Education is the value proposition that provides individuals the opportunity to become meaningful contributors to society, their community, and their immediate families. It is the calling card of personal achievement and individual intrinsic benefits. Education is about access and opportunity. Institutions continue to navigate strategies of access…

Affirmative action was banned in California, Texas, Washington, and Florida in the 1990s. Following this early wave, additional states banned the practice, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma. In response to concerns about underrepresented minorities' falling college enrollment in flagship public…

Affirmative action in college admissions was effectively banned in Texas by the Hopwood ruling in 1997, by voter referenda in California and Washington in 1996 and 1998, and by administrative decisions in Florida in 1999. The "Hopwood" and "Johnson" rulings also had possible applicability to public colleges throughout Alabama,…

After Hopwood versus Texas, a court case in which race-conscious university admission was held unconstitutional, colleges failing to reexamine and mend policies may be inviting trouble. Institutions have a responsibility to sustain conversation within and beyond campus communities about affirmative action, looking at the deep differences in values…

In the current anti-affirmative action climate, colleges should review their admissions policies and redouble their efforts to admit a diverse class. Colleges have a right to determine what percentage of the students will be admitted automatically. Admissions officers violate the law only when they use race as a proxy for other legitimate…

After the appellate court decision in Hopwood versus State of Texas, overturning racial preference in law school admissions, supporters of continued affirmative action policy in higher education are finding conservatives on the offensive and a chilly climate for broad access, but are not planning an aggressive counterattack for fear of negative…