Law Schools Ponder Decline in Minority Enrollment

National Law Journal: Law School Deans, Profs Ponder Reasons for Decline in Minority Enrollment, by Thomas Adcock:

The controversy surrounding Columbia Law School's documentation of a "disturbing" decline in enrollment of minority students at law campuses around the country has deans and professors in New York state discussing a perceived cultural bias in the LSAT examination, combined with the test's exaggerated importance as an element of the annual rankings of their institutions by U.S. News & World Report.

Although LSAT scores have actually trended upward during the past 15 years, according to the report, many in the New York legal academy contend that informal "cut-off" numbers set by law schools have simultaneously risen -- as a means of gaming the U.S. News rankings to their competitive marketing advantage.