Race, Rankings, and the Part-Time Free Pass

My primary objective in this article is to determine, at least tentatively, the extent to which law schools use the U.S. News free pass to promote diversity by way of their part-time programs. Secondarily, I hope to begin a dialog about whether this use of the free pass is a good thing, from the perspective of a proponent of greater minority representation in law schools. One view perhaps the one held by most people committed to greater law school access for minorities-is that virtually any strategy to increase minority enrollment would have merit. But use of the free pass to increase minority enrollment in part-time programs potentially imposes costs on the very students who are its intended beneficiaries. Law schools with disproportionate numbers of minorities in their part-time programs-whether because of a conscious strategy or because of other factors-should consider those costs carefully.