The objectives of this report are to report:
- the percentage of non-Hispanic White students in each first-year law school class
- the difference between the percentage of non-Hispanic White students in the law school first-year class and the percentage of non-Hispanic White students in the state, regional and national LSAC applicant pools
- the difference between the percentage of non-Hispanic White students in the law school first-year class and the state population of non-Hispanic White students
- how law schools compare to each other.
Methods
The Whiteness of a law school is calculated by adding one-fourth of the "Total Whiteness" in a law school to the total "Excess Whiteness" score. The higher the score, the Whiter the law school. The Whiter a law school, the less it meets America’s diverse racial legal needs.
White Students were identified as Non-Hispanic Whites and Unknowns. It does not include students who identified as White Hispanics, Biracial, or Multiracial.
Total Whiteness was calculated by dividing the total number of non-Hispanic White students in first-year enrollment for 2017-2019 by the total number of students enrolled in the first year of law school during the same period.
Excess Whiteness was calculated by adding the Excess Whiteness based on LSAC applicant pools and state population. For each pool, Excess Whiteness was calculated by subtracting the percentage of White students in the first-year enrollment for 2017 through 2019 from the percentage of Whiteness in that pool. The expectation is that law school will be no Whiter than the national LSAC applicant pool, state LSAC applicant pool, regional LSAC applicant pool, or the state population. On each Whiteness factor, no points were assigned to a school that had negative Whiteness. Then a sum was obtained by adding the national LSAC applicant pool, the regional LSAC applicant pool, the state LSAC applicant pool, and the state population. The higher the number, the more Excess Whiteness.
