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MILLENNIUM SHOWDOWN FOR PUBLIC INTEREST LAW 41
Faculty and administrative leadership must be purged of any conflict with and
contempt for the unambiguous pursuit of and execution of the rules and systems
needed to protect the mission. While emotional acceptance or affection cannot be
legislated, standards can be set and constraining the use of discretion to advantage
whites can be legislated. The opportunity to experience and thrive in a pluralistic
environment will produce its own dividends. Administrators and faculty
alike must be relieved of the notions that the potential, value, or learning capacity
of a student or colleague is in any way related to the degree of whiteness.
Curriculum, class discussions, and teaching techniques must reflect understanding
of divergent learning styles and life experiences that distinguish communities of
interest and problem solving strategies. 303 While this academic endeavor must be
rigorous and integrity bound, fledgling lawyers must acquire a degree of interpersonal
and intergroup skill that is often wanting between their mentors and teachers.
In the same way that leadership is vigilant to exclude overt bigotry, subtle
but equally damaging forms of caste building must be relentlessly uprooted and
abandoned. Institutional culture must be opened to permit the cultivation, enrichment,
and fumigation necessary to sustain a richer, diverse environment. It is
as easy to unify around meeting institutional goals advancing non-white access as
it is to close ranks to privilege a white friend.
Plan implementation and progress should be monitored by boards or committees
of stakeholders external to the day-to-day operation of the enterprise.
Alumni, client and larger community members should be reflected among committee
membership. University governing boards or systems have an equally important
role to play. While the independence or relative autonomy of
professional schools may be leveled in a defensive posture, it is critical that the
full force of university authority be utilized to ensure intended beneficiaries access
to education on every level of the university. It is possible to provide access
without violating accreditation standards. In fact, the university is obligated to
acquire a sufficiently independent understanding of accreditation standards. Officials
must be able to evaluate and defend admission and hiring policy consistent
with the mission and identity. Absent such readiness the university and law
school are susceptible to the manipulation of accreditation standards to legitimate
formal abdication of mission and identity. Advancing diversity in any organization
is time intensive, delicate work. Given the resistance of the academy and
its complicity in jeopardizing access to education for racial minorities, no component
of the system should be exempt from careful review and adjustment. Additional
resources will be required and accountability throughout the educational
enterprise must become the rule and not the exception.
303 Alice M. Thomas, Laying the Foundation for Better Student Learning in the Twenty-First
Century: Incorporating An Integrated Theory of Legal Education into Doctrinal Pedagogy, 6 WID. L.
SVMP. J. 49 (2000). .