150 Law School Deans ask ABA to require “every law school [to] provide training and education around bias, cultural competence, and anti-racism”

The Volokh Conspiracy blog reports….

Yesterday, I wrote about faculty and students being required to take pledges to support certain values, such as diversity and inclusion. These pledges do not define what actions have to be taken to support these values. There are great risks to sign.

Today, I learned that 150 law school deans (including my own) asked the American Bar Association to require “every law school provide training and education around bias, cultural competence, and anti-racism.” The letter does not define what “anti-racism” training would consist of.

I suspect many schools will consider requiring students, and perhaps faculty, to take the Harvard University Implicit Bias Test, known as IAT. (The American Bar Association Section on Litigation already promotes the test.)

These tests do not accurately predict racism. The results cannot be replicated on multiple administrations. And there is a very weak correlation between test results and actual behavior. I encourage you to read a lengthy review in Vox (no right-wing rag) about the implicit bias test. Here is an excerpt:

Read full report at. https://reason.com/2020/08/02/150-law-school-deans-ask-aba-to-require-every-law-school-to-provide-training-and-education-around-bias-cultural-competence-and-anti-racism/