Dear ABA Council on Legal Education:
The unionized faculty and staff of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law submit this comment to express the strong need to protect and strengthen the ABA’s Diversity and Inclusion Standard 206.[2] Standard 206 is a lawful guideline meant to directly address the legal profession's historic exclusion and marginalization of people based on gender, race, and ethnicity.[3] It exists as a check on bias and intolerance in accredited law schools, meant to be applied appropriately in line with “sound educational policy” and other ABA Standards. It requires only that ABA-accredited law schools make a basic commitment to diversity and inclusion for students in their educational programs.[4]
CUNY Law is New York City’s only public law school, and our mission is to produce practice-ready public interest attorneys and diversify the profession.[5] As the nation’s #1 law school for public service and a top school for social justice,[6] CUNY Law is regularly celebrated in the legal profession and academia for having a student body, faculty, and staff that reflect the rich and robust diversity of New York City.[7] These achievements are at the core of our work and are intentional. As articulated by the recent former Dean of CUNY Law Sudha Setty, now President and Chief Executive Officer of the Law School Admissions Council:
A diverse legal profession ensures that the interpretation, application, and evolution of the law are informed by a full understanding of societal needs and realities. When individuals see themselves represented in the legal profession – from law school classrooms to courtrooms to legislative chambers – it fosters a sense of inclusivity and legitimacy in the legal system.[8]
We also understand that all law graduates need to be equipped with the necessary personal, social, and cultural skills to navigate an increasingly diverse society and global legal landscape.[9] While Standard 206 is responsive to discrimination in the legal profession, it also attempts to ensure that ABA-accredited law schools will produce graduates who are capable of and prepared to competently serve America's diverse public as licensed attorneys. Recognizing this, most leading law schools, like CUNY Law, are intentionally shifting from a narrow focus on diversity metrics to broader, structural approaches that expand access to legal education and diversify their student bodies through updated admissions strategies, affordability pathways, flexible program designs, and pipeline initiatives.[10]
Given recent attacks on higher education, the judiciary, law firms, and the increased use of misogynistic and white supremacist rhetoric and tactics by state and federal actors, Standard 206 is meant to help the ABA combat institutional hostility toward women, people of color, immigrants, and other underrepresented communities. Repealing the basic requirements of Standard 206 would green-light historic gatekeeping and discrimination in the legal profession, signaling the ABA’s failure to safeguard legal education during a time of crisis for the rule of law, while undermining its purpose as an accreditor.[11]
As CUNY Law faculty and staff, we are committed to building a legal profession that reflects society’s diversity and promotes the value and benefits of inclusivity. We urge the ABA, as our academic regulator, to protect and strengthen Standard 206 — reject discrimination and division, and stand for a vision of legal education that invites, welcomes, and supports law students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Sincerely,
Professional Staff Congress – CUNY Law Chapter
April 9, 2026
Submitted by the CUNY Law School PSC Chapter Executive Committee:
- Kara Sheli Wallis, Chairperson, Associate Professor of Law
- Frank Deale, Vice-Chairperson, Professor of Law
- Jeena Shah, Secretary, Associate Professor of Law Babe Howell, Officer-at-Large, Professor of Law Marbré Stahly-Butts, Officer-at-Large, Professor of Law
- Beena Ahmad, Officer-at-Large, Assistant Professor of Law
- Chaumtoli Huq, Officer-at-Large, Professor of Law
- Maya Alperin, Welfare Fund Advisory Council, Admissions Office, Associate Director
- Sam Sue, Higher Education Officer-at-Large Delegate, Career Planning Office, Director
- The Professional Staff Congress (PSC) is the City University of New York (CUNY)’s labor union. It represents over 30,000 faculty and staff, making it one of the largest academic unions in the United States. The PSC is additionally an affiliate of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). ↑
- American Bar Association, Standard 206. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (“(a) Consistent with sound legal education policy and the Standards, a law school shall demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion by providing full opportunities for the study of law and entry into the profession by members of underrepresented groups, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, and a commitment to having a student body that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity. (b) Consistent with sound educational policy and the Standards, a law school shall demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion by having a faculty and staff that are diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.”). ↑
- See, Abrams et al., DEI Programs Are Lawful Under Federal Civil Rights Laws and Supreme Court Precedent Feb. 20, 2025). ↑
- See, Critical Legal Collective, Comment on Proposed Repeal of Standard 206 (Diversity and Inclusion) (April 1, 2026). ↑
- CUNY School of Law, Mission (“CUNY School of Law is the nation’s #1 public interest law school and a singular institution. Founded in 1983 with the dual mission to recruit and train outstanding public interest lawyers and to diversify the legal profession, [as] it is the only publicly funded law school in New York City. CUNY Law is built on a tradition of radical lawyering: movements for social change are built with leadership and collaboration from the people and communities who have experienced injustice. Our consistently high rankings in the diversity of our faculty and student body exemplify our mission. Realized through intentional, holistic recruitment and our status as a top clinical education program, our community is one of activists, organizers, scholars, and advocates. We stand united in the belief that only when the world can see the full range of human experience reflected and represented in the law will we have justice for everyone.”). ↑
- See e.g., Donna Campbell, CUNY, Albany, UDC Lead 2025 Best Law Schools for Public Service, Nat’l Jurist (Aug. 18, 2025); Whitney Ayres Kenerly, CUNY School of Law Recognized as Nation’s Leading Producer of Public Interest Graduates, U.S. News & World Report (Apr. 30, 2025); Chris Lewis, Top Law Schools for Social Justice, Nat’l Jurist (Feb. 25, 2026). ↑
- See e.g., Elise Hanks, Maya Alperin Advances National Work on Inclusive Admissions; CUNY Law’s Bibi N. Amin Named AALS Up-and-Comer Award Recipient, CUNY Law Awards & Recognitions Website (Dec. 8, 2025). ↑
- CUNY Law Takes Top Diversity Ranking Three Years Running, CUNY Law Newsroom Website (Jan. 22, 2025). ↑
- See e.g., The Time is Now: Professor Jennifer Fernandez Receives National Recognition for Work and Scholarship Advancing Inclusive Legal Education, CUNY Law Newsroom Website (July 30, 2025). ↑
- Michelle Weyenberg, Donna Campbell & Jennifer McEntee Law Schools Expanding Access Lead preLaw’s Justice & Opportunity Honor Roll, Nat’l Jurist (Mar. 4, 2026) (“More than 35 law schools are expanding access through admissions innovation, program design and community-centered pathways — strengthening justice through opportunity.”). ↑
- Cf., William R. Bay, The ABA Rejects Efforts to Undermine the Courts and the Legal Profession, Amer. Bar Ass’n (Mar. 3, 2025). See also generally, Assoc. of Amer. Law Schools, Rule of Law Clearinghouse. ↑