We’d like to offer our congratulations and thanks to the Virginia-based Center for Equal Opportunity, which last week announced the publication of three new studies documenting “severe discrimination based on race and ethnicity in law school admissions” at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. In all three cases, CEO President Roger Clegg noted, race was given considerably greater weight than in-state residency status: “For instance, a white resident of Nebraska in 2007 was more than twenty times less likely to be admitted than an African American from out of state.” CEO Chairman Linda Chavez concurred, and emphasized the extraordinary extent to which race is considered in the three law schools’ admissions policies: “Racial discrimination in university admissions is always appalling. But the degree of discrimination we have found here is off the charts.” The studies are available at CEO’s website:
University of Arizona and Arizona State University
University of Nebraska
As always, we salute the fine work of CEO, our longtime ally in opposing the use of illegal racial and ethnic preferences in higher education. We’re also happy to note once again that our state affiliates have rendered useful assistance in submitting information requests and procuring admissions data, which CEO graciously acknowledges in both studies and the accompanying press releases. Our local affiliates have been indispensable to our own efforts over the years, as with our ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) projects in a number of states, and we’re equally gratified that they’ve been able to assist Roger Clegg and his most worthy efforts at CEO. The fight against preferences is unfortunately far from finished, but this is certainly a significant victory, and we look forward to continuing our cordial collaboration with CEO in the future.
