Research shows that though college students tend to support diversity, a large percentage are opposed to giving preferences to minorities in the admissions process. Some of the research on the subject is incomplete or misleading. Other studies show that though campuses worry about the stigmatization of students given preferential admission,…

Reports on plans for new "race-blind" entrance criteria at the 10 public universities in Florida. Plans call for ending racial preferences in graduate education altogether and replacing undergraduate preferences with a guarantee of admission to a state university for the top 20 percent of Florida high school graduates. Critics and…

Examines how the University of California has addressed the problem of differential access for minorities and longstanding inconsistencies between its admissions practices and mission. Argues that the university's recent retreat from affirmative action signals a departure from its earlier emphasis on providing greater access to higher education…

While policy-makers and educational administrators decry the underrepresentation of African American students in institutions of higher education, groups like the Center for Individual Rights (CIR) work to limit African American presence on campuses even more. While innovative programmers build programs that will attract African American students…

Conservative critiques of higher education rely on liberal doses of cash. Behind the conservative critique of U.S. higher education is a fervent commitment to ideals, to be sure--but there's also a sizable amount of conservative cash. The Bradley, Earhart, Castle Rock, and John M. Olin foundations have contributed lavishly to guidebooks aimed at…

For most of their history, two separate, but related, after-school education programs operated independently, coordinated by separate teams of university and community partners. When the existence of the programs was threatened, a community-university coalition formed in an effort to sustain them. This coincided with the university-community…

This article argues strong affirmative action for HBCUs involving federal R&D funds and congressional earmarks is needed. Members of Congress must recognize the essential role HBCUs have played in providing educational opportunities for African Americans and economically marginalized White Americans. The "No Child Left Behind" slogan for K-12…

Using Bowen and Bok's data from 23 selective colleges, we fit multilevel logit models to test two hypotheses with implications for affirmative action and group differences in attainment of science, math, or engineering (SME) degrees. Hypothesis 1, that differences in precollege academic preparation will explain later SME graduation disparities,…

In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), the U.S. Supreme Court emphatically affirmed the value of diversity, and argued that the state has a compelling interest to promote diversity on college campuses. The nature of the Supreme Court's argument in the majority decision clearly acknowledged that there remains important work still left to do. The court…

Advocates of racial preferences from the Harvard Civil Rights Project have criticized an initiative designed to provide race-neutral admissions to universities in Florida. George La Noue rejects their criticism, which, he says, confuses the definitions of affirmative action, establishes nonexistent criteria, and ignores crucial elements that…

When the author left California for the University of Minnesota twenty-five years ago, he vowed never again to become involved in departmental or university politics. He'd had enough of that at California State, Los Angeles, and he was determined to devote his full attention, apart from teaching, to several scholarly projects that had simmered so…

The U.S. Supreme Court provided evidence that its membership had shifted to be more critical of affirmative action as it heard oral arguments last week in two cases involving the race-based assignment of students to public schools. Although the court did not exhibit any desire to reconsider its stand on affirmative action in higher education, the…

With an aim to contributing additional information to the public debate about affirmative action, this report discusses the distribution of federal resources from the Department of Education for programs intended to bring about access and opportunity to underrepresented groups in higher education, specifically allocation of such funding to…

On November 5, 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, which prohibits discrimination against or the granting of preferential treatment to anyone on the basis of race, sex, color, or ethnicity in the operation of public employment, education, or contracting. Regarding the prohibition of discrimination, 209 creates no new restrictions…

This document provides a status report of the Michigan Department of Education's Civil Rights Compliance Program in the area of vocational education. The report is based on compliance audits of a minimum of 20 percent of the state's total number of secondary and postsecondary vocational education providers. Compliance activities were conducted by…