Racial Equity & Justice Accountability Report For 2020-21 OCTOBER 2021
University of Minnesota Law School
Racial Equity & Justice Accountability Report For 2020-21 OCTOBER 2021 HISTORY For over 20 years, the Diversity & Belonging Committee (now the Diversity & Belonging Affinity Council) has operated at Minnesota Law. In June 2020, Dean Garry Jenkins created the inaugural Racial Justice and Equity Committee at Minnesota Law, charged with developing an Accountability Report to provide information and transparency on the Law School’s efforts to address systemic inequalities, further the Law School’s mission, and positively impact the legal system. Faculty, staff, and senior leaders were appointed by Dean Jenkins and student members were appointed by Law Council. Over the past year, the Committee gathered information and data; connected with students, student organizations, staff, faculty, and senior leaders on efforts to address racial equity and justice; and developed this Accountability Report for the 2020-21 academic year as a baseline for Minnesota Law’s progress in racial equity and justice work.
ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT Minnesota Law’s Racial Equity & Justice Accountability Report is a step forward in the Law School’s mission of education, outreach, and engagement, as well as an acknowledgment of our Law School community’s shared responsibility to address systemic inequalities in legal education, the legal profession, and the legal system, as well as to educate lawyer-leaders who will also work to bring about justice and change. The Accountability Report addresses the following five areas: Admissions, Student Experience, Curriculum, Faculty & Staff, and Community Engagement. The metrics in the Accountability Report align with the Law School and the University’s strategic goals, as well as our mission as implemented by our entire community — students, faculty, administrators, staff, and alumni. The Committee used a color coding system to note where we were able to determine that a clear plan of action is being implemented or where more attention was needed. For this purpose, “Green,” denotes that progress is being made or that a clear plan of action exists; “Yellow” denotes that some progress is being made or a plan is being developed; “Red” denotes that little progress has been made or that a clear plan forward is needed. In some areas we provided comparisons with peer law schools for benchmarking; in other areas, this information was not available. Each year, the Racial Justice & Equity Committee will update the Accountability Report, providing continued transparency and accountability in the Law School’s work surrounding racial equity and justice, as well as noting opportunities for change.
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DATA SOURCES Wherever possible, we used publicly available data, including information from ABA 509 Required Disclosures1, required of all law schools. Using the ABA reports allows us to standardize our reporting each year, as well as to align our metrics with other law schools.
TERMINOLOGY For the purposes of this Accountability Report, we use the terms “diverse” and “people of color” to note persons from underrepresented racial/ethnic communities. When such data was available, we used the term for the specific racial/ethnic category. As required by the ABA, our reporting of students’ racial identities includes the following racial/ethnic categories: Hispanics of any race; American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; Two or More Races; White.2 The ABA asks all law schools to report separately on non-domestic students and does not require reporting on non-JD students (including SJD, LLM, and MS in Patent Law students). Only domestic JD students of color are reported on below. Also as required by the ABA, our reporting of faculty of color is not broken down into racial/ethnic categories. Reporting on staff is not required by the ABA and our information is from the University’s Office of Institutional Advancement. We acknowledge that this will be an area on which we hope to report more specific data as our numbers grow.
1
http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/Disclosure509.aspx.
2
In specific racial/ethnic categories, the ABA data may vary from this report due to the “two or more races” category used by the ABA.
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Accountability Report 2020-21 ADMISSIONS ENTERING JD CLASS The Fall 2020 JD entering class included 25.5% domestic students of color, up from 15% in Fall 2017. In the Fall 2020 entering class, students identify as 11% Latinx, 9% Asian, 6% Black, and 2% Indigenous, up from 5% Latinx, 9% Asian, 2% Black, and 1% Indigenous in Fall 2017. This puts the Law School in the top third of Midwestern peer law schools for percentage of students of color.
Recommendations
IN PROGRESS
Increase or maintain percentage of students of color.
YIELD ON OFFERS The Law School’s yield on offers to Black students in the Fall 2020 entering class was 32%, up from 15% in Fall 2017.
Recommendations Yield rate consistent with the overall yield rate. Track yield on additional racial/ ethnic groups.
IN PROGRESS
TOTAL STUDENTS As of Fall 2020, the Law School consists of 131 out of 674 (19.4%) students of color among domestic students. Students identify as 8% Latinx, 4% Asian, 2% Black, 0.2% Indigenous, 0.1% Pacific Islander, and 4% two or more races.
Recommendations Stay in the top third of Midwestern peer law schools for percentage of students of color.
IN PROGRESS
STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS 90% of Law School students received a scholarship grant in 2019-2020.
Recommendations Increase financial aid counseling support for all admitted students to navigate the process of funding law school; set increased scholarship support as a strategic priority for the Law School and its philanthropy goals.
IN PROGRESS
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DIVERSE STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS Of the Law School’s scholarships, 13% have a preference for a “diverse student,” or 20 out of 157. Eight have a preference for a student of color. New in 2020, the George Floyd Scholarship in Law, initially funded jointly by the Law School and two alumni, has raised over $223K and attracted over 331 additional donors.
Recommendations Increase financial aid counseling support, in particular for admitted diverse students, to help them navigate the process of funding law school; set increased scholarship support (through new funds or strengthening current funds) with a preference for diverse students in particular as a strategic priority for the Law School and its philanthropy goals.
IN PROGRESS
APPLICATION INFORMATION The JD application allows students to provide an optional statement, highlighting diverse perspectives and other comments.
Recommendations Expand the statement to include an option for an applicant to discuss their commitment to equity and justice.
IN PROGRESS
PIPELINE PROGRAMS The Law School hosts and funds its own pipeline program that targets high schools, undergraduate programs, and prospective students.3
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Recommendations Continue to develop metrics and evaluate the success of the Law School’s pipeline programs in addressing barriers to legal education.
SOME PROGRESS
This includes the Minnesota Pre-Law Scholars Program (MPLS) (expanded by 40% in 2018) https://www.law.umn.edu/admissions/minnesota-pre-law-scholars-mpls-program, Discover Law for college students, the Legal Education Awareness Program (LEAP) for high school students, and the Diversity Ambassadors program created by the Law School in 2020 to encourage prospective students from underrepresented communities. Additionally, the Law School developed and offers specific undergraduate classes as a pipeline for University undergraduates and the Admissions Team conducts private visits to higher education institutions in Minnesota with a high percentage of underrepresented students and participates in diversity recruitment fairs.
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STUDENT EXPERIENCE ORIENTATION & 1L YEAR Diversity, implicit bias, and cultural competency have been addressed in 1L student orientation. Other optional events and trainings are held each year, including the Race-Informed Study Experience through the SSG program and trainings through the Professional Essentials Milestone. The Law School is working with a consultant, Ra’Shya Ghee ’13, for a new “Race and the Law” selfpaced program this academic year.
Recommendations Review orientation session training and support ongoing anti-racist training as part of 1L year, including in 1L Foundations.
SOME PROGRESS
CLIMATE ASSESSMENTS Climate & engagement are measured via the “Law School Survey of Student Engagement” (LSSSE), which law students take nationwide every 3 years.4 In the 2020 LSSSE Survey, student responses to the questions related to diversity & inclusion ranked the Law School in the bottom 25% of participating schools.
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Recommendations Explore administering the LSSSE each year and include the newly available diversity section. Explore creating an annual climate & belonging survey separate from the LSSSE. Report back on survey results and recommendations implemented.
LITTLE PROGRESS
The survey measures include the following: included diverse perspectives in class work; talked to students of different race/ethnicity; talked to students of different backgrounds; school encourages contact among students from different backgrounds; school encourages understanding of people of different backgrounds. In 2020, the LSSSE survey included a new section related to diversity, which Minnesota Law added to the standard annual questions.
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STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS AND SUPPORT The Law School has an active Diversity & Belonging Affinity Council composed of key leaders in the law school and the leaders of the student affinity organizations.5 Other affinity student groups, journals, and studentled organizations continue to work with Student Affairs on addressing the needs of their members and race equity concerns. The Council leads events that address issues of diversity & inclusion in the Law School community. Student Affairs provides other training and events that address and explore issues of diversity & inclusion, including the Diversity Book Club.
Recommendations Continue to develop metrics and compare with peer schools.
SOME PROGRESS
STUDENT TRAINING All student employees, including Orientation Leaders, Student Ambassadors, and Research Assistants, are required to take Sexual Misconduct, Bias, and Discrimination training. Students enrolled in law clinics are offered optional trainings on implicit bias and cultural competency.6 The Career Center’s Professional Essentials Program has included diversity and cultural competency training. All students are encouraged to take Equity & Diversity Certificate Program workshops.
Recommendations Incentivize and explore options to bring additional intercultural competency and interactional diversity training to students, providing 3-4 touchpoints across the student experience that cover anti-racism, implicit bias, cultural competency, and diversity-related training during law school.
SOME PROGRESS
BIAS INCIDENT REPORTING For students who experience bias, the Bias Response and Referral Network (BRRN) provides support, resources, and counseling following bias incidents. The University’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action investigates discrimination and harassment claims.
Recommendations Ensure all students are aware of BRRN. Explore additional training for faculty & staff and options for student support for bias incidents and to report first directly to the Law School.
SOME PROGRESS
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The Council includes student leaders from each affinity student organization, as well as the Assistant Dean of Students, Senior Coordinator of Diversity & Student Programs, and Senior Recruiting and Diversity Coordinator. More info is here - https://www.law.umn.edu/admissions/equity-diversity-inclusion/diversity-belonging-affinity-council
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In 2020, Implicit Bias Training was offered by presenter Sean Darling-Hammond and cultural competency training titled, “Supporting Somali Clients” was presented by Yussuf Shafie.
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MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT The Law School offers mental health resources7 through the University of Minnesota, including providing on site access through Let’s Talk8 and Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.9 A West Bank Boynton mental health clinic was newly added in Fall 2021.
Recommendations Continue to identify and address mental health support needs for underrepresented students, including the needs of professional students in President Gabel’s PRISMH initiative and opportunities from the new West Bank Boynton mental health clinic.
IN PROGRESS
CAREER & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT The Career Center offers robust job search and professional development support, including programming directed at diverse students.10
Recommendations Continue to identify and address career support needs for underrepresented students and develop metrics compared to peers schools.
IN PROGRESS
ACADEMIC & BAR SUPPORT The Director of Academic and Bar Success offers academic and bar support to students who need to close the gap in their educational background due to disadvantage, first-generation status, or unfamiliarity with graduate and professional school environments.
Recommendations Continue to identify and address academic and bar support needs for underrepresented students and develop metrics compared to peer schools.
IN PROGRESS
LEGAL WRITING SUPPORT The Legal Writing Program, via the Writing Center, provides optional curricular support related to the legal writing course, focused on helping law students from underrepresented backgrounds improve their writing.
Recommendations Continue to identify and address legal writing needs for underrepresented students and develop metrics compared to peer schools.
7
https://www.law.umn.edu/current-students/student-orgs-leadership/support-resources
8
https://counseling.umn.edu/lets-talk
9
https://www.mnlcl.org/services/
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IN PROGRESS
This includes the Professional Essentials Milestone program, a diversity listserv and a first generation listserv, several diversity mentorship programs, a diversity mock interview program, partnerships with local and national diversity employment pipeline programs, and local and national partnerships with employers. The Career Center also registers for and supports job fairs throughout the U.S. for diverse students, also providing students with some reimbursement for travel. https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/mn-law-career-center2/diversity-inclusion?authuser=0
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CURRICULUM COURSE OFFERINGS The Law School curriculum offers 40 courses that indirectly address race and offered 5 courses in the 2020-21 academic year that directly focused on race.11
Recommendations Maintain or increase the number of courses that directly address race. Prioritize hiring a race & the law scholar.
SOME PROGRESS
CLINIC OFFERINGS Of the 25 law clinics, 12 clinics directly address issues at the intersection of race and poverty.12
Recommendations Conduct race-related strategic planning for the Law Clinics to better coordinate how race-related issues are addressed across a range of clinics.
IN PROGRESS
LAW LIBRARY The Law Library hosts resources for Inclusive Teaching on the Teaching Tools for Law Faculty Guide. Resources from the Law Library and other supplemental reading material that can be used in 1L courses are also distributed.
Recommendations Ensure faculty and adjuncts are aware of the guide and resources.
IN PROGRESS
FACULTY SUPPORT Law School faculty hold teaching groups and engage in trainings through the Center for Education Innovation13 to support integrating race-related issues into law courses.
Recommendations Investigate ways to expand support for integrating race-related issues into law courses, especially for 1L courses. Explore adding a yearly grant program for faculty to expand a course to include race-related legal issues.
SOME PROGRESS
11
https://www.law.umn.edu/admissions/equity-diversity-inclusion/commitment-racial-justice
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Child Advocacy; Community Partnership for Health; Housing; Federal Immigration Litigation; Human Rights Litigation & ILC; Detainee Rights; Immigration and Human Rights; Rural Immigrant Access; Civil Rights Enforcement; Indian Child Welfare Act; Innocence; and Criminal Defense.
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https://cei.umn.edu
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FACULTY & STAFF FACULTY DIVERSITY Six out 64 (9%) of full-time faculty are people of color, as are 15 out of 154 (10%) adjunct faculty. Since 2010, 8 tenure or tenure-track faculty have been hired, with 63% of those hires people of color.
Recommendations This places the Law School in the bottom third of Midwestern peer law schools for diverse full-time faculty. As the hiring freeze lifts and the budget allows, prioritize hiring outstanding full-time faculty who contribute to diversity.
SOME PROGRESS
1L FACULTY DIVERSITY In the 2020-21 academic year, 1L students were taught by 3 full-time faculty of color.
Recommendations Continue to explore options to increase full-time faculty of color who teach in the 1L curriculum.
SOME PROGRESS
FULL-TIME FACULTY HIRING PRACTICES The Appointments Committee, which leads faculty hiring, has mandatory training in “Implicit Bias in the Search and Selection Process,”14 by the University’s Office of Equity and Diversity. Students, staff, and faculty are all included in evaluating candidates and providing feedback.
Recommendations Continue to evaluate the faculty hiring process to facilitate hiring diverse faculty, including accessing University resources for strategic recruiting and support for diverse research and scholars.
IN PROGRESS
ADJUNCT FACULTY HIRING PRACTICES Since 2016, the Law School has doubled its adjunct faculty of color.
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Recommendations Evaluate the adjunct faculty hiring process to facilitate hiring diverse faculty.
SOME PROGRESS
https://diversity.umn.edu/content/implicit-bias-search-and-selection-processes-0
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STAFF DIVERSITY Of the 113 law school staff members, 22 (19%) are people of color.
Recommendations As the hiring freeze lifts, prioritize generating diverse applicant pools, especially in student or public-facing roles. Work with Central HR to review the Law School’s hiring processes and expand outreach when hiring.
SOME PROGRESS
STAFF HIRING PRACTICES A diverse slate of candidates for each position is required before interviews.15 Hiring directors are encouraged to create diverse hiring committees. All staff are encouraged to attend “Implicit Bias in the Search and Selection Process,” by the University’s Office of Equity and Diversity.
Recommendations Ensure that all people appointed to hiring committees have taken the Implicit Bias training. Work with Central HR to align with new University resources and tools surrounding diversity recruiting.
SOME PROGRESS
TRAINING All faculty and staff are required to take an interactive University training on Sexual Misconduct, Bias, and Discrimination, with additional modules for supervisors and faculty.16 All faculty and staff are encouraged to take Equity & Diversity Certificate Program workshops17 and Implicit Bias training.18
Recommendations Incentivize and explore options to bring additional intercultural competency and interactional diversity training to the West Bank and to faculty and staff.
IN PROGRESS
BIAS INCIDENT REPORTING For faculty & staff who experience racial bias, the University’s Bias Response Referral Network (BRRN)19 provides support, resources, and counseling. following bias incidents. The University’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action investigates discrimination and harassment claims against faculty and staff.
Recommendations Ensure all staff and faculty are aware of the BRRN.
15
Additional support for recruiting is provided by the University’s Diversity Talent Acquisition Specialists
16
https://safe-campus.umn.edu/preventing-sexual-misconduct-discrimination-and-retaliation
17
https://oed.dl.umn.edu/certificate
18
https://diversity.umn.edu/staff-faculty-workshops
19
https://bias-response.umn.edu
IN PROGRESS
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT INSTITUTES AND CENTERS The Law School houses 11 Institutes, Centers, and Organizations, of which 5 have a nexus with racial justice and equity concerns.20
Recommendations Continue to grow opportunities for students and faculty with internal organizations.
IN PROGRESS
DIRECT LEGAL SERVICES PROVIDED From July 2017 to June 2020, the law clinics had approximately 1,170 cases including 648 In-House Cases and 522 clinical placement cases. The Law Clinics do not track income, race, gender, or other demographic data about clients consistently.
Recommendations Improve data tracking of law clinic clients and explore opportunity mapping. Clinics should revisit and affirm or amend eligibility criteria.
IN PROGRESS
STUDENT PRO BONO HOURS In 2019-2020, students provided over 58,375 hours of pro bono work including over 32,500 hours in externships/field placements, 20,000 hours in the law clinics, 2,000 hours in practicums, and 3,875 additional volunteer hours. The Law School also supports and houses the Minnesota Justice Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing opportunities for student pro bono.
Recommendations Encourage training and reflections on race-related issues in externships/field placements by faculty supervisors in at least one assignment per semester. Grow engagement opportunities for students, particularly 1Ls, to expose students to the range of important work the law school is leading on.
IN PROGRESS
EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS The Law School partners with local and national affinity bar associations, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, international organizations, corporations, and law firms for mentoring, hiring, pro bono, adjunct faculty, externships, clinics, and a host of faculty partnerships and events.
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Recommendations Continue to grow and track partnerships as organizations expand their own racial justice work.
IN PROGRESS
The 6 Centers/Institutes/Projects are the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, the Human Rights Center, the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, the Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity, the Minnesota Justice Foundation, and the Great North Innocence Project.
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FACULTY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Faculty engage in scholarship and policy involving issues of racial justice. Engagement is reported on in the faculty member’s annual report.
Recommendations Improve tracking of faculty community engagement and partnerships.
SOME PROGRESS
LAW SCHOOL EVENTS In 2020-21, the Law School hosted 5 public events on issues involving racial justice and co-hosted the Big 10 Speaker Series on Perspectives on Race, Law, and Equality. Student organizations and departments hosted other events for specific groups.
Recommendations Continue to use events to advance understanding of the law and racial justice.
IN PROGRESS
COMMITMENT TO LOCAL COMMUNITY The Law School provides legal services and community education in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, Twin Cities community, and greater Minnesota.
Recommendations Track existing partnerships and develop programs to encourage law school-wide involvement with local communities.
SOME PROGRESS
ACCESS TO PUBLIC INTEREST CAREERS The Law School supports student public interest work with a dedicated public interest career counselor, several programs, and financial support for summer unpaid internships.21
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Recommendations Continue to prioritize fundraising for fellowships to support unpaid work. Continue to develop metrics to compare to peer schools.
IN PROGRESS
This includes 50+ summer awards supporting unpaid public interest work by students over the summer and two post-graduate fellowships, the Remote Semester Program, Residency Program, and Public Interest Field Placement course. In Academic Year 2020-21, the Law School funded additional positions for the Minnesota Legislature’s People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus and the Legal Rights Center.
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