HispanicBusiness, an online magazine, ranked NSU’s Shepard Broad Law Center the eighth best law school in the nation for Hispanics in its 2013 Annual Diversity Report, released Sept. 12.
Out of 829 total graduate students enrolled at Shepard in the 2012-2013 school year, 191 were Hispanic — around 23 percent. Out of 57 full-time faculty members, five were Hispanic — 8.8 percent.
In addition to the percentage of Hispanic students, HispanicBusiness also took institutions’ efforts to attract and retain Hispanic students into consideration to determine the rankings.
Assistant Director of Admissions Miguel Hernandez said that the college is proud of this accolade.
“It’s meaningful to us because it demonstrates that we’re a welcoming organization and that our students not only come from diverse backgrounds, but students from diverse backgrounds find that this is a valuable place for them to learn,” he said.
As for why NSU attracts a large Hispanic number of Hispanic applicants, Hernandez said, “To tell you the truth, I think it’s a regional thing. The geographic location has a lot to do with it.”
Though American University in Washington, D.C. took the no. 1 spot, four schools in HispanicBusiness’s top 10 are in Florida; Florida International University, the University of Miami and Florida State University came in second, third and fifth, respectively. Of all the universities on the list, only FIU and the University of New Mexico outrank NSU in Hispanic graduate enrollment. Other schools on the list include Arizona State University, University of San Francisco and University of Texas at Austin.
Besides location, Hernandez thinks another important factor contributes to the strong Hispanic community at Shepard: the students themselves.
“I think the culture of the student body here is equally important because when we talk to students who come in here, from the admissions perspective, we tell them that there’s a culture of camaraderie here,” said Hernandez.
“And, more importantly, that they’re going to engage with people that they may or may not have ever engaged or expected to engage with in their academic career or their professional career and to be open to those opportunities.”
Rahysa Vargas, president of the Student Bar Association (SBA) and a third-year law student, sees Shepard as a very welcoming community for students of all backgrounds.
“I think that, being that we’re in South Florida, it’s a great place for diversity already,” she said. “But, most importantly, we cater to different international students and I think that welcomes students of all backgrounds. We find ways to benefit students of all backgrounds and of all interests.”
Hernandez feels that the impact of Shepard’s diversity extends far beyond just current students.
“It benefits the overall community. It benefits the alumni who interact with those students because ultimately, those students are going to become attorneys,” he said. “When you have people who are becoming attorneys from a variety of backgrounds, they only serve to expand the greater network that is the American Bar Association.”
