The Integration of the UCLA School of Law, 19661978: Architects of Affirmative Action

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In 1966, a group of UCLA law school professors sparked the era of affirmative action by creating one of the earliest and most expansive race-conscious admissions programs in higher education. The Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP) served to integrate the legal profession by admitting large cohorts of minority students under non-traditional standards, and sending them into the world as emissaries of integration upon graduation. Together, these students bent the arc of educational equality, and the LEOP served as a model for similar programs around the country. Drawing upon rich historical archives and interviews with dozens of students and professors who helped integrate UCLA, this book argues that such programs should be reinstituted and with haste because affirmative action worked.

Reviews

Access to education remains one of the great equalizers in America today. But for too many Americans especially those from low-income communities of color our nation's colleges and universities remain out of reach. This book tells the story of UCLA's pioneering effort to break down the barriers to higher education through one of the largest and most successful affirmative action programs ever created. As the fight for educational equality continues today, this book provides powerful evidence that affirmative action works, and serves as an important reminder of our obligation to ensure the doors of opportunity remain open to all. -- Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa
In this well-written and exhaustively researched book, Espinoza skillfully tells the story of race-conscious admissions at the UCLA School of Law from 1966 to 1978. This period reflects the inception of the law schools affirmative action program, which came to be known as the Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP), and the changes that took place to LEOP after the U.S. Supreme Court set forth the parameters of race-conscious admissions in Bakke v. Regents of the University of California (1978). This book is a must-read for anyone interested race and educational access in higher education. -- Philip Lee, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law
In the 1960s, colleges and universities realized that prohibiting discrimination was not enough; affirmative action was essential for diversity. Miguel Espinoza has written a terrific book about the fight to create affirmative action programs in one institution:UCLA Law School.Espinozas account is beautifully written and compelling. Anyone interested in the affirmative action debate today and that should be all of us would benefit greatly from reading this book. -- Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

Author Bio

Miguel Espinoza is an attorney living in Los Angeles.