For more than 30 years, affirmative action efforts have been present on college and university campuses, as have been the controversies that surround them. To this day, it remains a hotly contested issue in higher education, and recent court decisions once again are affecting how students will be selected for admission to institutions of higher…

Argues that the United States Supreme Court will more likely uphold its decision in "Regents of the University of California v. Bakke" (a 1978 higher education affirmative-action case) than overturn it. (Contains 41 references.) (PKP)

States that honest discussions about affirmative action will be impossible as long as those who challenge campus orthodoxy are vilified and silenced. Offers that a commitment to diversity will include respect for ideological diversity and a realization that some critics of affirmative action may properly focus attention on class and caste biases…

In two recent cases involving the University of Michigan (Gratz v. Bollinger and Gruttinger v. Bollinger), the Supreme Court examined whether race should be allowed to play an explicit role in the admission decisions of schools. The arguments made in support of affirmative action admission policies in these cases and others raise two fundamental…

Many diversity courses in psychology originally aimed to reduce student racial bias and raise their awareness of racism. However, quantitative data testing the effectiveness of such courses are lacking. This study assessed a required diversity course's effectiveness in raising awareness of White privilege and racism; increasing support for…

In "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1," a highly contentious and divided Supreme Court invalidated race-conscious admissions plans in two urban school systems, Seattle and Louisville. As such, "Parents Involved" was the latest chapter in the Court's almost 40-year history of reaching mixed…

The idea that lawsuits can move a public as well as a legal agenda is not new. In recent years, conservatives have brought high profile lawsuits designed both to vindicate the rights of an individual plaintiff and to educate the public about an important issue. For example, lawsuits filed nearly 10 years ago against the University of Michigan's…

Views of a selection committee's decision to promote a woman over a man on the basis of affirmative action were studied in a random sample of Australians (118 men and 111 women). The relations between perceptions of workplace gender discrimination, feelings of collective responsibility and guilt for discrimination, and judgments of entitlement to…

It is essential that the interview be effective as a communication process, as well as from the standpoint of the elimination of bias. (Author)

This paper, by the president of West Virginia University (WVU), discusses the impact of the Brown decision on that institution and on higher education in general. Following the Gaines decision of 1938, WVU adopted a policy of admitting Black students to its graduate and professional schools because advanced educational programs were not available…

The superintendent of the Dallas school district describes the action the court ordered the district to take to eliminate institutional racism and the progress that has been made in four years. (IRT)

The issues and cases discussed demonstrate that performance appraisal procedures must be validated in the interest of fairness to employees, efficiency of operations for the employer, and prevention of expensive and time-consuming litigation. (Author)

The special admission program at Davis goes so far beyond federal affirmative action requirements that a decision for Bakke would not affect current federal programs. (Author)