Increasing Diversity in Law Begins in Preschool
Professor Martha West, a legal expert in employment discrimination, labor law, and sex discrimination, was quoted in the Sacramento Business Journal on increasing diversity in the legal profession.
The November 3rd story points out that minorities make up 63 percent of California's population, but only 17 percent are practicing in the legal profession. Although the UC Davis School of Law is ranked in the top 10 for "Best Environment for Minority Students" and "Most Diverse Faculty" by The Princeton Review's 2006 edition of the Best 159 Law Schools, only 34 percent of the student body is of color.
"The numbers aren't coming in," warns West in the article. She says that in addition to law school administration policies, undergraduate administration policies are important for pushing the door open wider, particularly in schools impacted by proposition 209, the 1996 measure that dealt a blow to affirmative action programs. She says that it is critical that efforts extend as far down as the preschool level, including getting publicly financed preschools to ensure children of color with fewer resources than their white neighbors get essential skills in the early years. Blacks and Latinos have to be at the starting line to run the race, she says.
November 3, 2006/Sacramento Business Journal
The November 3rd story points out that minorities make up 63 percent of California's population, but only 17 percent are practicing in the legal profession. Although the UC Davis School of Law is ranked in the top 10 for "Best Environment for Minority Students" and "Most Diverse Faculty" by The Princeton Review's 2006 edition of the Best 159 Law Schools, only 34 percent of the student body is of color.
"The numbers aren't coming in," warns West in the article. She says that in addition to law school administration policies, undergraduate administration policies are important for pushing the door open wider, particularly in schools impacted by proposition 209, the 1996 measure that dealt a blow to affirmative action programs. She says that it is critical that efforts extend as far down as the preschool level, including getting publicly financed preschools to ensure children of color with fewer resources than their white neighbors get essential skills in the early years. Blacks and Latinos have to be at the starting line to run the race, she says.
November 3, 2006/Sacramento Business Journal