Law school named in Top 10 for ethnic enrollment in 2019

Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, with campuses in Michigan and Florida, was named a top 10 law school for racial and ethnic minority enrollment in 2019 by Enjuris, a collection of independent legal resources for legal professionals.

With Black students comprising 22.4 percent of WMU-Cooley’s total student enrollment in 2019, the law school is ranked in Enjuris’ recently released, Law School Enrollment by Race & Ethnicity (2019) report. Based on data from the American Bar Association, the report names WMU-Cooley among top law schools in the nation, including Howard University with 80.9 percent Black students, Southern University with 57.5 percent Black students and The University of North Texas-Dallas with 16.5 percent Black students.

Founded in 1972, WMU-Cooley’s approach to legal education has continually included being committed to providing a legal education to people from all walks of life and has attracted a diverse national and international student body where students can feel empowered knowing they were accepted through fair and objective admission policies.

During the law school’s 2019 fall term, 43.3 percent of enrolled students were members of minority groups, and 30 students were from foreign countries. Additionally, 59.6 percent of those enrolled at that time were women. Nearly 80 percent of students were enrolled part time and ranged from 19 to 70 years old.

The recent Enjuris report notes that law school enrollment among students of color nationwide declined slightly from 31.21 percent in 2018 to 31.01 percent in 2019. However, the percentage of law students of color has risen sharply throughout the nation the past few decades. In 1987, the national law student of color population was 11.23 percent, and rose to 20.57 percent in 2000.