Student Participation and Social Difference 183cohorts of minority students (Classes #7 and #3) had less imbalance in favor of white
students than did two of the classes in the middle range in terms of cohorts (Classes
#1 and #5). Of course, this does not imply that a substantial minority cohort in a
classroom has no positive effects on participation; to the contrary, the two classes
with the largest cohorts are two of the three most racially inclusive classrooms. (Note
also, however, that these are also classes taught by professors of color, so that there
are other potentially encouraging aspects of the settings as well.) But it again sug-
gests that multiple aspects of the context combine to create more or less inclusive
environments, so that the positive influence of a minority cohort can sometimes be
undermined by other features of the classroom environment. Conversely, the com-
bination of a diverse student body and faculty diversity seem to work well, at least in
this study, in creating a learning environment in which students of color are com-
fortable enough to make their voices heard.
Perhaps the most striking finding on race in the study emerges from an analy-
sis of the dominant speakers in each classroom. It is only in the two classes taught
by professors of color that students of color are the dominant speakers. Table 8.3
lists the two students in each class who occupied the most time and turns. We see
that students of color become leaders of classroom discussion only in Classes #2
and #8, both of which are taught by professors of color. Interestingly, these two
classes occupy opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of size: Class #2 is the larg-
est in the study (135 students) and Class #8 is the smallest (32 students). Thus, we
can say that large size alone does not seem to silence minority students, although
students of color dominate to the greatest extent in the smaller of these two classes.
(Indeed, not only are the first two dominant speakers in that class students of color;
the third most talkative student, with 8.68% of the turns in the class, was also a
student of color.)
Summary
Our findings open up some interesting questions worthy of further exploration.
Does the presence of faculty of color create an atmosphere in which students of
color feel their own presence to be more legitimate, their contributions more valu-
able? If this is the case, are there constraints on this effect, situations in which this
encouraging aspect of faculty diversity is blunted by other factors worthy of study?
For example, this study did not find that the effect of a professor of color on stu-
dents of color was blunted in elite schools. There might, however, be other aspects
of the law school or classroom context that could affect this dynamic. We can also
ask: What role does cohort size play? On the one hand, the existence of a sizable
cohort of minority students in Class #5 did not lead to favorable participation rates
in a class taught by an older white male professor using a relatively formal teach-
ing style in an elite/prestige law school. On the other hand, we did find that both
of the two classes with the best participation rates for students of color contained
a substantial cohort of students of color, in addition to being taught by professors
of color. So it may be that some combination of faculty and student diversity, re-
sulting in both substantial cohorts and available professorial role models, can be
important parts of creating more inclusive classrooms and law schools. This would