0195182863.pdf

184 Difference

table 8.3

Race of Dominant Speakers

Dominant Speakers by Time Dominant Speakers by Turns

% of Total Class % of Total Class
Time Taken Time Taken
Class Race by Speaker Race by Speaker

Elite/Prestige

2 1) White 1) 3.31 1) White 1) 2.88
2) White 2) 2.64 2) African American 2) 2.66

8 1) African American 1) 16.65 1) African American 1)15.94
2) Asian American 2) 14.29 2) Asian American 2)14.06

5 1) White 1) 4.55 1) White 1) 4.62
2) White 2) 4.03 2) White 2) 3.41

Regional

4 1) White 1) 3.46 1) White 1) 6.59
2) White 2) 3.16 2) White 2) 5.94

7 1) White 1) 8.45 1) White 1) 5.57
2) White 2) 7.78 2) White 2) 5.17

Local

6 1) White 1) 9.06 1) White 1)10.97
2) White 2) 5.97 2) White 2) 7.07

3 1) White 1) 5.69 1) White 1) 5.45
2) White 2) 5.66 2) White 2) 4.57

We were able to reliably track repeat speakers in seven of the eight law schools. We are not able to
report statistics for Class #1, one of the local law schools. Because this was the classroom in which
the distribution of both time and turns was most heavily skewed toward white students, with a huge
disparity, it is unlikely that any students of color occupied a dominant role in the class. This likely
scenario is supported by qualitative observation in the classroom tracking the students who
emerged as identifiable repeat players.

fit with previous scholarship, discussed earlier, documenting minority students’

negative responses to overwhelmingly white schools as well as to the overt and

covert forms of racism found in many such settings. It would also fit with findings

showing that students of color feel that it makes a difference if they have the expe-

rience of being taught by professors of color.^39

Overall, we found a high degree of variability in terms of minority participa-

tion rates, with at times whopping disproportions in favor of white students. (These

disproportions were far more marked than were found when analyzing gender.)

No clear pattern among the kinds of classes emerged from a comparison across

the eight schools of this study, except for the fact that students of color partici-

pated more vigorously in classes taught by professors of color in which there were

substantial cohorts of minority students—and this was particularly true in terms

of dominant speakers. It also is worth exploring whether subtle aspects of class-