#SocialJustice: Combatting Implicit Bias in an Age of Millennials, Colorblindness, & Microaggressions

Law schools, in an effort to produce practice-ready graduates, are in an opportune position to take the lead in confronting social justice. Many schools are shifting from traditional classroom instruction to more experiential learning environments which place students early in their academic pursuits in contact with clients and legal problems. While academic support originally focused on racial integration in law schools, today’s Academic Support professionals support students who are diverse in various ways. As professionals, we cannot assume that our diverse students do not carry bias. Implicit bias, a bias one is not consciously aware of, has the ability to derail relationships with clients and peers. Complicating matters is the general assumption that Millennials, the “colorblind” generation, are the most tolerant of all previous generations. Yet, studies have found Millennials just as susceptible to bias as previous generations. Thus, law schools have the responsibility to train their students to become lawyers who are capable of working with diverse groups of people and do so with the ability to mitigate their biases, which could potentially bring a fairer administration of justice. This training must go beyond informing students about implicit bias but also teach them mechanisms to combat such bias

Let’s Talk About Grading, Maybe: Using Transparency About the Grading Process to Aid in Student Learning

Talking about grades and grading in law school can feel as taboo, if not more, than talking about sex. Among law faculty, there is often no training and no discussions about how to grade other than being asked to moderate final grades to meet a curve. Students often seek information from each other or online sources where numerous blogs provide them with advice on how to talk to professors about grades, how not to disclose grades to others, and other advice about dealing with grades. What is not as forthcoming for many students is how exactly their professors evaluate their work product. But without discussions about grading practices among faculty and students, are law schools missing an opportunity to use grading discussions as part of their assessment efforts? Much like the hit song Let’s Talk About Sex encourages its audiences to talk about sex as a means of emotional intelligence, law schools can talk about grading as an educational tool. This Article will discuss the history and meaning of grades to demonstrate how grading has evolved and can evolve. It will also discuss the processes professors use to grade and how to guide faculty to develop a shared understanding of grading standards. Finally, it will discuss how professors can engage students in grading conversations so that they can learn how to self-regulate and engage in the professional standards of the legal profession more effectively

The Pink Ghetto Pipeline: Challenges and Opportunities for Women in Legal Education

The demographics of law schools are changing and women make up the majority of law students. Yet, the demographics of many law faculties do not reflect these changing demographics with more men occupying faculty seats. In legal education, women predominately occupy skills positions, including legal writing, clinic, academic success, bar preparation, or library. According to a 2010 Association of American Law Schools survey, the percentage of female lecturers and instructors is so high that those positions are stereotypically female. The term coined for positions typically held by women is pink ghetto. According to the Department of Labor, pink-collar-worker describes jobs and career areas historically considered women\u27s work, and included on the list is teaching. However, in legal education, tenured and higher-ranked positions are held primarily by men, while women often enter legal education through non-tenured and non-faculty skills-based teaching pipelines. In a number of these positions, women experience challenges like poor pay, heavy workloads, and lower status such as by contract, nontenure, or at will. While many may view this as a challenge, looking at these positions solely as a pink ghetto diminishes the many contributions women have made to legal education through the skills faculty pipelines. Conversely, we miss the opportunity to examine how legal education has changed and how women have accepted the challenge of being on the front line of educating this new generation of learners while enthusiastically adopting the American Bar Association\u27s new standards for assessment and student learning. There is an opportunity for women to excel in these positions if we provide them with allies who champion for equal status and provide the requisite support. This article focuses on the changing gender demographics of legal education, legal education pipelines, and the role and status of women in higher education with an emphasis on legal education

The Pink Ghetto Pipeline: Challenges and Opportunities for Women in Legal Education

The demographics of law schools are changing and women make up the majority of law students. Yet, the demographics of many law faculties do not reflect these changing demographics with more men occupying faculty seats. In legal education, women predominately occupy skills positions, including legal writing, clinic, academic success, bar preparation, or library. According to a 2010 Association of American Law Schools survey, the percentage of female lecturers and instructors is so high that those positions are stereotypically female. The term coined for positions typically held by women is pink ghetto. According to the Department of Labor, pink-collar-worker describes jobs and career areas historically considered women\u27s work, and included on the list is teaching. However, in legal education, tenured and higher-ranked positions are held primarily by men, while women often enter legal education through non-tenured and non-faculty skills-based teaching pipelines. In a number of these positions, women experience challenges like poor pay, heavy workloads, and lower status such as by contract, nontenure, or at will. While many may view this as a challenge, looking at these positions solely as a pink ghetto diminishes the many contributions women have made to legal education through the skills faculty pipelines. Conversely, we miss the opportunity to examine how legal education has changed and how women have accepted the challenge of being on the front line of educating this new generation of learners while enthusiastically adopting the American Bar Association\u27s new standards for assessment and student learning. There is an opportunity for women to excel in these positions if we provide them with allies who champion for equal status and provide the requisite support. This article focuses on the changing gender demographics of legal education, legal education pipelines, and the role and status of women in higher education with an emphasis on legal education