Amar Calls for Affirmative Action Data in LA Times Commentary
Professor of Law Vikram Amar provided commentary in the Los Angeles Times on affirmative action programs designed to aid disadvantaged students. The op-ed piece, co-written with Richard H. Sander, looked at data collected from dozens of law schools in California and elsewhere, and affirmative action programs.
Amar and Sander discuss details of the controversial "mismatch theory," and propose that affirmative action policies need closer study to see if they actually have a negative effect on minority law school students. They propose a study, using data from the State Bar of California, to compare how students with similar college grades and LSAT scores do on the bar when they've attended different law schools and experienced different types of legal education. The data would also make it possible to more deeply compare the bar performance of minority students before and after Proposition 209 and use other careful techniques to test whether the mismatch effect exists.
They write, "We know of no serious scholar who has denied, or reasonably could deny, that the study we're proposing would shed some important light on a vital public policy issue. It would not be the final word on mismatch theory, no doubt, but it would be an important step that would advance understanding of the subject. "
Los Angeles Times/September 26, 2007