178 Difference
American students have shown that they are more likely than their white counter-
parts to experience largely white college campuses as hostile, alienating, and so-
cially isolating; the stresses of minority status were found to have an effect on their
academic achievement that was independent of previous academic preparation.^25
Some studies have shown that the effects are more severe for women of color.^26
And there are indications of a regressive trend at the college level since the early
1980s for non-Asian minority students in general; their attrition rates are rising
while their grade point averages have been falling.^27
Reports from the legal academy on racial inclusion do not add a reassuring
note to this generally disheartening picture. Our information on the climate in law
school for students of color comes primarily from survey studies and from anec-
dotal reports. One study, conducted by Taunya Lovell Banks, surveyed students
from fourteen private and public law schools across the United States between 1987
and 1989.^28 In addition to findings on gender, this study compared the percep-
tions and experiences of students of color with those of white male students. It found
that students of color were more likely to report that “very few of their professors
respect their questions and comments” and that African American students were
more likely to “perceive that professors embarrass or put down students, and use
offensive humor in class.”^29 The study did, however, point to strong positive ef-
fects on the class participation of African American students of attending histori-
cally African American law schools; in other words, black students talk more freely
and contribute more substantially to class discussions when they are not small
minorities in the classrooms. Conversely, minority students were less likely to par-
ticipate proportionate to their numbers in class when the classroom was predomi-
nantly white.
Other studies have yielded largely similar results. A 1988 study of law students
at the University of California–Berkeley found that white male students reported
volunteering in class more frequently than all other students; white men also re-
ported overall more positive feelings of self-esteem and more positive reactions to
Socratic teaching.^30 Women of color consistently showed up with the most nega-
tive reports regarding participation, self-esteem, and satisfaction with law school
teaching. A study of law students at the University of Pennsylvania from 1990 to
1994 found that “race continues to play a strong independent role in predicting
law school performance,” even with the effects of LSAT and college GPA held con-
stant.^31 Students of color participating in this study also reported use of racially
intimidating language in class. A study of nine Ohio law schools turned up similar
reports of harassment and silencing that differentially impacted students of color.^32
In both the Berkeley and Ohio studies, students of color were more likely to report
that faculty diversity mattered to them than were white students (and white women
were more likely to report that it mattered than were white men). Research con-
ducted by the Law School Admission Council found some marked differences
between women of color and white women in terms of perceived fairness of the
grading process, academic self-concept, experiences of discrimination, and a num-
ber of other areas.^33
A recent study of third-year law students produced interestingly complex re-
sults on diversity issues, finding both encouraging evidence of some progress, but