Litigation against colleges and universities has prompted the need to re-examine the legalities of the means by which they strive for a diverse student population. Court decisions have resulted in mixed signals about the use of various types of affirmative action policies. This study' method presented an analysis of archival data to provide a…

This timely book examines issues pertaining to equal opportunity--affirmative action, challenges to it, and alternatives for improving opportunities for underrepresented groups--in higher education today. Its starting point is California's Proposition 209, which ended race-based affirmative action in public education and the workplace in 1996. The…

Advocates of preferences generally claim the moral high ground, insisting that we need them to advance the common social good. To oppose preferences, therefore, is "to act immorally." Preference's champions view them as weapons against hierarchy and oppression. Their foes stress individual identity and autonomy. The outcome of the debate will…

This paper argues that the "pipeline", leading to the production and increase of undergraduate engineering and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) related degrees by underrepresented student populations (which include female and AALANA (African American, Latin American and Native American) students), has become more of a "funnel".…

Low Income;This article examines instances of housing discrimination against Latinos in the Chicago suburbs through several interviews with thirty-four Latino families who live in towns with a recent history of controversies around fair housing. Whether they are living in the central city or in the suburbs, Latinos continue to experience housing…

Increased academic attention has been drawn to democratisation in higher education, following the implementation of affirmative action in America. However, the models of Access policies presented by certain European educational systems deserve more attention. France and Britain share a common position on elitism, although they define it according…

The status of Michigan's new ban on affirmative-action preferences remained uncertain last week as lawyers fought over whether the measure should be enforced immediately, down the road, or never. Proposal 2, approved by 58 percent of Michigan voters in the November 7 elections, amends the state's Constitution to bar public colleges and other state…

An analysis is done that helps in the assessment and understanding of the various racial ideologies and beliefs about affirmative action diversity policies in a diverse college student population, as they are very important in pursuing racial and gender justice and equity. The data obtained shows that generally Whites and Asians are least…

The Supreme Court has held repeatedly that race-based preferences in public university admissions are constitutional. But debates over the wisdom of affirmative action continue. Opponents of these policies argue that preferences are detrimental to minority students--that by placing these students in environments that are too competitive,…

While we may all agree in principle that both implementers and evaluators should be culturally sensitive and ethical as well as instrumentally effective in their work practices, we often ignore the extent to which these practice goals may conflict with one another in achieving bureaucratic competence, particularly in a multicultural society.…

Race-based policies and programs for higher education were mainly based on the needs and interests of monoracial students. Until recently, federal policies as well as campus practices have reflected this mind-set. This article provides an overview of U.S. national policy regarding racial data collection and reporting, including implications for…

Individuals are living, learning, and teaching by questioning how to address race in a society that consistently prefers to see itself as colorblind, a society claiming to seek a "post-racial" existence. This edited volume offers evidence of the evolving significance of race from a diverse group of male and female contributors…

Until very recently, American universities were led mainly by their faculties, which viewed intellectual production and pedagogy as the core missions of higher education. Today, as Benjamin Ginsberg warns in this eye-opening, controversial book, "deanlets"--administrators and staffers often without serious academic backgrounds or experience--are…

Higher education has been characterized as "one of the greatest hopes for intellectual and civic progress in this country. Yet for many Americans, however, it has been seen as part of the problem rather than the solution" (Boyer, 1997, p. 85). Some have acknowledged that higher education is a public good through which individual participation…

Critics of affirmative action announced last week efforts to get bans on racial and ethnic preferences on the ballots in four states--Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, and Oklahoma--as part of a plan to thrust the issue into the national spotlight in the November 2008 elections. Ward Connerly, the prominent anti-affirmative-action activist who played a…