High-Ranking Law Schools Showing Major Declines in Black Enrollments

At 18 of the nation’s 30 highest-ranked law schools black student enrollments have declined over the eight-year period from 1999 to 2007. At nine of the 30 top law schools black enrollments dropped by 19 percent or more.

Three large schools saw black enrollments drop by more than 40 percent. The largest decline was at the law school at the University of Illinois. In 1999 there were 74 black students enrolled at the law school at the university. By 2007 the number of black students at the law school dropped to 39, a decrease of 47.3 percent from eight years prior.

The law schools at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Iowa also saw decreases in black enrollments of more than 40 percent.

Among the top-ranked Ivy League law schools, only Harvard showed an increase in black enrollments. At Yale, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania, black enrollments were down by at least 10 percent.

Other law schools that showed major declines in black enrollments include Boston College, Stanford, and George Washington University.