History
The institutional memory of the Coalition for Diversity

The Struggle for Diversity at Boalt

Early 1980s
Boalt considers but does not extend offers to qualified faculty candidates including: Charles Lawrence, an African American male, who was hired and granted tenure at Stanford, and is currently teaching at Georgetown. Carol Rose, a white woman specializing in property law, leaves the Boalt faculty when her tenure outlook is in serious doubt, and she is currently tenured at Yale.

Mid-to-late 1980s
The faculty denies Profs. Marjorie Schultz and Eleanor Swift tenure. When Swift contents her denial, an outside committee makes a "prima facie finding" of a pattern and practice of gender discrimination at Boalt. Ultimately, the university awards both women tenure.

1987
Students and alumni establish the Fund for Diversity, an alternative to the traditional alumni gift program. The money from the fund will be donated to the law school when it meets its rhetorical commitment to a diverse faculty.

1988
As a result of concern regarding Boalt's stated commitment to the hiring and retention of a diverse faculty, students form the Coalition for a Diverse Faculty (CDF).

1988
After the public bruising of tenure battles, Boalt hires five entry-level professors: a Latino man, an African-American woman, a Hispanic man, a Caucasian women, and an African-American man. Since 1988, two of those hires have left for Yale and Harvard; only one of the five hires, Angela Harris, is still at Boalt.

Fall 1994
After being disbanded from 1992-94, CDF is informally revived by a sizable group of students and reinstates its status as a recognized student group.

1994-1995
During finals period and on the day that grades are to be released, students of color receive hate mail in their mailboxes.

July 1995
The UC Regents pass Resolution SP-1, which prohibits the University from using race or ethnicity as a criteria for graduate admission.

Spring 1996
California voters pass the so-called California Civil Rights Initiative, Prop. 209, which restricts the use of affirmative action at all levels of state government.

Fall 1996 (?)
A lawsuit is filed alleging that Prop. 209 violates equal protection, and 209 is stayed by the Federal District Court. Proponents of 209 appeal.

Spring 1997
Resolution SP-1 goes into effect at UC graduate schools. As a result, the number of students of color admitted to Boalt drops dramatically.

Spring 1997
9 students write a report, New Directions in Diversity, suggesting changes in admissions policy that would yield a more ethnically diverse class within the constraints of SP-1 and Prop. 209.

May 1997
After the administration withholds the names of admitted minority students, student of color groups demand the release of the names for recruitment purposes. Requested in January, the names are not released until finals week, after many admits had decided not to attend Boalt.

Summer 1997
Students unite with alumni and concerned community members under the name of PRIDE, Protecting and Recognizing the Importance of Diversity in Education.

Summer 1997
Federal District Court of Appeals lifts stay, ruling that Prop. 209 does not violate equal protection. Opponents of 209 appeal to the Supreme Court. Two members of the Boalt faculty sign onto an amicus brief supporting 209 and opposing affirmative action.

August 1997
The entering class at Boalt has only 1 African American, no Native Americans, a negligible number of Southeast Asians, and only a handful of Latinos. This is the lowest number of newly-admitted students of color at Boalt since the early 1960s.

August 1997
CDF changes its name to the Coalition for a Diverse Faculty and Student Body (CDFSB), and becomes the largest student organization at Boalt.

Fall 1997
Dean Kay holds a town hall meeting at which she makes clear that Boalt has no plans to recruit students of color and/or visit the CSUs or historically black colleges. Students decry inaction and begin campaign to lobby faculty to adopt changes to admission suggested by New Directions in Diversity.

October 1997
54 students and alumni are arrested after a 12-hour sit-in pressuring the Boalt administration to adopt measures that would bring back diversity immediately.

October 1997
Boalt administration responds to student activism by releasing the Cole Report, which suggest possible changes to the admissions policy, mirroring the recommendations in New Directions for Diversity.

October 1997
Supreme Court denies cert and Prop 209 goes into effect.

November 1997
Students write the Equal Educational Opportunity Initiative, which would allow universities to consider race as one of many factors when selecting students from among qualified applicants. Students begin a statewide campaign to collect the nearly 1 million signatures needed to place the EEOI on the ballet.

April 1998
Two weeks before admitted students are scheduled to come for Spring Visit Day, the Boalt administration suddenly cancels the event. Student of color groups and Boalt alumni take it upon themselves to organize a visit day for students of color.

June 1998
Through over 350,000 signatures are gathered, the EEOI falls short of the required signatures and does not qualify for the ballot.

August 1998
The entering class at Boalt consists of 30.1% minorities, including 2 Native Americans, 8 African Americans, and 23 Latinos.

August 1999
Although the entering class consists of 59% women, Boalt leads the decline in minority law school enrollment with an entering class of only 22% minorities.

August 2000
Boalt enrolls nearly 65% women, but only one African-American male.

December 2000
The Faculty Committee begins considering the lateral transfer of Professor Daniel Farber, of the University of Minnesota, an opponent of Critical Race Theory.

April 2001
Professor Farber is offered a position by the full faculty amidst protest from many progressive student groups, including Ecology Law Quarterly and CDFSB.