College officials deny it, but many Asian-American high-school students feel they will be held to a higher standard. The idea that Asian-American applicants are held to a higher standard in college admissions has received a wave of attention lately. The U.S. Department of Education is now investigating whether Princeton University discriminates…

Over the next decade, more students of color than ever before will pass through the gates of the nation's colleges and join the ranks of its work force, according to new projections by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. By the year 2020, minority students will account for 45 percent of the nation's public high-school…

Like "outsiders"--such as the Irish and the Jewish--have been incorporated into the Americans' notions of who are whites, some scholars and policy makers believe that Asian-Americans are following such a trajectory of inclusion under an expanded definition of "whiteness." The sociologist George Yancey, in "Who Is White? Latinos, Asians, and the…

Largely because of their high aspirations for their children, many Chinese immigrants are acutely aware of the University of California's new undergraduate-admissions policy. With the new policy, the Board of Regents hopes to widen the applicant pool and give campuses more flexibility in selecting students. Asian-Americans bitterly oppose it,…

This article reports the results of a new study on the impact of bans on race-conscious admissions policies which seem to confirm what many critics of affirmative action have long suspected: It is Asian-Americans, rather than whites, who are most disadvantaged by elite universities' consideration of ethnicity and race. Left unanswered are the…

For having achieved a mild cult status after doing the movie "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," lead actors John Cho and Kal Penn deserve their fame, their million-dollar paychecks, and their groupies. Do they deserve Ivy League teaching jobs? This spring Penn (whose real name is Kalpen Modi) taught a large lecture class, "Images of Asian…

After adopting a new, "holistic" approach to reviewing applications, the University of California at Los Angeles has reversed a decline in the share of black students in the freshman class it has admitted for the fall. Figures released by the university this month show that the revised admissions policy appears to have increased black…

Nearly 10 years ago, the author wrote an essay for "The Chronicle" on the underrepresentation of Asian-Americans in academic leadership, especially in institutions and disciplines that have a high percentage of students and faculty members of Asian or Pacific Island ancestry. There have been changes over the past 10 years, but not so much for…

This article describes the results of a report released last week by the Council of Graduate Schools. The report, "Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Demographic Data From the Ph.D. Completion Project," is based on data from 24 universities in the United States and Canada. According to this report, women and members of…

In 2005, 109,964 U.S. minority scholars held full-time faculty positions at American colleges and universities, up from 69,505 in 1995, according to the Education Department--a 58-percent increase. The proportion of minority scholars in the overall professoriate also rose, but not as much. The department found that 16.5 percent of scholars were…

Allegations that colleges discriminate against Asian Americans in undergraduate admissions are discussed in light of record numbers of Asian Americans being admitted to the nation's elite colleges and universities this fall. (MLW)

Asian-Americans, who have traditionally shied away from political activity or have focused efforts more narrowly, are emerging in California as a workable political force in a statewide lobbying organization. (MSE)

According to a report by National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), scholarship athletes at Division I institutions continue to graduate at a rate higher than students over all. Among white male students, athletes graduated at a lower rate than their peers in the student body at large. In a handful of the biggest programs, athletes completed…

A survey of 536 institutions shows Black, Hispanic, and Asian graduate enrollments outpaced the overall national increase of 2.9 percent, with increases ranging from 8.4 percent to 13.1 percent. American Indians were the only American minority group not increasing its participation. More aggressive recruiting and an improved academic market are…

Many Asian-American studies programs have emerged on college campuses recently, due largely to high Asian-American enrollment and student pressure. The field originated in the 1960s, and has broadened to incorporate many ethnic groups. Courses may be either broad-based, comparing ethnic or immigrant groups, or narrowly focused on specific themes.…