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Methodology

The purpose of this report is to provide a way to measure to what extent non-minorities (whites)  are over-represented in  law schools, to provide a way of measuring changes and progress in equitable representation of minorities and  to provide a mechanism of comparing law schools  training of a racially representative group of lawyers as we move toward becoming a "nation of minorities".   

 

The objectives of this report are to:

measure the percentage of  "whites"  in each law  school measure the difference between the percentage of whites in the law school compared to the percentage of: 

regional and state population 21-39 (whites) regional and state LSAC Applications (whites).

compare the schools on each of these measures.

 

 

The information sources for this report  are:

 the 2004 ABA-LSAC official guide.  This is information reported to the ABA as a requirement of accreditation. The information in the guide is based on the 2002 application/admission cycle. (American Bar Association - Law School Admission Council). 

the LSAC National Statistical Report - 1998-99 through 2003-03. The 2002-03 tables ere used in this report. 

U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder, Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent Data and Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent Data, http://factfinder.census.gov/home/ (Last Visited: March 21, 2003).

 

The definitions used in this report are:

 

Whiteness is defined as caucasian plus unknown. Questions have been raised about the methodology of counting unknowns as whites.  Unknown presented a problem. If we did not include them as white, then schools  with large number of whites who failed to report their race would look less white  than  they actually were.  I decided to count unknown as white for several  reasons.

 First, to not penalize schools who have most of the applicants to their school reporting race.  Second, to not provide incentives for schools to move the reporting of large number of students into unknown.  Third, to have a consistent methodology. Fourth, this approach has been used by other diversity ranking system; see US News & World Report;  See generally, Michael Chang,  Quantitative approaches to measuring student body diversity:  Some examples and thoughts (Draft Paper: 2003); (pdf) (added: 04/17/04)

 

Law School-Age Population is age 21 to 39:

 U.S. Census Bureau,  American FactFinder, Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent Data and Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent Data, http://factfinder.census.gov/home/ (Last Visited: March 21, 2003). 

 

State LSAC application pool is the total number of  LSAC applications from persons who list a particular state as their home state.

 For example, of 99504  LSAC applications, 6797  were from Texas applicants.

 

 

Historically White Law Schools" (HWLS) (n=179). are schools who have historically been de facto white with no significant history of proportionately serving minorities.

  Specifically, excluded from the statistics are: 
  Howard University
  Inter-American University School of Law
  North Carolina Central University
  Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
  Southern University
  Texas Southern University (Thurgood Marshall)
  The University of Puerto Rico.
  University of Hawaii is included in the descriptive statistics but like University of Puerto Rico it primarily serves a state population which is minority. The question to be answer is whether the University of Hawaii is a historically white school. For the purpose of this report it is assumed that it is a HWLS.

 

Tier designation was based on the 2004 US News & World Report Rankings.

  The tier system is based on the U.S. News and World Report annual ranking of law schools. 
  While Deans, ABA, and LSAC all decry the ranking, Deans, faculty, alumni, students and applicants all rely on the ranking as a measure of external worth. 
  The Top 100 rank reported by US News is broken into tier 1 and tier 2.
 

 

Public/Private designation was based on the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar listing. 

  There are 74 historically White public law schools.
 

 

Regions are defined according to the ABA/LSAC Official Guide. There are 10 regions:

  Northeast
  New England
  Southcentral
  Southeast
  Midsouth
  Midwest
  Great Lakes
  Mountain West
  Northwest 
  Far West

 

  Percent Total Whiteness for each law school was calculated by adding total whiteness to total unknown. Whiteness does not include Foreign natitonsl.
 

For, example University of Texas School of Law has 74.2% caucasian, .7 foreign nationals and 4.9% unknown; minorities is 20.1%; Thus, University of Texas Total Whiteness is 79.1%

 

  Percent of  Total Whiteness in  LSAC Applications was calculated by adding percent of total whites (64.4%) to unreported race (3.7%)
  During the 2002 application cycle there were 99,504 applicants to the Fall 2003 class. Of those test-takers, only 68.1% were white (non-minorities).
  This report ranks all schools on the Percent of Total Whiteness in the school. (Ranking Listing)/(Alphabetical Listing).
 

 

Percent of State Whiteness in LSAC Applications was calculated by dividing the number  of applications from whites from a particular state by the number of total applications from the state. (Table)

 

For example, 6797 applications were from persons who state of residence was Texas; of those applications, 4043 were from whites. Thus,  4043 divided  by  6797  times 100 = 59.5%.

 

  Percent of Regional Whiteness in LSAC Application was calculated by dividing the number of applications from whites from a region by the number of total applications from the region.
  For example, the Southeast region consists of  Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.  The total number of applications from the region is 9897. Of those applications, 6226 are from whites or 62.9%.  Thus, the percent of whiteness in LSAC Applications from the southeast region is 62.9% (added 04/18/04)

 

  Descriptive Statistics include mean, median, minimum, maximum.  The purpose of these statistics is to give the reader a 'picture' of the data collected and used.
  These statistics included only Historically White Law Schools" (HWLS) (n=179).
  Mean is the average, around which the data clusters. All data in a sample is used. It is appropriate for data measured at least at interval level.
  Median is the middle value when data in a sample is arranged in order. It is appropriate for data measured at least at ordinal level.
 

 

Correlation Statistics used was the Spearman Coefficient.  

  If a result is 'statistically significant', it implies a statistical test has been carried-out, and the probability of obtaining the observed data (or more extreme) by chance, is small – typically less than 0.05 or less than 5 chances out of a 100.