Indiana law schools navigate political backlash to DEI

At Indiana’s law schools, efforts to attract and retain a diverse student body have always been challenging.

It’s something all three of the state’s law school deans acknowledged last year, when Indiana University Robert McKinney School of Law Dean Karen Bravo, Dean Christiana Ochoa of IU Maurer School of Law and Dean G. Marcus Cole of Notre Dame Law School weighed in on the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision that struck down affirmative action in college admissions and removed race as a direct consideration for admission.

This year has brought new challenges amid an uncertain political climate, with President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Education taking aim at axing diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the nation’s schools and universities.

Most of the administration’s anti-DEI efforts have been challenged in court, with a federal judge in Maryland striking down in August two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating DEI programs.

Also, the American Bar Association voted in May to extend its suspension of a long-standing diversity requirement for law schools.

The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar unanimously voted to extend the suspension of the rule—which requires law schools to demonstrate their commitment to diversity in recruitment, admissions and programming—through Aug. 31, 2026.

Ochoa, the IU Maurer dean, noted the law school has not had an admissions cycle since Trump took office in January, but did see a significant decline in its first cycle after the Supreme Court’s ruling, which was handed down in 2023.

“We’re hoping that was a downward reaction (to the ruling) and that we’ll quickly recover from that,” Ochoa said.

The Lawyer’s efforts to reach the deans of Indiana’s other two law schools for this story were unsuccessful.

She stressed that applications to Maurer by students of color continued to be robust.

Ochoa said there have been directives issued by the current administration that limit the tools all higher education institutions can employ in terms of ensuring diverse law schools.

She noted the Supreme Court’s decision had already significantly changed the framework for law schools on what methods could be used in admissions.

In its June 2023 decision, the high court’s conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively. The vote was 6-3 in the North Carolina case and 6-2 in the Harvard case.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote universities can still consider how an applicant’s life was shaped by their race, “so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability.”

Disparities remain

AccessLex Institute released its Legal Education Data Deck, which includes the latest information on law school admission and applicant characteristics, degrees awarded and scholarships, in April.

The nonprofit organization, which advocates for affordability and access to law school, reported that in 2024, 79% of white law school applicants received at least one offer of admission compared to 45% of Black applicants. Meanwhile, 68% of female applicants were admitted compared to 72% of male applicants.

Black and Hispanic students withdraw from law school at disproportionate rates compared to their white peers, comprising 22% of first-year enrollment in the entering class of 2023-24 and 33% of non-transfer attrition after the first year of law school.

By comparison, white students comprised 58% of the entering class and only 47% of non-transfer attrition, according to the group.

Tiffane Cochran, AccessLex’s vice president of research, said in an email to The Indiana Lawyer that it’s too early to tell what impact the latest executive actions and laws have had on racial disparities in legal education.

Cochran said early signs are mixed.

“On one hand, the number of law school applicants increased in the most recent admission cycle, and the percentage of applicants of color also increased,” Cochran said. “The state of politics in our country could be a key motivating factor for the increased interest in law school, particularly among students of color. On the other hand, an early discouraging indicator is that disparities in admission rates remain, despite the increased interest in law school among students of color.”

Cochran noted that only 45% of Black applicants were admitted to law school in 2024 compared to 47% in 2023. Admission rates went down slightly for American Indian/Alaska Native and multiracial applicants but remained the same for students of other racial/ethnic backgrounds, so equity gaps could be widening.

She said if these admission inequities increase, enrollment of students of color, particularly Black and Native students, could decline.

And if racial inequities in bar passage continue, this will result in fewer licensed attorneys of color.

“However, the positive is that we continue to see an upward trend in the proportion of first-year law students who are from racially underrepresented backgrounds. This suggests that efforts to improve access to legal education are paying off gradually over time,” Cochran said. “Despite present challenges and setbacks, resiliency and innovation can help ensure that paths are forged to expand opportunities for students of color to enroll and succeed in law school and beyond.”

American Bar Association

The ABA initially suspended its diversity standard earlier this year before voting on the extension in May.

“In light of these developments, the council determined that extraordinary circumstances exist in which compliance with [the diversity standard] would constitute extreme hardship for multiple law schools,” the ABA’s council said in its official statement.

IU Maurer, IU McKinney and the Notre Dame Law School all made adjustments to their law school applications after the 2023 Supreme Court decision.

Ochoa said Maurer has always had exceedingly good retention rates for its entire student body, which she credited to the school’s strong student support services.

“Once we admit a student, we do everything we can to ensure their success,” Ochoa said.

As she’s said previously, Ochoa reiterated that Maurer will abide by the law and legal directives as far as admissions.

She said the law school continues to believe in attracting and having students with a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds.•