Diversity and Community Engagement
The University of Mississippi

The University of Mississippi School of Law

The University of Mississippi School of Law
Five-Year Equity-in-Action Plan
INTRODUCTION

MESSAGE FROM DEAN FREDERICK SLABACH

The University of Mississippi School of Law is committed to providing an educational environment that reflects the broader society and its varied perspectives, people and principles. The law school strives to promote diversity among its faculty, staff and student body through its academic and extracurricular programming, which is reflective of the law school and university’s overall philosophy found in its creed.

The University of Mississippi School of Law supports the university’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and academic freedom. The law school shares a deep commitment to these values as part of the university community, welcoming people regardless of race, color, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or genetic information.

We work diligently to foster a community of inclusion, an atmosphere of open, reflective and respectful debate, and a home where all feel welcomed.

MESSAGE FROM DIVERSITY LIAISON

The law school has a detailed strategic plan for diversity, equity and inclusion that establishes priorities for the admission of a diverse student body, the employment of a diverse faculty and staff, and the fostering of an inclusive and equitable law school community. The three strategic actions that are included in this equity-in-action plan are a part of the law school’s diversity, inclusion and equity plans.

GUIDING STATEMENT

The law school strives to increase the diversity, inclusion and equity of its faculty, staff and students. It is committed to actively challenging and responding to bias, harassment, discrimination, and to a policy of equal opportunity and treatment of all students, staff and faculty.

PATHWAYS TO EQUITY: University of Mississippi Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan

The University of Mississippi continues its commitment to excellence and making a positive difference in society through higher education. Pathways to Equity stands as our institutional guidepost for addressing and advancing our institutional mission through centering on diversity, equity and inclusion. Our complex institutional history coupled with our rich culture of students, faculty and staff striving for inclusive change has led us to the solidification of this institutional plan. Pathways to Equity works in concert with the university’s strategic plan to leverage university-wide, college/school-level and departmental transformative initiatives that cultivate a more diverse, equitable and inclusive campus. 

With Pathways to Equity, the University of Mississippi aspires to achieve the following statements by the conclusion of this plan.

  1. The University of Mississippi consistently and comprehensively articulates diversity, equity and inclusion as essential in fulfilling the mission, vision and values of the institution.
  2. The University of Mississippi is organizationally and culturally equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to continue advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.
  3. A campus climate is fostered that ensures all individuals are valued, supported and feel a sense of belonging at the University of Mississippi.
  4. The University of Mississippi has decreases in disparities across underrepresented groups in the enrollment, retention and graduation rate at undergraduate and graduate levels.
  5. The number of underrepresented groups employed at the University of Mississippi is increased to reflect a talented and diverse workforce at all organizational levels, especially tenure-track faculty, managerial positions and executive leadership positions.

Guiding Principles

The development of this plan requires us to address individual, social, organizational and systemic factors that create and sustain inequities that prevent all members of our community from fully participating and thriving. We view this as central to the mission of the University of Mississippi. As we embark on this journey together, we must commit to the following shared principles:

  1. Equity-mindedness[1] – We embrace the institutional responsibility and agency to actively address the challenges and disparate outcomes at all levels of our community. This requires us to be data informed and connect best and promising practices to generate high-impact change for underserved groups in our community.
  2. Institutional Accountability – We must ensure efforts outlined throughout Pathways to Equity are acknowledged in the established systems of recognition, performance and accountability. It is vital that we work to account for the advancement of these goals in our ideas of success, merit and reward. Further, we must account for, honor and recognize faculty, staff, administrators and students in their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
  3. Transparency – In our execution of Pathways to Equity, our success is predicated on a highly accessible and collaborative process that actively involves university stakeholders to work as virtuous partners. To that end, we will consistently, publicly and broadly share our intended actions, goals and measurable impacts of this plan.
  4. Innovation – Actualizing diversity, equity and inclusion will require us to deeply examine and rethink our policies, practices and procedures at the University of Mississippi. Each unit and individual across campus is invited to offer new thoughts, ideas and perspectives as we thoughtfully consider ways to make our institution more equitable and inclusive through an intersectional lens. This disposition will create a community of learning, growth and development as we collectively engage in this complex work.
  5. Alignment of Critical Resources – During this planning process, we have navigated a global health pandemic that has shown the vulnerabilities in our systems that disparately affect underserved and underresourced communities. As we continue to navigate these unprecedented times, we must not falter in our commitment to creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community. Instead, we must recognize that our commitment to equity is even more important today than ever.

OVERARCHING GOALS

The following goals represent the University of Mississippi’s commitment to the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). These overarching goals represent interconnected priorities that are applicable to UM broadly, from our comprehensive divisions, down to individual teams. We aim to have all units see meaningful alignment of these goals with their work. We will ensure UM embraces the transformative nature of diversity, equity and inclusion across all levels of the institution, addressing challenges to DEI at every corner of our institution by combining contextual understanding with internal and external expertise.

  1. Advance Institutional Capacity for Equity
    Infrastructure, Information, Systems, Education and Processes
  2. Cultivate a Diverse and Equitable Community
    Recruiting, Retaining, Advancing and Succeeding
  3. Foster an Inclusive Campus Climate
    Support, Value and Belonging

The University of Mississippi School of Law
FIVE-YEAR EQUITY-IN-ACTION PLAN
OVERVIEW

The University of Mississippi School of Law is committed to creating an educational experience that affirms diversity, equity and inclusion. We welcome the contributions of a diverse student body, faculty and staff. Diversity, equity and inclusion are vital to the education of our students and to the role we play in shaping the legal profession. As the ABA’s 2010 report on diversity in the legal profession noted:

Law schools play a particularly important role in advancing the value of diversity in the legal profession. Law schools identify the faculty talent that educates and produces new scholarship and the student talent that continually renews the profession. Law schools also choose the knowledge, skills, and values that form the legal canon and create an identity for lawyers and other legal professionals by transmitting a set of normative behaviors, ethics, and narratives. In short, law schools occupy a central role in forming and transforming the intellectual capital, the group identity, and culture of the profession. For this reason, law schools are crucial to the project of making the profession more diverse.[2]

Achieving greater diversity, inclusion and equity is a challenging commitment that requires leadership, sustained action and continual inspiration at all levels of the organization. We must present a clear message about the importance and priority of this commitment. As the flagship law school in a state where the painful truth of the past continues to influence the daily realities of the present, we commit ourselves anew to creating and nurturing an academic environment where all people are welcome, all voices are heard, and together we undertake the serious pursuit of knowledge and growth.

DIVERSITY PLANNING COMMITTEE

  • Cliff Johnson, co-chair
  • Larry J. Pittman, co-chair
  • Sandra Cox-McCarty
  • Justin Huckaby
  • Calvin Peeler
  • Hans Sinha
  • Charles Stotler
  • Joshua Quinn Tucker

STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES

STRATEGIC ACTIVITY 1: Admissions of a diverse group of students

To help create the leaders that our society needs in the legal profession and in the broader community, and to provide needed legal services to the public at large, the law school, as the flagship and only public law school in the state of Mississippi, will seek to enroll law school classes that are diverse.

To achieve these goals, the law school shall:

  1. Seek to admit classes that substantially increase the diversity of the law student body.
  2. “Continue to enhance and deploy financial resources in support of diversity . . .  so that [the law school will not lose] “admitted students to [peer schools] based on financial aid award levels.”[3]
  3. Follow the best practices for achieving diversity in the admissions process, including national best practices when they do not conflict with the law school’s admissions policy.

Area(s) Responsible: Admissions and Scholarships Committee, assistant dean for admissions, Diversity Committee, and dean.

Resources Statement:

Available Resources:

  • The law school has a current budget for recruitment of students including a travel budget for recruiters to attend various colleges, high schools and other institutions to recruit students.
  • The school also has a scholarship budget to fund scholarships to qualifying applicants.

Additional Resources Needed:

  • To increase its potential to recruit prospective students, the law school will seek additional funding and other resources from the university and from its alumni.

Institutional Capacity

N/A

Diverse and Equitable Community

Metric(s) for measurement:

  • The admissions and recruitment statistics for the 2020-21 academic year will be the baseline  for measuring the success of future efforts to achieve the Admissions Strategic Activity 1, and these metrics will include, but not be limited to, such factors as the total number of applicants, the total number of underrepresented applicants, the total number of admitted underrepresented applicants and the total number of enrolled underrepresented applicants.
  • It should be noted that many of these measurements will depend on factors beyond the law school’s control, including the economy, employment trends and other factors that influence students’ career choices.

Inclusive Campus Climate

       N/A

STRATEGIC ACTIVITY 2: Employment of a More Diverse Law Faculty

A diverse law faculty is necessary to train our law students to become leaders and legal professionals who are better able to function in a diverse world. Therefore, the law school shall be proactive in its recruiting and retaining of a diverse faculty, and it will seek to employ faculty members from minority groups and other underrepresented groups.

To achieve this goal, the law school will follow nationally recognized best practices for the recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty and shall do the following:

  1. Seek to increase the diversity of all types of faculty;
  2. Adopt hiring policies and practices that seek to obtain a diverse group of faculty, including but not limited to, a requirement that a search committee use best efforts to achieve a diverse pool of applicants; [4]
  3. Ensure that all search committees, including the Faculty Appointments Committee, will include members with diverse backgrounds and experiences, including minorities and other underrepresented groups; [5]
  4. Continue to focus on ensuring that individuals from minority and underrepresented communities are aware of employment opportunities;[6]
  5. Seek to increase diversity in law school units wherever it is found to be lacking, including when racial or gender diversity is found to be lacking;
  6. Follow the American Association of Law Schools’ statement of good practices regarding the recruitment and retention of minority law faculty;
  7. Review any existing hiring policies and practices or adopt new hiring policies and practices to ensure that they are in compliance with the mission and goals of the law school’s diversity plan.

Area(s) Responsible: law faculty, Faculty Appointments Committee, Diversity Committee, and dean.

Resources:

Available Resources:

  • N/A

Additional Resources Needed:

  • The law school will need one additional faculty lines to achieve its goal of substantially increasing the diversity of the law faculty. And it will be seeking such additional lines from the university.

Institutional Capacity

  • The demographic statistics of the law faculty for the 2020-21 academic year will be the baseline. Any future efforts to increase the diversity of the law faculty will be measured against these statistics.

Diverse and Equitable Community

  • The demographic statistics of the law faculty for the 2020-21 academic year will be the baseline. Any future efforts to increase the diversity of the law faculty will be measured against these statistics.

Inclusive Campus Climate

       N/A

STRATEGIC ACTIVITY 3: Increase Equity and Inclusion

It is vitally necessary that the law school includes all of its faculty, staff and students in all of the law school’s programs and activities and treat all faculty, staff and students fairly and equitably.

Therefore, the law school shall:

  1. Develop initiatives, programs and events that increase the diversity, inclusion, equity and cultural competence at the law school;
  2. Include diversity, inclusion, equity and cultural competence programs and activities in the orientation program for first-year students;
  3. Include mandatory implicit bias training in the orientation program for 1L students;
  4. Review current programs and activities and make any changes that are necessary to offer the best combination of programs and activities to maximize diversity, inclusion, equity and cultural competence within the full range of services in the law school;
  5. Develop either an ongoing program or a yearly program in which a substantial portion of the student body has the opportunity to participate in a nondiversity-related program, project or event in which students learn to work together to problem solve or otherwise develop and accomplish joint goals;
  6. Develop programs, initiatives or events to create team spirit and camaraderie among the student body.

Area Responsible: law faculty, Faculty Appointments Committee, Diversity Committee, and dean.

Resources:

Available Resources:

  • The law school’s present budget allows the funding of some programs and initiatives for diversity, equity, inclusion and cultural competence. 

Additional Resources Needed:

  • The law school will need funding for some of the programs and initiatives that it hopes to develop to achieve these goals. It will especially need additional funding from the university to employ a chief diversity officer who is the person best able to coordinate the different law school programs and initiatives (including many that are not included in this Equity-in-Action plan of three areas of activities).

Institutional Capacity

Metric: To measure the law school’s success in this area, it will collect statistics regarding faculty, staff and students’ participation in its future programs and initiatives. The law school will collect data to gauge the success of its programs and initiatives in meeting the specific goals it hopes the programs and initiatives achieve, and it will use surveys or other assessment tools that identify one to three questions that it will track over time. One of these goals and survey questions will probably be, “I perceive the academic environment in the School of Law to be diverse and inclusive.” Further, the law school will continuously evaluate its programs and initiatives to ensure they are of the highest quality.

The law school will assess prior programs and initiatives and will seek to discontinue those that have not been successful. As a baseline, it will use the number of successful programs and initiatives during the 2020-21 academic year and apply the procedures that are stated in the paragraph immediately above.

Diverse and Equitable Community

Metric: To measure the law school’s success in this area, it will collect statistics regarding faculty, staff and students’ participation in its future programs and initiatives. The law school will collect data to gauge the success of its programs and initiatives in meeting the specific goals it hopes the programs and initiatives achieve, and it will use surveys or other assessment tools that identify one to three questions that it will track over time. One of these goals and survey questions will probably be, “I perceive the academic environment in the School of Law to be diverse and inclusive.” Further, the law school will continuously evaluate its programs and initiatives to ensure they are of the highest quality.

The law school will assess prior programs and initiatives and will seek to discontinue those that have not been successful. As a baseline, it will use the number of successful programs and initiatives during the 2020-21 academic year and apply the procedures that are stated in the paragraph immediately above.

Inclusive Campus Climate

Metric: To measure the law school’s success in this area, it will collect statistics regarding faculty, staff and students’ participation in its future programs and initiatives. The law school will collect data to gauge the success of its programs and initiatives in meeting the specific goals it hopes the programs and initiative achieve, and it will use surveys or other assessment tools that identify one to three questions that it will track over time. One of these goals and survey questions will probably be, “I perceive the academic environment in the School of Law to be diverse and inclusive.” Further, the law school will continuously evaluate its programs and initiatives to ensure they are of the highest quality.

The law school will assess prior programs and initiatives and will seek to discontinue those that have not been successful. As a baseline, it will use the number of successful programs and initiatives during the 2020-21 academic year and apply the procedures that are stated in the paragraph immediately above.

[1] Bensimon, E.M., Dowd, A.C., Witham, K. (2016). Five principles for enacting equity by design. Diversity and Democracy, The Equity Imperative. Winter 2016, Volume 19, No. 1.

[2] American Bar Association/Presidential Initiative, Diversity in the Legal Profession, The Next Step, Recommendations for Law Schools and the Academy 17 (2010).

[3] University of Washington School of Law, Strategic Plan for Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Multiculturalism 5 (2017) PDF.

[4] William & Mary Law School, Diversity Plan 9 (2016-17) PDF,

[5]Association of American Law Schools, AALS Handbook: Statement of Good Practices, Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Faculty Members.

[6] William & Mary, supra note 4, at 9.