LSAT, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, AND MINORITY ADMISSIONS, THE

St. John's Law Review, Winter 2006 by Baynes, Leonard M

1 See Letter from Brian Kelly, Executive Editor, U.S. News & World Report, to Professor Leonard M. Baynes, Professor of Law & Dir. of The Ronald H. Brown Ctr. for Civil Rights & Econ. Dev., St. John's Univ. Sch. of Law (Dec. 16, 2004), available at http://academic.udayton.edu/TheWhitestLawSchools/2005TWLS/Chapter2/ Legaled12.htm.

2 Ronald H. Brown was a 1970 graduate of St. John's University School of Law. Brown was the first African American to serve as Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Playing an instrumental role in the election of President Bill Clinton in 1992, Brown was appointed the Secretary of Commerce, the first African American to serve in that capacity. Brown's life was tragically cut short on a trade mission to Croatia on April 3, 1996.

In 2000, St. John's University School of Law created The Ronald H. Brown Center to honor Brown's memory and to memorialize his work in civil rights and economic development. This Center would not be possible without the efforts of retired Professor Philip Roache, who was the first African American faculty member at St. John's University School of Law, and Professor Janice L. Villiers.

The mission of The Ronald H. Brown Center is " 'to engage in legal studies, research and outreach focusing on issues that affect the lives of underrepresented people while simultaneously educating law students to be leaders on issues of racial, economic and social justice.'" The under-representation of students of color at law schools is a subject worthy for The Ronald H. Brown Center to examine. See ST. JOHN'S UNIV. SCH. OF LAW, THE RONALD H. BROWN CENTER FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (brochure on file with the author).

3 The conference had the following panels: (1) Diversity and the Use of the LSAT in the Admissions Process to Bolster U.S. News & World Report Rankings; (2) The LSAT: What Does it Measure? Do Academic Support Programs Change the LSAT's Predictive Capability?; and (3) The Regulatory, Legal and Ethical Issues in Achieving a Racially Diverse Student Body. See THE RONALD H. BROWN CTR. FOR CIVIL RIGHTS & ECON. DEV., ST. JOHN'S UNIV. SCH. OF LAW, THE LSAT, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, AND MINORITY ADMISSIONS (conference brochure on file with the author).

4 539 U.S. 306 (2003).

5 See id. at 343-44.

6 Id. at 312-14.

7 Id. at 325, 340.

8 Id. at 337.

9 Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244, 275-76 (2003).

10 Id. at 273.

11 Id. at 275. But see Leonard M. Baynes, Michigan's Minority Point System "Compensated" Minority Students for Inferior Public Education. JURIST, Sept. 5, 2003, available at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forum/symposium-aa/baynes.php (arguing that the admissions program rejected in Gratz should be considered constitutional as it puts all minority students on the same footing and compensates for the "generally inferior" education that American society has provided them).

12 D. Marvin Jones, When "Victory" Masks Retreat: The LSAT, Constitutional Dualism, and the End of Diversity, 80 ST. JOHN'S L. REV. 15, 21 (2006).