Dear members of the UW Law School community:

As many of you know, tonight there is a scheduled debate sponsored by the Federalist Society on the topic of "Affirmative Action and Higher Education."  One of the speakers, Roger Clegg, is the president of an advocacy group called the Center for Equal Opportunity.  CEO has just issued a press release and short paper looking at some aspects of admissions practices at UW.  Among other things, it asserts that in 2005 and 2006, the Law School "awarded an extremely large degree of preference" to some minority students.

Consistent with statute, regulation, and Supreme Court decisions, UW Law School  has long had an admissions policy whereby applicants are reviewed for a host of characteristics that are associated with enhancing the educational environment we provide and the competency of the lawyers whom we graduate.  The wealth of qualified applicants makes it inevitable that some who we fail to admit will become highly effective and respected members of the profession after taking their degrees elsewhere.  But for the classroom experience at UW to reflect the range of knowledge, experiences, attitudes and aspirations of the world at large, it is necessary to look at everything about a candidate, ranging from veteran status to foreign travel experience to volunteer activities, and everything in between.  We do take into account race and ethnicity, and the life experiences those characteristics may denote.  But these are just two of the many factors we look at in our admissions process.

We are proud of the quality of our students.  Every admitted student has demonstrated excellence in the past.  Every admitted student deserves to be here.  We are confident that our admissions practices continue to serve the goal of creating a well-rounded education that meets the needs of our students and the profession.

Thank you for being part of our community.

Very truly yours,

Margaret Raymond