University of Cincinnati Law School Seeks to Boost Black Enrollments

Less than 4 percent of all lawyers in the United States are black. Today less than 7 percent of all students enrolled in law school are black.

At the University of Cincinnati College of Law, blacks make up 7 percent of the student body. But the administration is committed to increasing opportunities for black students. The school operates its Summer Work Experience in Law (SWEL) program to stimulate interest in a career in law among black students in the city’s public schools. The SWEL program, now in its 25th year,  provides summer internships at law offices in Cincinnati to black and other minority high school seniors.

The law school also holds a Diversity Day each winter to recruit black students. Prospective students attend classes and hear from invited guests such as prominent black attorneys and local African-American judges. Dean Louis D. Bilionis says, “We are as aggressive as we can be to attract more and more African Americans to come to school here. We are a school that values diversity.”

Copyright © 2008. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.