The Coalition of Asian American Associations (CAAA) and Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE), two small but vocal groups of Asian Americans, have argued against affirmative action practices. One of their more prominent claims is that Asian American applicants who are not accepted and do not attend their first-choice colleges face a…

This dissertation studies college admissions in Brazil in the past two decades, a period characterized by a decline in the socioeconomic inequality in demand for higher education. The first chapter studies an affirmative action policy enacted at a flagship university in Brazil to lower the socioeconomic inequality in college access. I find…

This paper reflects on the experience of the 1999-2002 minority pipeline program (MPP) at the University of California, Riverside. With support from the American Economic Association, the MPP identified students of color interested in economics, let them explore economic issues affecting minority communities, and encouraged them to consider…

Although affirmative action in college admissions has not been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the consideration of race in admissions has been banned in nine states--in six of them by public vote. This article analyzes the campaigns to ban affirmative action in California and Michigan as a battle between interest groups. The…

Do state government policies and institutions promote access to postsecondary education by economically disadvantaged students? I analyze the number of state residents receiving federal Pell grants relative to the college-age population raised in low-income households. Using data for 1993-2008, I estimate separate models for total Pell recipients…

In this article, the authors interpret affirmative actions with reference to structural violence, which is accompanied by legitimizing discourses that tend to make discrimination appear natural and unquestionable. They illustrate the extension of structural violence in Brazilian society with particular reference to access to higher education. It…

Opponents of affirmative action in the Fisher Supreme Court case claim that race-conscious admissions policies discriminate against Asian American applicants and impose a "higher bar" in college admissions than for other students. In their amicus brief supporting the plaintiff in the Fisher case, 80-20 states that, "Asian American…

This article describes the outcomes of the case "Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin," in which the plaintiff had accused the University of Texas (UT) of racial discrimination in the admission process. The author believes that the ruling of the court in this case makes it harder to hide race-based measures used in college admissions.…

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes and general knowledge of Affirmative Action in higher education admissions at one HBCU in Tennessee. The researcher used a modified version of the Echols¡¦s Affirmative Action Inventory (EAAI) to assess attitudes and general knowledge of all administrators, faculty, staff, and…

Race-based affirmative action policies are widespread in higher education. Despite the prevalence of these policies, there is little consensus on how affirmative action policies affect students either before they reach college or after they matriculate into college. This study provides new evidence on the benefits of affirmative action policies…

The last several years have seen renewed debate over the role that race plays in higher education--a debate over "affirmative action." The report first considers "affirmative action" in its original sense: the "mandatory" race-conscious measures that the federal courts have imposed on "de jure" segregated…

This paper examines how affirmative action in Brazilian public universities has evolved from the start of the new millennium up to recent years. After an overview of the existing policies in public universities, we explain these patterns based on an analysis of the processes internal and external to the universities. Although these policies were…

This paper examines diversity strategies at selective universities across the U.S., with a particular focus on the effects of legal challenges to race-conscious admissions. Study findings are based on responses to a first-of-its-kind national survey of undergraduate admissions and enrollment management leaders administered in fall 2014. The data…

Over the last few years, even as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering the constitutionality of race-conscious policies in postsecondary admissions in "Fisher v. University of Texas" (2016), a new wave of attacks in the conservative agenda to dismantle affirmative action (as the policy is more commonly called) emerged. First, in 2014…

This essay discusses the contentious events leading to the decision by the University of California's Board of Regents to end affirmative action in admissions, hiring and contracting at the university in July 1995. This controversial decision provided momentum for California's passage of Proposition 209 the following year ending "racial…