During its 40th anniversary celebration, the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) recognized Professor Emeritus Frank E.A. Sander ’52, and Harvard Law School as a whole, for historic efforts to increase the numbers of minority students in law schools.
Sander, along with former Dean of Admissions Louis Toepfer ’43, led a summer program designed to remedy the low number of minority students in law schools in 1965 and 1966. Sander’s program led to the formation of CLEO, which then carried out similar seminars on a national scale.
“This award brought back happy memories of two exciting summers along with the gratifying realization of how far we have come in the intervening years,” said Sander, who was the first chair of CLEO from 1968-70. “Over 7,000 students went through the various CLEO programs, and Harvard Law School lists one third minority students in its latest admissions data.”
Funded by the American Bar Association, CLEO has grown tremendously since its inception. Along with the summer programs and other seminars, CLEO also administers the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program, which was established by Congress in 1998.