he Scale +60 MCCA WEIGHS IN ON THE NEWS
New Technology Allows the Blind to Apply to Law School
T e Law School Admission Council has agreed to make its entire Web site acces- sible to blind users without them having to rely on assistance from someone over a phone. Under the present system, blind applicants must call customer support service during working hours to complete the online application forms. Following the settlement, new technology will allow blind users to independently complete applications whenever they want. T e agreement states that the new technology will be ready for the next cycle of law school admissions—by early September of this year. +1
50
College Teams Undermine Gender Equality
Many college teams have resorted to subterfuge to make it appear they are off ering spots to women athletes. Title IX, the 1972 law passed at the height of the women’s rights movement, bans sex discrimination in any federally fi nanced education program. At Cornell, men who practice with the women’s fencing team count as female athletes under a loophole in Title IX. Duke and Texas A&M are two elite women’s basketball teams that allow them to report male practice players as female participants. Female runners at South Florida are counted up to three times—as members of the cross-country, indoor, and outdoor track teams. -2
Is Anti-White Bias a Problem?
A new study says whites think discrimination against them is a bigger problem than anti-black bias. Whites often feel excluded by multicultural diversity initia- tives, says Victoria Plaut, a social and cultural psychologist and assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Suggesting a shift in per- ceptions of discrimination, recent Supreme Court decisions—in cases that have pitted white and minority interests against each other—have focused more on disadvantage to whites and less on disadvantages to racial minorities, she writes. For example, in the 2009 Ricci v. DeStefano case, the court essentially regarded preventing disadvantages to white fi refi ghters as more important than addressing barriers to promotion for racial minorities. -3
THIS ISSUE’S READING: -2 LAST ISSUE: 62 DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JULY/AUGUST 2011
MCCA.COM
Dean of Indiana School of Law– Indy Responds to Anonymous Racial
Animus An anonymous person sent a school- wide email to voice his discomfort about three banners that promi- nently feature African-American law students. Dean Gary Roberts responded, “Perhaps this anonymous student will feel more welcome if he focuses instead on the hallway outside my offi ce where portraits of the last 13 deans of this law school hang—12 white men and 1 white woman. In fact, I fi nd this whole discussion ironic in that I am usu- ally taken to task on this subject purportedly because the makeup of the faculty and student body, as well as the artwork on our walls, is not diverse enough and that the law school is therefore unwelcoming to various types of minority students. Apparently anyone can feel unwel- come if they choose to focus only on the things they fi nd unwelcoming, which is sad given that it is the fi rm commitment of this law school to be inclusive.” +2
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