Taking Bakke Seriously: Distinguishing Diversity from Affirmative Action in the Law School Admissions Process

Abstract

In this article, Professor Arnold H. Loewy discusses the differences between affirmative action and the pursuit of diversity in the admissions process. He posits that when an admissions committee believes that diversity will improve the experience and education of a class of students, affirmative action is unnecessary to defend the admission of a minority student over a majority student with higher scores. He focuses his discussion on the law school admissions process, comparing hypothetical students with varying LSAT scores, GPAs, life experiences, and racial classifications, in order to show that the “best candidate” is not necessarily the candidate with the highest scores, and that placing value in the latter two categories is not necessarily an act of “affirmative action.”