This week, as part of our “On The Margins at DU” column that investigates the successes and failures of inclusive excellence at DU, The Clarion spoke with second-year law student Chris Martin. He serves as the president of Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA), a group that strives to “provide assistance for incoming students of color and promote an atmosphere that will facilitate learning of all students.”
To get involved with BLSA, reach out to Chris at cmartin21@law.du.edu. For resources specific to graduate law students of color, visit Rocky Mountain Collective for Race, Place, and Law and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS).
Kiana: What has been your personal experience with diversity and inclusion at DU?
Chris: One of the programs I reflect most fondly on is the Pledge to Diversity program. It connects marginalized students with law firms both in Denver and across the country. There are about 55 of them, and they actively seek out and interview students of color for summer fellowship positions. You can get credit or paid for these positions, and the program is specifically designed for students of color, LGBTQ+ students and anyone who identifies as diverse.
As a student of color, I appreciated it. I don’t have a family of attorneys. I didn’t know anything about the legal realm before I came here, besides the fact that I wanted to go to law school and pursue this. But every career opportunity I’ve had in some way, shape or form stemmed from Pledge to Diversity, and it’s encouraged me.
Of course, not all students view the program positively. They think it’s a hand-out, even though it is in no way like that. It can be a gauntlet to apply for these positions. You’re in the middle of the semester, typing up 40-page briefs—but you also have to go to six interviews in the span of two weeks, and each of them can last up to two hours.
Kiana: How would you characterize what inclusive excellence looks like for the black community and people of color as a whole?
Chris: This year, BLSA has been putting more of an effort towards being a presence on campus. My favorite memory is from when we had Carlotta LaNier of the Little Rock Nine speak at a lunch talk. When I got there, I had just gotten off work and barely made it on time. They told me it was ‘standing room only’—which at first, I thought was funny. But I walk in, and every seat is full. I had to stand in the back. It was great! From both diverse faculty and not, I heard such a positive reaction to the event.
It has been difficult that our percentage of diversity at the Sturm College of Law dropped from 18 to 16 percent this year. We had seven students of color leave between semesters, and I don’t think it was entirely due to grades. This is a difficult environment to be in with the lack of diversity. It’s hard to feel comforted when you aren’t seeing familiar faces, and I hope losing those students is a wake-up call to DU.
Kiana: Could you expand on that? In what ways has DU failed to take the community into consideration?
Chris: The most glaring thing is the lack of diversity. There are four black students in my 2L class of 226 students. It isn’t an ideal ratio by any means. I don’t know the statistics of how many students apply. I only know how many get admitted. It’s important in a field that represents people that others are able to identify with them. I don’t know what steps we would have to take to fix this. Maybe in admissions, we have a diverse population that can see things differently. People who can have tough conversations and talk to prospective graduate students from different backgrounds and communities.
The nature of our school is very go-go-go, so we don’t always make time for those discussions. It can be limited to events run by BLSA that are voluntary to attend, and we’re trying to figure this out. We want to find ways to incorporate these conversations so they feel normal.
Kiana: What are the implications of this lack of representation? How does moving through these predominately-white spaces affect students of color?
Chris: You feel tokenized. You have to be a representative of your race because you are the only person from that community in a classroom of 30 people. You feel pressured. You think that your classmates are wondering how you got here or believe you’re only here to increase the diverse population. Even though you worked for this just like everyone else.
Unless you’re passing, you can’t blend in. Normally, I like to keep quiet in classes, take notes and listen to what the professor is saying. But when questions come up that aren’t fully informed, I feel like I have to say something as the only black person in the room. It’s good that I can use those spaces to share my experiences, but I shouldn’t have to do that. I’m not here to tell a class of 30 people that from age 10, my parents taught me not to make a police officer angry. That I was told not to walk around at night because of what other people may think of me.
I’m happy to have those conversations. But I wish other people would initiate them instead of me having to intervene.
Kiana: What do you hope to see in DU’s future of inclusive excellence?
Chris: A lot more. At the talk I mentioned before, one student asked our speaker what she wanted for the future. She responded, “Well, I don’t see as many faces of color as I’d like to see.” You don’t necessarily need to be around people of the same race, but it sure helps. When you have similar experiences with one another, that helps you feel identified with. I’d like to see more balance in the student population, so students of color can feel more represented.
Kiana: Why is it important to have organizations like BLSA present on campus?
Chris: You can’t make much of a dramatic impact if people don’t know you exist. BLSA had some events this year I’m really proud of, both formal and informal. We did a potluck with food from different cultures, and there was such a good turnout that we ran out of food. We had a panel with professors, prosecutor and defense attorneys, judges, convicted felons and police officers all in one conversation talking about their experiences.
Through BLSA, my biggest hope is to create more awareness and get people who know we exist and will support us. We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.
Through this column, we hope to shed light on the range of identities and experiences that exist on campus, create a space where their voices can be heard and highlight their contentious relationship with DU. We hope to represent them with as much journalistic integrity as possible, but we are aware that there are stories we will fail to communicate with the same voice. We aspire to do better than student organizations and institutions, including The Clarion, have done in the past at treating these topics with the thought and consideration they deserve.
If there is feedback you would like to give or issues you would like to see covered in this column, please reach out to duclarioneditorialteam@gmail.com.
