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EQUAL OPPORTUNITY POLICY AND PLAN

Charleston School of Law is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in admissions and employment on grounds of race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and marital, parental or veteran status. It also is the policy of the Charleston School of Law to assure equal educational and employment opportunity to qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender orientation, marital, parental or veteran status. The Law School is committed to diligently seeking out qualified members of minority groups for enrollment as students and employment as faculty and administrative staff.

Equal educational opportunity includes, but is not limited to, admissions, recruitment, extracurricular programs and activities, facilities use, access to course offerings, counseling and testing, financial aid, and employment. Equal employment opportunity includes, but is not limited to, recruitment, hiring, assignment of duties, tenure and promotion determinations, compensation, benefits, training and termination. This policy applies to all employees of the Law School.

In the area of student recruitment, application and promotional materials shall promote the Law School’s commitment to a diverse student population. Application materials shall give prospective students the opportunity to present to the Admissions Committee information about their background and how their admission might contribute to a diverse student population. A background of socioeconomic disadvantage also may be a consideration for the Admissions Committee in evaluating prior educational achievement.

Special consideration also should be given in recruitment activities to recruitment at historically African American undergraduate institutions and attendance at career fairs and other events targeting minority applicants. Targeted mailings to minority candidates using mailing lists from the Law School Admissions Council also should be considered.

The Law School community also will devote sustained effort to ensuring that the Law School environment is a welcoming and supportive one for minority students. In addition to supporting efforts to highlight the contributions of diversity to the quality of the academic community and fostering the development of minority student organizations, the Law School will vigorously investigate and respond to any incidents of alleged discrimination or harassment. Progress toward the student recruitment goals will be assessed, among other ways, by reference to enrollment statistics at other regional law schools.

The committee also will seek to develop programs and other initiatives designed to encourage undergraduate and even high school students of color to consider careers in the law and, more particularly, to consider attending Charleston School of Law. Partnerships between the law school and local schools with high minority student enrollment and law student-led “law days” at these schools may prove to be excellent vehicles for making progress in increasing minority applications to the law school.

In the area of faculty and staff recruitment, persons responsible for recruitment of candidates for employment must give special attention to ensuring that word of employment opportunities effectively reaches potential minority candidates. This goal might be accomplished through advertising in publications that target racial minorities, personal contact with lawyers and other legal professionals who are minorities, contacts with bar associations and other organizations involved with placement of minority job candidates, and similar approaches. The Faculty Appointments Committee has devoted and will continue to devote particular effort to a careful review of register forms submitted by minority candidates.

As with students, sustained efforts will be made to create a supportive environment for minority faculty and staff members. In particular, the law school is striving to create effective and encouraging faculty development practices aimed at all new hires that foster excellence without sacrificing collegiality.

Law School personnel are encouraged to participate in conferences, forums and training events focusing on the promotion of diversity.

Charleston School of Law has established a community-wide Diversity Committee consisting of faculty, staff, students, and members of the Charleston Bar. This committee’s task is to ensure that this equal opportunity plan is supported.