Some of the nation's most prominent colleges and universities have abandoned their affirmativeaction-based admission policies and adopted race-neutral affirmative action as a result of twolawsuits against the University of Michigan, which threaten the availability of undergraduate andgraduate program access to applicants of color. In this article,…

With a decision pending in two lawsuits challenging race-conscious admissions practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), many observers are predicting that the US Supreme Court will significantly limit, if not completely prohibit, the use of race in college and university admissions. However if the United…

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…

This study examines the impact of affirmative action bans in six states (California, Washington, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and Nebraska) on the matriculation rates of historically underrepresented students of color in public medical schools in these states. Findings show that affirmative action bans have led to about a 17% decline (from 18.5% to…

What explains the rise of race-conscious affirmative action policies in undergraduate admissions? The dominant theory posits that adoption of such policies was precipitated by urban and campus unrest in the North during the late 1960s. Based on primary research in a sample of 17 selective schools, we find limited support for the dominant theory.…

The author reports on the ruling of a divided appellate court that held that the state law unconstitutionally made it harder for minorities to seek preferences than for other groups. The court struck down a voter-passed ban on the use of race-conscious admissions by Michigan's public colleges, holding that the measure had unconstitutionally put…

One of the continuing areas of controversy surrounding higher education is affirmative action. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear "Fisher v. Texas," and their ruling may well influence universities' diversity initiatives, especially if they overturn "Grutter v. Bollinger" and rule that diversity is no longer a…

Today, a national economy gone bust has derailed Black Americans' plans across the country. Gone are many of the economic gains, small as they were, achieved in the post-segregation era by millions of 1960s generation children and their children. Black America today is beset by job losses, business closures, pay cuts, furloughs, investment and…

In this article, Michele Moses and Lauren Saenz explore a growing trend in education policymaking--the ballot initiative. Specifically, the authors question whether information presented to voters is sufficiently substantive to permit educated decisionmaking about influential policies. Their study, a content analysis of print news media related to…

While colleges and legal analysts are focusing on what to do in the post-Hopwood world, some of us are still asking whether a move away from affirmative action was a prudent move from the beginning. Is it fair for society to move away from supporting students who have not had an equitable chance at the educational brass ring just because, in most…

The importance of diversity and inclusion to higher education was the focus of intense legal and social scientific analysis in the decisions of the United States Supreme Court concerning affirmative action at the University of Michigan. The leadership of higher education and several other sectors of society offered overwhelming support, and a…

The "problem of the 21st century" is rapidly expanding diversity alongside stubbornly persistent status and power inequities by race, ethnicity, gender, class, language, citizenship and region. Extensive technological, economic, political and social changes, along with immigration, combine to produce a global community of great diversity…