C. Michael Kamps, a certified public accountant in Texas, filed a lawsuit against Baylor Law School alleging that the school fails to adjust grade point averages of applicants who received undergraduate degrees many years before today’s practice of grade inflation, which began in the late 1970s. Kamps argued that this bias displayed by Baylor Law School admissions was in violation of the Age Discrimination Act (ADA) of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.).

Kamps, 57, graduated from Texas A&M University in 1979 with a GPA of 3.2, placing him in the top quarter of his class. He also earned a score of 169 on the Law School Admissions Test. According to the lawsuit, Kamps consistently submitted applications to Baylor Law School over the course of several years, with no success. He was eventually wait-listed for Fall 2010, and then offered a seat for his credentials in Summer 2010, Spring 2011, and Spring 2012 classes. However, Kamps wished only to matriculate during one of the more competitive Fall classes. Therefore, his age discrimination claim was based not on the fact that the law school had rejected him altogether, but that it did not admit him for his preferred terms. Kamps’ final complaint is that the University denied him the chance to receive the merit-based Nance Scholarship in 2011 because of his age.

After the Department of Education received Kamps’ first formal complaint on October 27, 2011, Kamps believed the University retaliated against him by outright rejecting his most recent attempt to apply for the Fall 2012 class. Thus, Kamps brought disparate treatment, disparate impact, and retaliation claims against the University and its administrators in July 2012. Yet the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas and the New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both dismissed his lawsuit on all counts.

According to the court documents, it was dismissed first on the grounds that because Kamps missed his 180-day window to file his knowledge of the alleged discrimination—his DOE claim was made more than a year after Baylor Law School denied his initial 2010 application on February 17, 2010—Kamps did not exhaust his administrative remedies. Second, Kamps’ claim of disparate treatment, a fancy legal term for intentional discrimination, fell short because there is no evidence to show that Baylor used applicants’ GPAs to discriminate against any older applicants including Kamps. Kamps alleged that,

[Baylor] knew, or should have known, the effect that grade inflation would have when comparing GPAs earned in different eras.

The magistrate judge determined that knowing that GPA grade inflation disadvantages older applicants is not the same thing as using applicants’ GPAs in order to intentionally disadvantage older applicants.

Finally, unlike the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, the court decided that the ADA of 1975 does not prohibit either disparate impact policies or retaliation. The disparate impact theory is different from disparate treatment or intentional discrimination in that it prohibits employers from using policies that are facially neutral, but creates an unjustified adverse impact on members of any protected class (race, color, religion, gender, etc.). In other words, disparate impact is the name for unintentional discrimination. According to the decision,

The [ADEA] makes it unlawful to limit, segregate, or classify employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s age.

Nowhere in the ADA are the words “otherwise adversely affects,” nor is there a statutory prohibition against retaliation, meaning the ADA only prohibits against intentional discrimination. Title IX Education Amendments of 1972 state:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of age, be excluded from participation, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

On Monday, June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2014 decision to dismiss Kamps’ suit on all counts. Kamps told Texas Lawyer that while he thought he raised an interesting question for the Supreme Court, it is “the end of the road” for his journey to law school.

Although the Supreme Court seems to be justified in its decision regarding the legal language of the ADA, in practice, it does not seem justified that any law school should have the ability to  intentionally discriminate or unintentionally discriminate against older applicants. Only three words—“otherwise adversely affects”—are missing from the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 to place potentially hundreds or thousands of older applicants on a level playing field with younger applicants in the competition of law school admissions.

Jenifer Carter

Jenifer Carter is a member of the University of Virginia Class of 2016. Contact Jenifer at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The Texas Access to Justice Foundation, also known as TAJF, has awarded Baylor Law School a $22,000 grant for the purpose of providing civil legal aid to Texas veterans. According to Dr. Bridget Fuselier, who is a professor at Baylor Law School, this grant funds monthly clinics for Waco-area veterans who need legal assistance but are unable to receive it due to their low income levels. For the third year in a row, thousands of local veterans will receive monthly pro bono help at Baylor’s innovative veterans assistance clinics. Dr. Fuselier, expressing her gratitude to the foundation, has stated:

We’re very appreciative and honored that the Texas Access to Justice Foundation continues to support our program, the fact that they’re renewing their commitment to us is proof that we’re being successful in our efforts with the money.

Dr. Fuselier has stated that in order to receive aid from the clinic, the veterans must be at the 200 percent or lower poverty level. According to the Texas Access to Justice Foundation website, the annual income of a veteran can be no more than $14,588 a year in order to be eligible for aid. Over 80 percent of the veterans who receive legal aid from the clinics come from McLennan County, Texas.

The aid that these veterans receive during the monthly clinics is provided by law school faculty, students, and volunteer local attorneys. At these monthly clinics, veterans can receive civil legal advice for problems such as family law matters, denial of benefits or disability, or any other issues that have arisen as a result of the veteran’s deployment. According to Baylor Law School’s website:

Each monthly clinic begins with a 30-minute educational topic ranging from landlord/tenant relationship issues to veterans’ benefits to the importance of having a will. Following the 30-minute session, veterans who have current legal problems can meet with a law student and volunteer attorney for a brief advice and counsel session.

According to Dr. Fuselier, “The veterans are able to at least get some immediate advice, and then sometimes we send their cases to volunteer attorneys in Waco that can do some more work pro bono.”

According to Betty Balli Torres, the executive director for the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, the work that Baylor Law School is doing with the grant is unlike anything that has been done with one of their grants before. According to Torres, it is the only veterans clinic through a law school which the foundation funds. She stated: “the fact that Baylor was starting a program to benefit veterans in this specific model was very appealing to us,” which is why it was chosen for the grant.

The foundation only has a small number of grants that they can give out, so the continued funding of these veteran’s clinics is something new for the foundation. According to Torres, the foundation has “had diminishing resources,” so difficult choices had to have been made about where to put the foundation’s money. She is confident in the decision to give Baylor the $22,000 for the third year in a row.

Not only is this grant beneficial to the veterans who receive the free legal advice, but it is also beneficial to the law school students who are giving it. These clinics allow them to gain valuable legal experience that will overall make them more prepared for their post-law school careers. According to Torres, this is why law schools make the perfect places to award these grants. She said:

Law school is where you start educating young professionals about the services they can provide, give them opportunities to serve and have them help out in programs like the one at Baylor, it’s a perfect place to provide funding.

Hopefully we will see Baylor continue to run veterans assistance clinics for years to come, thanks to the generosity of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.

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Brittany Alzfan (@BrittanyAlzfan) is a student at the George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice. She was a member of Law Street’s founding Law School Rankings team during the summer of 2014. Contact Brittany at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [DVIDSHUB]

Brittany Alzfan

Brittany Alzfan is a student at the George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice. She was a member of Law Street’s founding Law School Rankings team during the summer of 2014. Contact Brittany at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Baylor Law Receives Grant to Provide Free Veterans Clinics appeared first on Law Street.