The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

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

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Student Participation and Social Difference
179
also signs of lingering differences in experience for law students of color. Gulati,
Sander, and Sockloskie combined their results from a survey of third-year law stu-
dents at eleven law schools with the findings of two previous studies of law stu-
dents.
34
 On the one hand, they conclude that overall, these law students are satisfied
with their law school experiences, and that this is true of students of color and fe-
male students as well as white male students at these schools. On the other hand,
when they examine the “gloomy” responses to their survey, they find that African
American, Asian American, and female students are overrepresented among the
most alienated group of third-year law students.
35
 This leads them to conclude with
a mixed picture: that overall in the schools they examined, race-based differences
in satisfaction do not seem widely divergent, but that there are “pockets” of deep
dissatisfaction, and that students of color are disproportionately included in these
pockets. It would be interesting to learn more about the distribution of these pockets
of unhappiness in terms of types of law school contexts, given that there might be
systematic problems in some schools but not in others.
36
Classroom Patterns: Inclusion and Leading the Class
Against this backdrop, we turn now to examine the findings of this study regard-
ing racial dynamics in law school classrooms. Table 8.1 reports on participation
rates in the classrooms of this study in terms of race. One of the most striking pat-
terns is the relatively high level of participation found among students of color in
the two classes taught by professors of color (Classes #2 and #8). In terms of turns,
students of color participated more (proportionate to their numbers in class) than
did white students in both classes (11% more in Class #2; 43% more in Class #8).
In terms of time, students of color again participated more (51% more) in Class
#8. Interestingly, in the larger of the two classes taught by professors of color (Class
#2, which was also the largest class in the study, with 135 students), there is a 15%
time disproportion in favor of white students. However, this time disproportion
is the smallest of the entire study for classes in which white students took dispro-
portionately more time; in the remaining white-dominated classes, the dispropor-
tions ranged from 34% (Class #3) to a whopping 289% (Class #1). Note that if there
is a positive effect on student participation from the presence of a professor of color
in these classes, it is unlikely to be the product of professorial ideologies regarding
race-conscious attempts to remedy any effects of past discrimination, as these two
professors differed in their attitudes in that regard. We are left with the interesting
question of whether any such positive effect might simply result from the encour-
aging impact of diversity itself: that the mere presence of professors of color might
create an environment that feels less closed or segregated, sending the message that
all kinds of people are prototypical and highly competent inhabitants of the legal
profession, as well as authorities on legal knowledge. It is also worth noting that
both of these classes were taught at elite law schools, so that at least in these cases
it does not appear that the elite setting had a dampening effect.
It is also important to note that when we break down further the umbrella
category of “students of color,” it appears that the 15% disproportion in Class #2
resulted largely from the lack of participation by Asian American students, who

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180
Difference
table
 8.1
Summaries of Participation Ratios by Race
Class
Total Time
Total Turns
Elite/Prestige
2
1.15
.89
8
.49
.57
5
2.04
2.00
Regional
4
.73
.87
7
1.34
1.06
Local
1
2.89
4.44
6
.74
.99
3
1.34
1.25
Ratios are calculated by dividing the white students’