Describes efforts by Alice Gresham Bullock, dean of the Howard University School of Law, to improve the school (including building a new library and improving relations with faculty) and restore Howard to its previous stature as a leader in civil rights law. (EV)

Steeped in the values of the civil rights movement, James Forman Jr. has charted a path into academia that has demonstrated both a keen commitment to social justice as well as impressive legal and academic achievements. Among his most notable accomplishments prior to his Georgetown appointment in 2003, Forman co-founded the nationally acclaimed…

Salutes the professional schools that have most consistently appeared at the top of the journal's annual ranking of Top 100 graduate and professional schools for granting the most degrees to African Americans. Included are five institutions granting the most first professional degrees in medicine and the 10 law schools. (CH)

This article describes the accomplishments of Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard University law school. The first and only African American woman to hold a tenured faculty position at the Harvard University law school, Guinier has put her visibility to use by speaking out on issues of race, gender and democratic…

Discusses the declining enrollment of minority students in law school. Examines why this is happening, what measures are being taken to counteract it, and what still needs to be done to reverse this decline. Influences of faculty role models and Black law schools are discussed. (JS)

On July 1, Christopher Edley Jr. became the dean of the University of California-Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law. The first African American to hold the deanship of California's premier public law school, Edley brings to the job an array of accomplishments and experiences few American law school deans can match. This article describes his…

The ban on affirmative action in college and university admissions has stimulated law schools to recruit underrepresented minorities more aggressively, in some cases producing more competition for historically black institutions. Declines in law school minority enrollments are also attributed to student preferences for other areas of study, such…

After the appellate court decision in Hopwood versus State of Texas, overturning racial preference in law school admissions, supporters of continued affirmative action policy in higher education are finding conservatives on the offensive and a chilly climate for broad access, but are not planning an aggressive counterattack for fear of negative…

Issues of gender and race are arising more frequently in new, expanded law texts, law school classroom discussion, and legal scholarship. Supporters feel the trend is appropriate, even belated, in an increasingly diverse society. (MSE)

Traces the history of racial progress at the University of Texas School of Law from 1946, when an African American was denied admission, to events that led to improved access for minorities, to the case of Hopwood v. Texas, to the demise of affirmative action in Texas higher education. Emphasis is on changes in minority enrollments across those…

The federal court decision in Hopwood versus the State of Texas, in which the court ruled that race could not be used as a factor in law school admission, is forcing universities to reexamine their reliance on standardized tests as admission criteria. Reduced use of test scores can then allow more active recruitment of top minority students. (MSE)