Launched on September 14, the Queen’s Law Anti-Racism Working Group has hit the ground running. 

On September 18, Faculty Board voted overwhelmingly in favour of introducing a Black Student Admissions Process. Proposed by the Group with support from the Admissions Committee, this new process aims to increase Black representation at Queen’s Law and in the legal profession. 

Applicants who self-identify as Black will now be evaluated with a view to their personal characteristics or experiences; the law school’s goal of building a representative, diverse, and qualified class cohort; and other factors, including academic performance, LSAT scores, employment history, letters of reference, and a personal statement. 

“This is the first of a series of interrelated initiatives and recommendations that our Anti-Racism Working Group intends to propose,” says Professor Noah Weisbord, who along with Professors Lisa Kelly and Sabine Tsuruda, is co-chairing the 11-member panel that is made up of students, faculty, and alumni. 

“We’re committed to achieving tangible changes that go beyond mere declarations,” says Kelly. “In addition to reviewing relevant policy and planning documents, we plan to reach out to members of the Queen’s Law community, as well as to others with relevant expertise and experience, for their input as we gather the information that will inform the recommendations that we will offer in our report.” 

Dean Mark Walters has stressed his belief that examining the culture and policies of Queen’s Law is essential to combat racism and build a more inclusive community at the law school and beyond. Both are themes that resonate with members of the Group and others at the law school.

“I think it’s imperative that institutions such as this one fully recognize their inherent contributions to systemic racism and to actively implement initiatives to combat this,” says student member Dakota Bundy, Law’22. 
 
Nasrudin Mumin, Law’21, agrees. “As a student, I saw my involvement with the Group as an opportunity to give back to the school, and also to ‘pay it forward’ by helping to do something that will increase enrolment of Black students at Queen’s Law and increase Black representation in the legal profession,” he says. 

That latter goal is one that is front-of-mind for faculty members of the Group. Says Tsuruda, “As a law school, we have a special responsibility in performing our educational and research missions to expose, challenge, and seek to remedy the realities of racism that continue to infect legal and political institutions in Canada, especially those tasked with the administration of justice.”  

Weisbord underscores that message, noting that the Group “has been formed in response to the growing awareness that governmental and non-governmental institutions of higher education have failed to address adequately or effectively the realities of racism in Canada, especially anti-Black racism.” 

The Group is working alongside other committees to implement its goals of anti-racism and inclusivity. For example, the Group will share its final report and recommendations with the school’s Strategic Planning Committee by the end of the winter term. “But we intend to move forward with some recommendations even before releasing the final report,” says Weisbord. 

That body, co-chaired by Professors Ashwini Vasanthakumar and Grégoire Webber, has been tasked with the all-encompassing and critical job of charting the law school’s direction for the next five years, 2021-2025. As Webber explains, “For consultation on this strategic plan, we set out three possible key pillars: the role of a Queen’s legal education, enhancing research excellence and funding our missions.” 

It was with those priorities in mind that the Strategic Planning Committee struck three vital advisory sub-committees. While their activities inevitably may have some overlap, they are complementary.  

In addition to the Anti-Racism Working Group, those other two panels also are hard at work. One, which is considering the questions surrounding the possible renaming of the law school building, has already moved into the second phase of its inquiry. The other committee is examining issues surrounding Indigenous communities and Indigeneity in legal education. The consultation process for that committee will be announced shortly.   

A main focus of the Anti-Racism Working Group is anti-Black racism, particularly as it affects and has been a concern at Queen’s Law. 

In recent years, as many as 39 per cent of first-year students have self-identified as being members of a racialized group. The school’s first Black graduate Cecil Fraser, BA’58, was a member of the Class of Law’61, and while scores of other Black students have graduated from Queen’s Law over the years since, the percentage of Black students historically has remained disappointingly low. 

“I think we’re not doing as well as other schools, and we’d like to know why,” says Dean Walters. “We also want to know what we’re doing right or wrong and how we can do things better.”

Walters also points out that while Black students often face racism-related barriers at law schools generically speaking, it may be that there are Queen’s-specific issues that have been and that continue to be problematic. “Location could be one problem,” he says. “Drawing students from other, larger urban areas to Kingston might be a challenge. Or it could be the image of Queen’s that people have. That’s a larger issue.”       

Whatever the reasons for the relative dearth of Black students at Queen’s Law, Walters is intent on changing the situation and, indeed, on snuffing out all forms of racism at the school.

“Queen’s Law is doubly implicated in this process. Like any academic institution, we have to examine the school’s culture, practices, and policies to combat racism within and build a more inclusive and welcoming community.”

For more information on the Queen’s Law Anti-Racism Working Group, including its terms of reference and membership, please visit the Group’s web page.