This is the rallying cry of students at UCLA School of Law, where the effects of California's Proposition 209 have almost eliminated African-Americans and other people of color from the student body. The class of 1999, about 290 strong, includes only 2 African-Americans and 17 Latinos. In 1994, those numbers were 47 and 46 students, respectively, comprising about a third of the class. In addition, the number of Filipino and Southeast Asian students has declined markedly over the last three years.

Prop. 209, passed in 1996, legally barred consideration of race in all state decisions regarding admissions and contracts. In response, the UCLA law school decided to make 80 percent of admissions decisions based on grades and test scores alone, leaving 20 percent of its slots for discretionary admissions. Other schools in the University of California system have been able to counteract some of the harm of Prop. 209 by considering alternative criteria like community service, work experience, overcoming economic disadvantage, or the demonstration of unique skills. However, the administration at UCLA's law school, despite its self-imposed 20-percent rule, has refused to use even that small amount of discretion to work toward creating a diverse and representative student body. The administration has for two years ignored student and faculty demands to change its admissions procedures, which currently admit students based exclusively on their LSAT scores and undergraduate grades.

The law school's admissions procedures are wrong for many reasons, but in my mind, the most important one is the moral one. We are only 30 years removed from civil rights struggles, when African-Americans were attacked by dogs, fire hoses, and mobs for demanding to be treated as human beings. We are only 137 years removed from a time when American whites actually owned black people in this country and subjected them to inhuman, horrific treatment. Only a few years ago, an elderly Brazilian woman died who still had the lash marks of her slave master’s whip across her back. The legacy of slavery is still with us. And we as a country have a moral obligation to redress that horrible wrong.

Those who believe that equal opportunity is available to all in this country are mistaken. Today, two trials continue in New York, where one black man was shot at 41 times by police as he unlocked his apartment door, and the other was brutally sodomized with a stick by police officers who are supposed to uphold the law. Today, the battle flag of the slave-holding South flies proudly over South Carolina’s statehouse. Today, the life expectancy of a black man living in America is lower than a man living in China or even the impoverished Indian state of Kerala.

Institutions in America have a special obligation to address the wrongs our nation has committed. And this is not a burden, but an opportunity to help bring justice and opportunity where there was once unspeakable oppression. This is why the UCLA law school is wrong not to amend its admissions policies, and why it is morally remiss not to actively work for the overturn of Prop. 209.

As they say, however, think globally, and act locally. This year's entering first-year class at Fletcher has one African-American student. Last year's entering class included just two African-American students. Fletcher certainly excels at creating diversity in terms of nationality, and this is something we are all proud of. The students and administration should be equally eager to create a diverse group of students from within the United States. We should do this because it's the morally right thing to do. In addition, we should do this because it would enrich the student body by bringing together people of different backgrounds and perspectives, challenging our assumptions and broadening our frame of reference. Finally, we should do it because it would better our country. Fletcher is truly training the future leaders of America, which gives it a special obligation. We can only hope that, in 10 or 20 years, America's leaders are not as white as Fletcher's American student body is today.

Fletcher's challenge is not simply to blindly admit more American students of color, but to boost recruitment efforts among students of color, make a concerted effort to reach out to those who are admitted, increase course offerings that will attract a more diverse group of students to Fletcher, maintain ties with minority alumni, fully utilize existing means for addressing diversity on campus, like the affirmative action committee, and give full consideration to all applicants for admission, including students of color.

February 24 is a national day of action in support of integration and affirmative action. On that day, UCLA law students will hold demonstrations and other actions to protest their school’s admissions policies. We at Fletcher should mark that day as well. We must honestly examine the racial reality in our school, and work together to bring about a student body that is even richer and even more diverse, one that does its part to fulfill the aspiration of equal opportunity for all. It’s the right thing to do and something we could all be proud of.

Comments? Write us at letter@fletcherledger.com

[return to Commentary Page]