Diversity and Inclusion Reading Group, April 16

Ever since Justice Lewis Powell’s opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke made diversity in higher education a constitutionally acceptable rationale for affirmative action programs, the diversity rationale has received vehement criticism from across the ideological spectrum. Part of the problem is that it can be difficult to measure the value of diversity quantitatively, particularly in the context of higher education. This renders the idea of diversity more susceptible to criticism. In a 2022 paper, Professor Jonathan Masur and three co-authors conducted an empirical study to measure the value of diversity in the law school context. The study looked at student-run law reviews that adopted diversity policies and measured whether the number of citations to articles in those law reviews changed after the adoption of the policy. The study and findings were published as “Assessing Affirmative Action’s Diversity Rationale,” 122 Columbia Law Review 331 (2022).

For the Spring Quarter installment of DivIRG, we will discuss this study and its implications in our current climate with Professor Masur. Please join us on Wednesday, April 16, at 12:15 pm in room B; lunch will be provided! In preparation for the meeting, we strongly recommend reading the Introduction and parts IV and V of “Assessing Affirmative Action’s Diversity Rationale,” 122 Columbia Law Review 331 (2022), available here.

For more information about the event, please visit the Law School events calendar.

This program is sponsored by the D'Angelo Law Library.