Examines how economic disadvantage explains race bias in college admissions and attendance, addressing the possibility of reaching racial diversity through economically-based affirmative action. Discusses the possible validity of admissions measures, noting that financial barriers to attendance exist even among public colleges and reporting…

Reviews two books criticizing the use of standardized testing. Nicholas Lehmann considers selective college admission based on the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) offensive, since such tests never tap innate abilities. Peter Sacks develops a broader critique not confined to the SAT. The books suggest that effective education reform depends upon…

Discusses what has happened to black enrollment at flagship state universities and graduate schools in five states in which race-neutral admissions have been mandated by law (Washington, Georgia, Texas, Florida, and California). Suggests that under a nationwide ban on affirmative action, black students would be largely eliminated from top…

Examines the extent to which sociology texts accurately present U.S. affirmative action policy using a sample of introductory texts published from 1994 and 1997. Analyzes whether the material confronts or contributes to myths about affirmative action policy. Offers practical suggestions to strengthen the presentation of affirmative action within…

Provides a brief sketch of the position Walter Feinberg stakes out in his book, On Higher Ground. Looks at the most central and problematic thesis of Feinberg's book: the "historical debt" argument. Argues from the perspective of someone who generally agrees with the kind of affirmative action policy Feinberg supports, but on different grounds.…

Shows how Kenneth R. Howe's review to the author's book, "On Higher Ground," might be used to advance and clarify the justifications presented for affirmative action. Addresses a few of the concerns with Howe's review and responds to two main criticisms that Howe presents. (VWC)

Discusses a controversial benchmark study by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1998 that supported a form of affirmative action for minority-owned small businesses, focusing on some of its questionable methodology and conclusions. Examines program specifics, the benchmark study, data collection and evaluation problems, and who is doing the…

Discusses the effect of recent legal and legislative setbacks in the affirmative action arena, looking at the history of legislation that protects white rights over black rights (and that makes whites the protected minority) and emphasizing the need to respond to the types of injustices that affirmative action was designed to address. (SM)

Defendants of affirmative action are asked to demonstrate that race-sensitive admissions policies and diversity produce educational benefits for all students. This study found that the racial/ethnic composition of a classroom may indeed be related to the development of students' problem-solving and group skills. The nature of that effect, however,…

The organized political efforts to dismantle affirmative action programs resulted in both advantages and disadvantages in keeping the doors of higher education open to historically underrepresented students. The advantages included short-term solutions to underrepresentation such as developing alternative admission criteria for higher education.…

If colleges are willing to consider "social engineering" and affirmative action to ensure the inclusion of White men, are they willing to do so for African Americans and other people of color? Will the Center for Individual Rights ride to the rescue of the White women who may be unfairly nudged out of positions for which they are "qualified" in…

In "Grutter v. Bollinger", __ U.S. ___ ; 123 S. Ct. 2325; 156 L. Ed. 2d 304 (2003), the Supreme Court rendered a landmark decision approving the use of race as one factor in admissions decisions at the University of Michigan Law School. The opinion of the Court discussed an expert opinion of Kent D. Syverud, Dean of the Vanderbilt Law School,…

In its much-anticipated review of affirmative action, the Supreme Court upheld the educational importance of diversity. Amid great controversy, confusion, and debate, the U.S. Supreme Court this June issued its much-anticipated decisions in two University of Michigan cases addressing affirmative action in higher education admissions. The Court was…

The present-day Supreme Court ruling that skin color is a valid basis upon which to rest academic decision-making sets us on a course toward a world minutely regulated by identity-group politics. David F. Prindle's reverie of a subsequent majority opinion by Sandra Day O'Connor, ten years hence, mandating correct racial proportionality in GPAs and…

This paper reviews the rationale behind the recent US Supreme Court ruling in the University of Michigan's "Grutter v. Bollinger" case (2003). It describes the educational benefits of diversity as documented by research and argued by the seventy-five amicus briefs filed in support of the law school's race-based admissions policies. It further…