Five differing viewpoints are presented concerning the success of affirmative action in higher education. (PG)

Discusses how colleges and universities must demonstrate that granting racial preferences in admissions will confer a benefit upon society, and how they can develop a plan for granting racial preferences that is "narrowly tailored" to achieve only the level of diversity needed to create the desired benefit. (EV)

One of the founders of University Centers for Rational Alternatives and its present executives secretary and coordinator of the Committee on Academic Nondiscrimination and Integrity present alternative views to some of the comments regarding opposition to affirmative action made by Marilyn Gittell in "The Illusion of Affirmative Action,"…

In response to criticism of affirmative action in higher education, it is argued that affirmative action has brought demonstrable improvements in U.S. society. The debate, and the related research and literature, are reviewed from both perspectives, and it is concluded that the time has come to end white male privilege. (MSE)

If diversity is a goal of higher education, it is time to shift emphasis from the faculty search and hiring process to preparation of minority students for academic success. This requires (1) taking more direct responsibility for problems surrounding minority student achievement and (2) assessing whether affirmative action achieves desired…

Affirmative action as a form of regulatory policy may produce a productive cultural mosaic but cannot in itself achieve healthy diversity. A college wishing to diminish discrimination, create a safe and secure work and educational environment, and provide support for family life must institutionalize diversity programs to succeed. (MSE)

Might it be possible to achieve some or all of the goals of affirmative action through an approach based on an entirely different definition of the problem? This article says "yes." Its logic rests not upon an approach that creates informal quotas for identified groups, but instead on one aimed at discovering merit in people who are…

Traces resistance to affirmative action in universities, noting that the federal agencies have backed off from their tough stance, and concluding that, "With the exception of an increase in lower-level employment and the very few successfully negotiated class action suits, the status of women in the university has changed little." (JT)

In this essay recounting a midcareer faculty review, Vilma Hernandez is the fictitious name of a faculty member originally hired for affirmative action reasons who fails because of her inability to solicit support and the university's failure to offer it. Concludes that the university allowed her to fail. (JMF)

Problems of affirmative action programs in labeling minority group students as such are discussed from the viewpoint of a Mexican American who does not think of himself as disadvantaged but who was given special consideration and opportunities due to his label. (LBH)

Affirmative action has become symbolic of the public policy debate about equity, race, ethnicity, and gender. Proponents of affirmative action need to address the issues of (1) demonstrable qualification for employment; (2) entitlement to fulfilled expectations; (3) interference of affirmative action with legitimate right to educational/employment…

In an excerpt from his autobiography, a Mexican-American expresses his strong feelings about the unfortunate realities behind affirmative action and bilingual education, based on his own experiences and observation of others'. (MSE)

An alternative analysis of minority enrollments in U.S. colleges and universities suggests that little progress has been made in minority access to higher education. The current informal backlash against affirmative action and de facto college segregation inhibit racial fairness. Segregation and restricted access should be redefined as being due…

It is noted that the Supreme Court's Bakke decision does not require affirmative action in admissions--it merely allows it. The Court's support for the use of race as a permissible criterion in university admissions is no guarantee to minority persons that they will receive special consideration in competition with whites. (Author/LBH)

Third in a series on the government's partnership with education, this article examines compliance costs in higher education, which seem to have had greater impact than the costs in industrial corporations. Focus is on the American Council of Education and Harvard cost studies, as well as the importance of indirect cost calculations, institutional…