We believe that diversity is key to individual flourishing, educational excellence, and the advancement of knowledge and we maintain a deep commitment to fostering a diverse community in which all students, staff, and faculty learn and work in an atmosphere of inclusion and respect.
Defining the Terms
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Diversity
Diversity is expressed in myriad forms, including race and ethnicity, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, language, culture, national origin, religious commitments, age, (dis)ability status, and political perspective.
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Equity
We commit to working actively to challenge and respond to bias, harassment, and discrimination, and to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons.
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Inclusion
We commit to pursuing deliberate efforts to ensure that our campus is a place where differences are welcome, different perspectives are respectfully heard, and where every individual feels a sense of belonging and inclusion. We know that by building a critical mass of diverse groups on campus and creating a vibrant climate of inclusiveness, we can more effectively leverage the resources of diversity to advance our collective capabilities.
Law School Resources
The following is a non-exhaustive list of resources, student organizations, journals, and other offerings and programs that frequently touch upon matters relevant to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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Michigan Access Program
The Michigan Access Program seeks to build and support a community of justice leaders within the Law School, teach leadership and conflict resolution skills with an emphasis on intercultural competence, and provide students with opportunities to explore their own thinking, histories, and beliefs around the concepts of social identity and social justice.
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Program in Race, Law, and History
The Program in Race, Law, and History is an interdisciplinary program dedicated to research and teaching at the intersection of these three lines of intellectual inquiry. The program’s work is linked to the broad trends in social and cultural history, exploring how race and law have come together to shape ideas about home, family, marriage, gender, and sexuality.
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Student Organizations
- American Constitution Society
- Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
- Black Law Students Association (BLSA)
- Catholic Law Students Association
- Christian Legal Society
- Federalist Society
- J. Reuben Clark Law Society
- Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA)
- Latino Law Students Association (LLSA)
- Michigan Law Veterans Society (MILVETS)
- Muslim Law Students Association (MLSA)
- Native American Law Students Association (NALSA)
- Older Wiser Law Students (OWLS)
- Outlaws
- Racial Justice Coalition
- South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA)
- Women Law Students Association (WLSA)
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U-M Campus Resources
- U-M Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Center for the Education of Women
- Intergroup Relations
- International Center
- Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs
- Services for Students with Disabilities
- Spectrum Center
- Students of Color of Rackham
- Veteran and Military Services
- William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center
DEI Planning
In 2016, the University of Michigan launched a campus-wide strategic plan, affirming its dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Michigan Law engaged in this process and, through regular planning, continues its ongoing commitment to DEI. The inaugural strategic plan—known as DEI 1.0—concluded in 2021. The Law School’s current efforts are encapsulated in its DEI 2.0 plan.
Did You Know?
The Law School’s commitment to diversity was evident in the institution’s role as defendants in lawsuits challenging the legality of admissions policies. Those lawsuits culminated with the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. In Grutter, the Court upheld the Law School’s policy of considering race as an unquantified “plus factor” among other admissions considerations, finding that doing so furthered the School’s permissible goal of fostering diversity. In Gratz, the Court struck down U-M’s undergraduate points-based admissions policy.
However, in 2006, Proposal 2 (often referred to as “Prop 2”) was put on the November ballot in Michigan. It proposed to amend Michigan’s state constitution to ban affirmative action in public higher education admissions. Michigan voters passed Prop 2 by a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent.
The legality of affirmative action in admissions in Michigan had yet another chapter. On November 14, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled 8-7 that Prop 2 was an unconstitutional violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee. This case—Schuette v. BAMN—was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on April 22, 2014, that Court reversed the Sixth Circuit’s ruling and affirmed the constitutionality of Prop 2.