Strange how 'blind' grading separates the sheep from the goats. 'Brown and
other black students said the emphasis on grades was troublesome.' Perhaps
it's because they were admitted to the school under affirmative action
policies and therefore cannot compete with other students. Should the
selections have been made on their ability to shoot baskets? Maybe black
freshmen are shocked to discover that law journals are not written in
ebonics. On second thought I think the suggestion that the black students
start their own law review journals is excellent-it will prepare them to be
members of the black caucus, the black journalists and all the other
exclusionary black groups, which is a heck of a lot easier than rising to
the standards.
Black law students protest unusual exclusion
By MICHAEL CASS
Staff Writer
VU group's 0% T-shirts reflect recent participation on law journals
The T-shirts expressed the problem in simple, black-and-white terms: ''0%.''
As students who have been admitted to this fall's class at Vanderbilt
University Law School visited the campus yesterday, a group of current
African-American students drew attention to a strange - and not so
black-and-white - disparity.
While about 13% of the law school's students are black, none of those
students has been selected for at least the past two years to work on any of
the school's three student-run law journals, including the most prestigious,
the Vanderbilt Law Review. The numbers weren't much higher in previous
years.
The reasons for the black students' exclusion are mysterious. The journals,
which publish scholarly articles on legal issues, add about 90 students each
year based on grades and writing samples. Judges don't know whose writing
they're reading, and administrators say outside experts have found that
there's no racial bias in the writing assignment. Professors grade their
students' work ''blindly'' as well.
Kyonzte Hughes, a third-year student from Hammond, La., and president of
Vanderbilt's Black Law Students Association, says some black students do
very well academically, while some journal participants from other racial
and ethnic groups don't.
But it's the school's black population that has been coming up empty on one
of the best extracurricular experiences a law student can have.
''Vanderbilt has one of the largest populations of black law students,''
said Damon Brown, a black third-year student from Los Angeles who led
yesterday's protest, though he said he did not apply to work on any of the
journals because of a death in his family two years ago.
''There's a misconception that black students are here and having access to
all these things when they're not,'' said Brown, president of the school's
Thurgood Marshall Legal Activist Society. ''A lot of us came here thinking
the door was wide open.''
The situation may change soon. Student groups, journal editors and
professors are working on potential solutions. Vanderbilt's law faculty,
which opened up more journal positions for second-year students in December,
plans to look at the requirements for first-year students on April 8. That
will allow enough time to implement changes by the end of this academic
year, when each publication will select another group of staffers, Dean Kent
Syverud said.
''It's been a tough issue for three years,'' Syverud said. ''I respect
terrifically the students for their patience and civility. And I don't
expect that patience to last forever. We're really focused on addressing the
matter fairly this year.''
Brown and other black students said the emphasis on grades was troublesome,
though they said they haven't been able to get any grading breakdowns from
the school that would help them explore how African-Americans are stacking
up. They said journal selections should be based on students' abilities to
make intelligent, persuasive legal arguments in writing rather than on their
performances on final exams.
''It's a publication, and that's what we need to focus on,'' said Vinita
Voss, a third-year student who tried out for the journals at the end of her
first and second years.
Syverud said he expected the faculty to move toward a greater emphasis on
writing, as well as toward a more thorough student orientation on the
competition. He said he didn't expect any of the journals to set places
aside based on race alone and that he doubted there would be much support
for that direction.
Student editors of the three law journals declined to be interviewed in
person or on the phone. But Hughes said she was pleased with each journal's
proposal. All three publications have suggested filling some positions based
on writing samples alone, while others would be decided by grades or a
combination of grades and writing, Hughes said.
''There seems to be hope that these proposals will result in more
African-Americans getting on the journal staffs,'' Hughes said. ''We're
hoping the faculty will just leave it up to the students.''
Along with the Vanderbilt Law Review, the student-run publications are the
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and the Vanderbilt Journal of
Entertainment Law & Practice.
It was difficult to judge the prospective law students' reactions to
yesterday's protest first-hand. Vanderbilt officials would not allow The
Tennessean to join students in the law school lobby, explaining that the
presence of reporters and photographers would be disruptive.
Brown said several students he talked with said they were ''shocked'' by the
situation.
Raven Winters, a first-year student preparing to compete for a journal
position, said she was concerned about her chances.
''My grades are good,'' Winters said. ''So are most of ours. But they were
in the past, too.''
Hughes, a recent student who didn't make it, said she would have enjoyed the
chance to write and edit publishable ''notes,'' as students and professors
call the journal articles. And the experience, though not essential to
becoming a successful, practicing attorney - fewer than half of Vanderbilt
law students are selected - would have added gloss to her resume.
''It's a big advantage when you're trying for jobs,'' Hughes said. ''I
wouldn't necessarily call it an important part of the law school experience.
But I've missed out on an opportunity I think I deserved to have.''
http://www.tennessean.com/education/archives/04/03/48913510.shtml?Elem..._ID=489
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