Law Prof Sues Law School Over Admissions Data

What would cause a law professor to sue the school he's working for?

What would cause a law professor to sue the school he’s working for? Okay, eliminate the obvious employment-related causes of action, and what are you left with? And is this a case of biting the hand that feeds you?

University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowem School of Law Professor Robert Steinbuch is suing his employer of 10 years, along with the dean, Michael Schwartz, over access to admissions records under the Freedom of Information Act. According to Arkansas Online, Steinbuch is compiling information to investigate why minority students are failing at twice the rate of their white peers:

He said he is using the information to research admissions at the school, where black students fail at twice the rate of white students.

The school applies lower admission standards to “cherry pick” minority students to increase their representation on the student body, he said. Minority students are being misled into believing they’re getting an equal chance to succeed, he said.

“They’re doing that for a feel-good political reason,” he said. “It’s not an issue of race. It’s an issue of different admission standards.”

Schwartz said Tuesday that the most he could say is that the law school’s research “does not substantiate” Steinbuch’s allegations about minority students.

Of course, Steinbuch’s theory does nothing to account for systemic privilege that disadvantages some students over others in an academic setting, but that’s a digression that isn’t directly implicated by the lawsuit.

Professor Steinbuch is seeking compiled data that details each student’s LSAT scores, college grades, and law school grades, as well as the race, gender, and age of each student that graduated and took the bar exam over a seven-year period. The students’ names were redacted in order to comply with privacy laws.

According to the lawsuit, the school has twice before given Steinbuch the same records, with Schwartz himself approving their release in 2013.

But Schwartz declined to release all the information this year, instead releasing a version with the ethnicity, Law School Admission Test score and law-school GPA redacted.

The reason Schwartz, a 10-year Bowen faculty member, provided for withholding the information is that Steinbuch, as a former member of the law school’s admissions committee who had access to students’ scores and personal information, could use the information to glean the identities of minority students, the lawsuit states.

Maybe Steinbuch has a photographic memory like Marilu Henner and is able to recall with perfect clarity the details of every single application he reviewed as a member of the admissions committee. Maybe, but probably not.

Sponsored

In an email referenced in Steinbuch’s complaint, the law school seems to think the danger is real:

“A small law school like Bowen … has only a very small number of students of color; the ethnicity data needed to be redacted in any event because providing even the ethnicity data alone would reasonably be expected to lead to personally identifiable information.”

It’s worth noting that Steinbuch is touted on UALR’s website as an expert in FOIA law, which adds a level of intrigue over an already fascinating case.

Law school violates open-records act, suit says [Arkansas Online via TaxProf Blog]

Sponsored