DESO Makes Effort to Recruit more Students from HBCUs to MSU Law

By Jake Jenkins

Oct. 6, 2022

The Diversity & Equity Services Office (DESO) attended the 9th Annual National HBCU Pre-Law Summit this month in Washington D.C.

The event is for law schools to connect with students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) who want to be lawyers.

With the inaugural event being held in September of 2014, the summit is the only major national pre-law event for HBCU students and alumni in the country.

“The purpose of the event was to emerge students in the law school admission process,” said Mary Ann Ferguson, MSU Law Dean and Founder of DESO. “If we are promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, we must go straight to the pipeline and meet these students who come from diverse backgrounds.”

Goldie Pritchard, Assistant Dean of the Academic Success Program, represented Michigan State University College of Law at the summit.

“Students were enthusiastic about their journey and meeting all the lawyers and judges that looked like them,” said Pritchard. “The individuals I spoke with were less interested in overall diversity numbers but more concerned about the specific number of black students in the incoming class. This was a continuation of information addressed by speakers at the summit.”

In August, MSU Law welcomed its most diverse class in 23 years with a full 31% being students of color. The school’s mission is to become Michigan’s preeminent law school preparing a diverse population of lawyer-leaders to serve the diverse communities in Michigan and beyond.

HBCUs have existed since 1837 and were established in the United States to provide undergraduate and graduate level educational opportunities to people of African descent who were not accepted into the predominately White institutions (PWI).

Currently, MSU Law has four students who graduated from HBCUs.

“Coming from the south, it is almost inevitable that you would consider attending an HBCU if you were raised in the black community,” said Matt Kelly, ’25, of Morehouse College. “The leaders in business, faith, medicine, and other professional areas that I met in my youth were HBCU graduates. I believe graduating from an HBCU impacts me as a future attorney by setting a standard that I must hold for those who built the bridge for me to walk over into this industry.”

For many students, HBCUs create an environment where they can be comfortable and among others who have shared experiences and backgrounds.

“It was important that I found a place that was specifically tailored to my needs as a growing, black professional,” said Naomi Dixon, ’25, Prairie View A&M University. “Being so, my want to attend a prestigious institution where I could find mentors, administration, and professors that dedicated their careers to pouring back into black scholars was why I decided to attend. My HBCU gave me the ability to learn without outside inconveniences that a black student might encounter at a PWI.”

With these universities having a history of graduating a large number of pre-law students, Deans Ferguson and Pritchard are hopeful that many HBCU students will choose MSU Law.