Black admissions at California law school drop drastically after affirmative action cut

Jet, June 2, 1997

The number of Blacks admitted to the University of California's Boalt Hall law school dropped 81 percent in the first year after affirmative action was eliminated, according to recently released admissions figures.

The Board of Regents, which governs the University of California (UC) system's nine campuses, adopted a policy in 1995 to eliminate race and gender as factors in admissions. The policy took effect first with graduate students entering in the fall of 1997. Undergraduates will be admitted under the policy next year.

Boalt is the first of the major UC graduate schools to release admission figures.

In all, 14 Black students were admitted for all 1997 at the school, compared with 75 last year. For Hispanics, the number admitted in 1997 decreased from 78 to 39.

The number of minorities applying this year made up 36 percent of the applicants, compared to a 39 percent last year.

The number of White students admitted rose from 467 to 538 which was up about 15 percent.

The numbers represent the number of students admitted. Only 270 students are expected to actually enroll.