In November, 2008, Colorado and Nebraska voted on amendments that sought to end race-based affirmative action at public universities. In anticipation of the vote, Colorado's flagship public institution--The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU)--explored statistical approaches to support class-based affirmative action. This paper details CU's…

The California Constitution was amended by Proposition 209 and now prohibits its public institutions from considering race, sex, color, national origin, or ethnicity. This puts San Francisco African American high school graduating seniors at a great disadvantage, especially in light of the ever persistent "academic achievement gap"…

Affirmative action policies in higher education are used in many countries to try to socially advance historically disadvantaged minorities. Although the underlying social objectives of these policies are rarely criticized, there is intense debate over the actual impact of such preferences in higher education on educational performance and labor…

In November, 2008, Colorado and Nebraska voted on amendments that sought to end race-based affirmative action at public universities in those states. In anticipation of the vote, the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) explored statistical approaches to support class-based (i.e., socioeconomic) affirmative action. This dissertation introduces…

Highly respected scholar Robert Teranishi draws on his vast research to present this timely and compelling examination of the experience of Asian Americans in higher education. "Asians in the Ivory Tower" explores why and how Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are important to our nation's higher education priorities and places the…

Executive Order 99-281 (1999), commonly known as the "One Florida Initiative," abolished affirmative action policies in university admissions, state employment, and state contracting. This dissertation studies the impact that the implementation of this initiative has had on the admission, retention and graduation rates of minority…

This case study investigated equity in teacher education admissions. Through document analysis and structured interviews with ten past or current members of the admissions committee in a large initial teacher education program in Ontario, we developed an understanding of equity in teacher education admissions as encompassing two foci: equity in…

The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Florida's Unnatural Disaster: The State's Economic Bubble Has Burst, Leaving Higher Education in a Double Bind (Jon Marcus); (2) Saudi King's Modern University:…

This dissertation examines the process of desegregation on the campus of a Catholic university in the North. Focusing on Villanova University during the period from 1940-1985, the narrative explores the tension between the University's public commitment to desegregation and the difficulties of implementing integration on a predominately white…

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…

In 2003, the United States Supreme Court decided on two cases that involved affirmative action policies for admission to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor Law School and the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Those cases, "Gratz v. Bollinger" (2003) and "Grutter v. Bollinger" (2003) had implications for the…

We used 2 debates over the course of a semester to encourage upper level psychology students to engage in discussion about controversial issues. The debates considered issues in Affirmative Action and sexual diversity. Students completed a survey assessing their experiences both individually and as a team member. Students found it easier to…

Against the backdrop of today's increasingly multicultural society, are America's elite colleges admitting and successfully educating a diverse student body? "No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal" pulls back the curtain on the selective college experience and takes a rigorous and comprehensive look at how race and social class impact each stage--from…

The literature opposed to affirmative action in hiring, granting tenure and promotion in the university claims that it lowers standards. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that in the decades prior to the institutionalization of affirmative action in the Academy, hiring, tenure and promotion standards were quite lax--resembling an "old boys…