The purpose of this paper is to document the indirect effects of the Texas Top Ten Percent Plan on professional school degrees awarded and to propose the far reach of the law as an alternative argument in support of race-conscious admissions policies challenged under the strict scrutiny standard. Designed around the two tests of strict scrutiny,…

I conduct a series of analyses aimed at assessing equity in selective American colleges over a 20+ year time frame. My main measures of equity are enrollment and completion in selective colleges, which I disaggregate by race/ethnicity. After creating an institutional-level panel data set with variables on college revenues and expenses, tuition,…

Education is the value proposition that provides individuals the opportunity to become meaningful contributors to society, their community, and their immediate families. It is the calling card of personal achievement and individual intrinsic benefits. Education is about access and opportunity. Institutions continue to navigate strategies of access…

Diversity today is considered central to the capacity of postsecondary institutions to thrive in an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic society. However, as universities take steps to reap the educational benefits of racial and ethnic diversity, legal decisions and state laws increasingly restrict the tools these institutions have…

Affirmative action in college admissions was effectively banned in Texas by the Hopwood ruling in 1997, by voter referenda in California and Washington in 1996 and 1998, and by administrative decisions in Florida in 1999. The "Hopwood" and "Johnson" rulings also had possible applicability to public colleges throughout Alabama,…

In reaction to the "Hopwood v. Texas" decision, which declared the use of race in college admissions illegal, Texas created a percentage plan that guaranteed admission to students who graduate within a specified percentile of their high school class. Under the Texas plan, any student graduating in the top 10% of his or her high school…

The University of Texas law school's race-based admissions process triggered the boldest judicial statement addressing affirmative action since 1978. Colleges and universities throughout the country must now look at student diversity on a student-by-student basis and without reference to racial classifications. Admissions offices failing to comply…

In the current anti-affirmative action climate, colleges should review their admissions policies and redouble their efforts to admit a diverse class. Colleges have a right to determine what percentage of the students will be admitted automatically. Admissions officers violate the law only when they use race as a proxy for other legitimate…

Three landmark Supreme Court cases concerning affirmative action and racial discrimination within higher education institutions, and their interrelationships, are discussed: Hopwood vs. the State of Texas; Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke (1978); and Brown vs. Board of Education (1954). Treatment of the legal issues by the Center…

After the appellate court decision in Hopwood versus State of Texas, overturning racial preference in law school admissions, supporters of continued affirmative action policy in higher education are finding conservatives on the offensive and a chilly climate for broad access, but are not planning an aggressive counterattack for fear of negative…

After the Supreme Court declined to hear the Hopwood case in 1996, Texas became one of the first states forced to consider how to promote diversity in higher education without giving preferences by race and ethnicity in student aid and admissions. The situation in Texas may change as the Hopwood decision is reviewed by several entities, though…

The federal court decision in Hopwood versus the State of Texas, in which the court ruled that race could not be used as a factor in law school admission, is forcing universities to reexamine their reliance on standardized tests as admission criteria. Reduced use of test scores can then allow more active recruitment of top minority students. (MSE)

Suggests that banning all racially sensitive programs and practices in higher education is unacceptable, presenting a history of black admission to higher education and examining: minority student recruiting; athletic departments; race sensitive programs sponsored by foundations; reducing black student dropout rates; race sensitive faculty…

As Texas' elite public colleges and universities experience enrollment declines, the state is requesting clarification of the legal decision in "Hopwood v. Texas," in which the court rejected affirmative action and mandated race-neutral admissions policies. The Texas attorney general disagrees with federal officials and critics on…