Reviews Dinesh D'Souza's "The End of Racism: Principles for a Multiracial Society" (1995), exploring his neoconservative ideology in the context of concepts of the underclass and what it means to be Asian American or an immigrant. D'Souza perpetuates the Model Minority thesis, which is itself a form of inferential racism. (SLD)

Reviews two books: "Beyond Affirmative Action: Reframing the Context of Higher Education" (Robert A. Ibarra) and "Diversity Challenged: Evidence on the Impact of Affirmative Action" (Gary Orfield and Michael Kurlaender). Discusses what is known about affirmative action in higher education, what educators consider affirmative action's appropriate…

On March 28, 2003 the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a report titled "Race-Neutral Alternatives in Postsecondary Education: Innovative Approaches to Diversity." The purpose of this report is to describe a number of race-neutral approaches that postsecondary institutions across the United States are using. This staff assessment by the…

James Traub, in his report for the "New York Times Magazine," suggests that some "adaptive" techniques, such as cascading applicants to other colleges and particular administrative approaches, will provide the benefits of affirmative action without its drawbacks. This is a misleading message. Adaptive techniques will not offset…

Reviews Cole and Barber's "Increasing Faculty Diversity: The Occupational Choices of High-Achieving Minority Students," which has aroused controversy because its findings bear directly on the University of Michigan's affirmative action cases. Cole and Barber surveyed minority and white students in Ivy League, elite, and historically…

This paper presents three reviews of the book, "The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions," by William Bowen and Derek Bok. The book defends affirmative action in college admissions. The first review says that the book presents important data, but it is seriously flawed…

Reviews two books criticizing the use of standardized testing. Nicholas Lehmann considers selective college admission based on the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) offensive, since such tests never tap innate abilities. Peter Sacks develops a broader critique not confined to the SAT. The books suggest that effective education reform depends upon…

Critiquing two "Handbook" chapters on gender and race, this article observes that equity concerns have given way to concerns with quality and excellence. Both chapters explore reasons behind lack of equity (for poor students of color and women in school administration) and criticize "liberal" solutions to social problems.…

A premise of this paper is that in his book "The Truly Disadvantaged" (1987), William Julius Wilson fails to recognize the effect of covert racism on the plight of the African American underclass. Wilson asserts that historical racism has contributed to the present predicament of the underclass, who have been abandoned in the ghettos by…

A graduate of Cornell university's class of 1970 reflects on his experiences as a black undergraduate at Cornell from 1966 to 1970, what affirmative action meant to him and his generation of college students, and the self-education black students experienced at Cornell at that time. William Bowen and Derek Bok recently published "The Shape of…

W. Bowen and D. Bok analyze new data from the Mellon Foundation on the question of racial preferences in college admissions. Bowen and Bok assert that the institutions should decide admissions policy, that the autonomy of the college is one of the virtues of U.S. higher education. (SLD)

Draws attention to some of the unexamined assumptions on which W. Bowen and D. Bok base their analysis and considers some of the unintended, and often undesired, consequences of racial preferences in college admissions. (SLD)

Presents eight reviews of current books, covering issues of particular interest to black educators and historians. Topics considered include slavery, college admissions and affirmative action, the marginalization of black scientists, black politics, bigotry, and higher education. (SLD)

Reviews eight recently published reports focusing on affirmative action in higher education. Discusses the following topics: (1) college admission policies; (2) minority student performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT); (3) school desegregation; and (4) minority group teachers. (FMW)

Reviews teaching materials for use in multicultural education. Materials described include posters, novels, picture books, toys, games, and curriculum packages. Topics include religious diversity, values, children's stories, bilingual literature, human rights, Native Americans, women's studies, multicultural art, immigrant students, gender equity,…