ABA Suspends DEI Accreditation Requirements For Law Schools
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Law schools have been stuck between a rock and the Trump administration when it comes to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion on their campuses. Diversifying classrooms has benefits: broadening the likelihood of cultural exchange and encouraging opportunities for differing viewpoints that can challenge students’ given assumptions being chief among them. It also didn’t hurt that the ABA required law schools to foster diversity if they intended to gain or keep their accreditation. Between the dueling ABA and Trump mandates, something had to give if law schools were to get out of the double bind. The ABA gave out first. Reuters has coverage:
The American Bar Association will temporarily suspend enforcement of its diversity and inclusion standard for law schools.
The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted on Friday to halt enforcement of its current standard until August 31 while it reviews a pending proposed revision to the rule.
I wouldn’t invest too much hope in the “temporariness” of this suspended enforcement. Not sure how many revisions are in the queue, but I’m willing to bet that the final standard for law schools will amount to “Hey man, do whatever it takes to maintain school eligibility for government funding” at best. The ABA has been struggling to establish strong public-facing arguments for diversity since SFFA despite the brainstorming meetings to rebrand the importance of diversity — there’s no chance this will be the moment they decide to draw a line in the sand and pull a Costco.
Schools like Cornell, Vanderbilt, and ASS Law were ahead of the curve and modified or scrubbed mentions of DEI from their webpages. Following the ABA’s suspension, more schools will do the same.
American Bar Association Suspends Law School DEI Rule Enforcement [Reuters]
Earlier: Law Schools Respond To The Executive Threatening To Cut Federal Funding Over DEI
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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