For Immediate Release: April 16, 2023

Contact:
Tony Pals, tpals@aera.net
(202) 238-3235, (202) 288-9333 (cell)

Marla Koenigsknecht, mkoenigsknecht@aera.net
(202) 238-3233, (517) 803-1591 (cell)

AERA23 Study Snapshot: Protecting Diversity: Can We Afford to Throw Out Grutter Before Its Expiration Date?

Study: “Protecting Diversity: Can We Afford to Throw Out Grutter Before Its Expiration Date?”
Authors: Jason Scott (AccessLex Institute), Paige Matthews Wilson (AccessLex Institute), Andrea Pals (AccessLex Institute), Tiffane Cochran (AccessLex Institute)
Embargoed until: 12:01 a.m. CT Sunday, April 16

This paper will be presented at the place-based component of the AERA 2023 Annual Meeting. 
Session: Social Science Analyses of Emerging Legal Dilemmas
Date/Time: Sunday, April 16, 2:50 p.m. – 4:20 p.m. CT

Main Findings:

• Greater campus diversity at U.S. law schools is associated with lower student attrition for underrepresented students of color.
   
• Greater campus diversity is associated with higher GPAs and higher predicted likelihood of bar passage for Black law students. 

Details:

• Among underrepresented students of color at U.S. law schools, greater law school campus diversity is associated with decreases in overall student attrition across institutional selectivity levels. The magnitude of the effect increases as institutional selectivity decreases. At a school with below average selectivity, an increase in diversity from the minimum measurement to the maximum is linked to a predicted drop in attrition of 3 percentage points, from 9 percent to 6 percent.
   
• For Black law students, greater campus diversity is associated with higher final GPAs. For a Black student, a typical increase in diversity is associated with an improvement in LGPA of 0.18 grade points, from 2.99 to 3.17, and with an improvement in predicted probability of bar passage of 9 percentage points, from 51 percent to 60 percent.
   
• The authors note that the generally positive relationship between institutional diversity and retention among underrepresented students of color—and the positive relationships between institutional diversity and GPA and bar passage among Black students—might tentatively support the “undermatching” theory: that students who enroll at less prestigious institutions than those for which they may qualify face worse outcomes when it comes to academic performance and persistence, and that this phenomenon may disproportionately affect low-income students and students of color.
   
• “Our results reconfirm that there are indeed educational benefits to people of color resulting from greater student body diversity, in this case, specifically in law school” said study coauthor Jason Scott, a senior research methodologist at AccessLex Institute.
   
• “As the Supreme Court weighs the future of affirmative action, these findings are an important reminder that full racial integration in higher education remains a critical and not-yet-complete objective for institutions and policymakers.”
   
• Data for the study came from the American Bar Association, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Law School Survey of Student Engagement. The data set for the attrition analysis covered 176 American Bar Association–approved non-HBCU and non–Puerto Rican law schools and included students who left law school early from fall 2016 to spring 2019. The data sets for the GPA and bar passage analyses covered 5,025 law students and 4,782 law students, respectively, who graduated in 2018 and 2019.
   
• Across ABA-approved law schools (excluding the six HBCU law schools), Blacks make up 6.4 percent of the student population (compared to 13.6 percent of the U.S. population) and Hispanics make up 13.2 percent (compared to 18.9 percent). Whites make up 62.7 percent of the student population (compared to 59.3 percent of the U.S. population) and Asians make up 6.8 percent (compared to 6.1 percent).

To request a copy of the working paper, or to talk to the study author, please contact AERA Communications: Tony Pals, Director of Communications, tpals@aera.net, cell: (202) 288-9333; Marla Koenigsknecht, Communications Associate, mkoenigsknecht@aera.net, cell: (517) 803-1591.

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About AERA
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. Founded in 1916, AERA advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. Find AERA on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.