News Release

$540,000 grant to continue study
of educational diversity in law schools

CHAPEL HILL - Faculty from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro and the University of California at Los Angeles have received a $540,000 grant to continue their study of whether racial diversity in U.S. law schools results in educational benefits.

UNC-Chapel Hill law professor Charles E. Daye and psychology professor Abigail T. Panter of the College of Arts and Sciences lead the Educational Diversity Project. Other faculty are Dr. Walter R Allen, professor of sociology and education at UCLA, and Dr. Linda F. Wightman, emeritus professor of educational research at UNC-Greensboro.

The grant was awarded by the Law School Admission Council under its empirical research program, which awards grants for research about law schools, law students and legal education. The council has awarded more than $1 million to the project's comprehensive research study since 2004. The latest grant funds the project through June 2008.

The researchers are gathering national data from law schools and law students to address the question of whether racial diversity results in educational benefits, and if so, to define and describe those benefits.

In 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Grutter v. Bollinger that educational institutions may consider race as a factor in admissions to derive the educational benefits of diversity. Three years later, controversy still exists about whether racial diversity offers educational benefits. The researchers believed that empirical research was needed to help provide some answers.

The team draws on interdisciplinary insights from law, psychology, sociology and educational research methodologies. "We believe that data collection and rigorous analysis can lead to a better understanding of whether considering race and other factors in admissions supports constitutionally permissible educational objectives," Daye said.

Wightman said, "This emotional debate is too often fueled by perception and anecdote because we are so lacking is structured research and data."

Added Panter, "It's very exciting for us to move into this next major phase of our research, which allows us to pursue key longitudinal questions about the effect of the law school environment on student perceptions and experiences of diversity. Our entire team is so grateful for this continued support."

The Educational Diversity Project used the previous funding to conduct a national survey at nearly 70 law schools of 8,500 students who entered law school in fall 2004. The data gathered includes personal demographic information, family backgrounds, lifetime and college experiences, attitudes and perspectives, academic expectations and career aspirations.

Researchers also conducted focus groups with a selected sample of 200 law students from all over the nation during their first and second years of law school.

With the new funding, the researchers will follow up on the incoming student surveys with final-year surveys and focus groups. The team will also conduct interviews with law school faculty members about their pedagogy with respect to discussing race in the classroom and legal analyses of cases.

"By adding the faculty interview study to our research, we can now learn--from a non-student perspective--how diversity is addressed in the classroom setting, especially during the analysis of cases involving race and diversity," Panter said.

For more information about the Educational Diversity Project, visit www.unc.edu/edp.

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Note: Daye can be reached at (919) 962-7004 or cdaye@email.unc.edu. Panter can be reached at (919) 962-4012 or panter@unc.edu

News Services contacts: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu; Karen Moon, (919) 962-8595, karen_moon@unc.edu; LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu