” hopes to prove the so-called “mismatch” theory of affirmative action, at least as it applies to law. The theory: that affirmative action programs hurt the career prospects of minority law students and that students who are weaker than their classmates will often do better academically (and on the bar) if they attend a less-competitive school.

But Professor Sander’s research hit a roadblock, and the L.A. Times editorial page is none too happy about it. Apparently, when Sander requested data about the performance of white and minority law grads on the bar examination, along with info about the schools they attended and their grades, he was denied. Bar officials reportedly cited the need to protect the privacy of test takers and to honor an agreement that test material will remain confidential. (Sander reportedly promised that no individual student would be identified by the statistics.)

At the same time, writes the LAT, some defenders of affirmative action have argued against releasing the data because they think Sander’s project could have only one purpose: to discredit the idea of racial preferences. The LAT writes:

It’s also unfair to accuse Sander of seeking to dismantle racial preferences. True, his hypothesis is that affirmative action students are disserved because they derive less benefit from an elite law school than students who meet the usual admission standards. . . .The mismatch theory may be mistaken. But suppose it were found to be valid? That wouldn’t necessarily lead to the abolition of racial preferences. Another result might be the strengthening of mentorship and other programs to help less-well-prepared students achieve at higher levels.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 17, 2008 (boomark / email).