By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA will become the first American law school to offer a
specialization in racial issues by allowing next year’s
students to take part in the Critical Race Studies
Concentration.
The program will offer students a more “formal
concentration for a systematic study of race and law to help in the
school’s scholarly mission,” said Jerry Kang,
co-director and professor of law.
It aims at law students who seek advanced study or practice in
race and the law, civil rights, public policy and other legal
practice areas involving minority clients and communities.
The courses offered as part of the program include Federal
Indian Law, Law and the Poor, and Islamic Law and Human Rights.
Participants must first complete two core courses: Civil Rights
and Critical Race Theory. They then have the opportunity to take
four classes from a list of 25.
The program may help future lawyers understand what many
consider disproportionate representation within the American
justice system. According to Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics,
38.8 percent of prisoners in the country are African American,
while the U.S. Census Bureau found this year that African Americans
make up only 12.8 percent of the population.
Despite the program’s infancy, students already have
expressed significant interest to organizers of the program.
“Students from across the nation have shown enthusiasm;
they’ve sent me e-mails and have given me phone calls,”
Kang said. “About 20 have come and expressed an interest to
the faculty.”
But some students think the specialization will not have such
positive effects, as it may lead to divisions within the law
school.
“We need to celebrate different cultures, but I fear the
more we talk about it, the more it will lead to segregation,”
said second-year law student Jessica Peterson.
This program may increase the number of minority students who,
Kang said took a substantial hit after the passage of Proposition
209.
Proposition 209 was the California initiative that in 1997,
along with the UC Regents’ policies SP-1 and SP-2, ended the
use of affirmative action throughout the state and the UC.
The number of African American students admitted to the law
school this year was 13, compared to 104 in 1996, the year before
affirmative action ended. The number of Latinos admitted that year
was 72 compared to 108.
“We are trying to signal to the world, that after
Proposition 209, UCLA is not giving a blind eye with issues of law
and race ““ instead we are doubling our efforts,” Kang
said.
Students are hoping the new program will increase the diversity
of the law school.
“Some people choose not to come here, maybe this will help
bring in more students,” said third-year law student Caryl
Karnuk.
Administrators are pleased with the law school’s decision
to offer the specialization and believe its long term effect will
be attracting more underrepresented students.
“This is certainly something the college would look at in
the future, but it must first come from faculty initiative,”
said Judith Smith, vice provost for undergraduate education.
At the end of this year, law students can officially enroll in
the specialization and have it certified on their transcript if
they successfully complete a set of required courses.