Suffolk University Law School in Boston has announced the establishment of the Thaddeus Alexander Kitchener Scholarship. This award will guarantee full-tuition scholarships at Suffolk Law for all students who are admitted to and enroll in a JD program at Suffolk Law in 2022, agree to commit to Suffolk Law via the Binding Early Decision HBCU Program, and have received their undergraduate degree by the time of enrollment at Suffolk Law from one of the 35 historically Black colleges and universities.
The full-tuition award will be renewed each year that students are at Suffolk Law so long as they remain in good academic standing. Students from the 35 HBCUs who apply but do not commit to binding early decision can receive scholarships of up to $35,000 under the program.
The scholarship is named for Thaddeus Alexander Kitchener, who was the first student of color to graduate with a law degree from Suffolk Law. Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Kitchener graduated in 1913. Before being accepted at Suffolk Law, Kitchener was working as a janitor at what is now Simmons University in Boston. After law school, Kitchener continued to work as a janitor until at least 1918.
According to a statement from the law school, the Kitchener Scholarship was established to make law school more affordable for students who demonstrate the ability to succeed in law school but who may not otherwise receive merit-based scholarships. Standardized testing and traditional merit-based scholarship models can be barriers to entry to law school and the legal profession for students from nontraditional backgrounds, and this scholarship is designed to address those barriers, the law school said.
