- BY PHYLLIS HARDEN CARTER -
SCHOLARS I
n the WinthIOP Rockefeller Foundation's 1982 Annual Report, the following statement appears: "The prosperity of Arkansas is directly linked to the quality of education offered in the state." Taking this assertion one step farther. the conclusion is that the quality of life for blacks in Arkansas is inescapably tied to the education opportuniHes which are made available to them. The legal profession in Arkansas for many years has had a disproportionately low number of blacks. While Arkansas' black population is about 18 percent. only one percent of the state's lawyers are black, leaving the black community adversely affected in terms of political involvement. legal representation and the establishment of appropriate role models. In response to this problem, O. Fred Harris, Ir., a black and then as-
THERE IS A DRASTIC NEED IN THE BLACK COMMUNTIY FOR GOOD ROLE MODELS ... W1TII BLACK PROFESSIONALS MAKING TI-lEMSELVES AVAILABLE TI-IERE, THE HOPES, DREAMS AND VISION CAN BE RESTORED TO THE FACES OF OUR CHILDREN. - Austin Porter, 1986 Graduate
sociate professor of law al the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law SchooL and Robert Walsh, then dean at the Law School. coauthored a proposal in 1980 to increase the number of black lawyers in Arkansas. InJormalion they had compiled on
young black Arkansans who had taken the law school aptitude test (L.S.A.T.) indicated that many were accepting ollers to attend law school outside of Arkansas due to the financial support available elsewhere. Apparently, tuition scholarships and living stipends were luring Arkansas' brightest black law students to other areas and keeping them there. When Walsh heard of a Rockefeller scholars' program al the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville which provided scholarships for minority engineering students, he decided to approach the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation in Little Rock about establishing a similar program al the UALR Law School. The Foundation expressed an immediate interest. not SO much for the opportunity to provide a legal education to blacks, said Freeman
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"" Austin Porter. 1986 graduate "- -
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136/Arkansas Lawyer/October 1987
Troy Price. 1987 graduate