This article examines current issues regarding affirmative action in today's institutions of higher learning. It addresses the two recent cases decided before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the University of Michigan's policy. Two other recent and related issues, the "Hopwood" case and California's Proposition 209 approach, are also…

This article uses four data sets to assess changes in the relative weights of test- and performance-based merit criteria on college enrollment during the 1980s and 1990s and considers their significance for affirmative action. Our results support the "shifting meritocracy" hypothesis, revealed by selective postsecondary institutions'…

Although the term "affirmative action" may stir debate throughout the nation, almost everyone in higher education would agree that a socially, economically, ethically, spiritually, culturally, and otherwise diverse student body can have a significant impact on the free marketplace of ideas that is higher education. The problem faced is…

This book is addressed primarily to higher education personnel responsible for campus programming that promotes a culturally plural environment. These chapters are included: (1) "Affirming Affirmative Action" (Harold E. Cheatham); (2) "Identity Development in a Pluralistic Society" (Harold E. Cheatham); (3) "The Minority Cultural Center on a…

This paper describes progress made between 1973 and 1993 toward creating gender equity in education, with a focus on the Oregon experience. Four topics are addressed: (1) law and policy; (2) language; (3) the culture of school; and (4) school administration. Law and policy are needed at least to change behaviors, though they may not be sufficient…

A premise of this paper is that in his book "The Truly Disadvantaged" (1987), William Julius Wilson fails to recognize the effect of covert racism on the plight of the African American underclass. Wilson asserts that historical racism has contributed to the present predicament of the underclass, who have been abandoned in the ghettos by…

The Assistant Attorney-General for Civil Rights argues that preferential treatment to individuals based on their race cannot be justified under the law. Reynolds reviews the drafting of the Constitution and notes that the Constitution wronged blacks when it accorded them a fractional status of free persons. The doctrine of…

A survey of 1971 black law student enrollment and a discussion of the need for more financial aid to minority law students are included. This journal is available from the American Bar Center, Law Student Division, 1155 E. 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637. (Author/DE)

Low perceptions of sex discrimination among full-time women faculty are explained and compared with statistical data documenting inequities in salary, promotion, rank, and tenure. Structural reasons for misperceptions offered include concentration in lowest ranks, pluralistic ignorance, merit myths, and cooptation. Recommendations for solving…

Affirmative action is seen as causing dissension and cleavages in the civil rights coalition. Requisites suggested for winning support for affirmative action are thorough knowledge of its rationale and components, assuring whites they will not be pushed out of jobs, and a continued emphasis on the urgency for affirmative action. (Author/AM)

Suggests that competence and merit are elements in need of examination, and gives four reasons why being a woman, black, or Spanish-American is a qualification for academic appointment. Stresses that energy ought to be directed to increasing support of colleges and universities and not to fighting affirmative action. (Author/AM)

Presents three cases based on actual federal court litigation to illustrate the problems involved in whether to set goals or quotas in affirmative action programs, discusses how she would adjuciate them if she were the presiding judge, and examines the issues involved in an attempt to clarify the areas of disagreement in the controversies over…

Suggests that key question is not whether quotas are right or wrong but at what level particular quotas should be set, what the rate of change to achieve a particular goal should be, when to increase or eliminate them, and the establishment of procedures and personnel used for executing them. (Author/AM)

Suggests that proportionality is the natural and logical outcome of a merit society in which race and ethnicity are irrelevant for eligibility, allocation of position, and distribution of rewards. (Author/AM)

The digest is based on a full length report (with the same title) on African-American and Hispanic faculty at predominantly white, four-year institutions of higher education. The full report provides a definitive review of the literature and institutional practice on the topic. Three topics are discussed: (1) how necessary affirmative action…