The author reports on the U.S. Supreme Court hearing regarding the Texas admissions case that exposes gaps in the affirmative-action law. As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas at Austin, it became evident that the court's past rulings on such policies have failed to…

For an untenured faculty member, perception is everything. For outsiders, such as women of color, the task of negotiating and performing identity can prove rather burdensome because of the need to counter negative stereotypes based on race, gender, and class. For many junior faculty members, a recurring conflict is the longstanding tension between…

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…

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…

Service is not an optional part of being an assistant professor. The trick is knowing how to do enough without doing too much. In Part 1 of this series, the author enumerated the "good deeds" that assistant professors do in the realm of teaching that tend to blow up or backfire. He cautioned that, while doing good for students was their primary…

New administrative offices for diversity are popping up at universities around the country, and one can usually count on them to cast minority-recruiting efforts in a favorable light. There is still, however, a role for the old-school rabble-rousers, as a new report from a faculty committee at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor makes clear.…

A controversial theory much in the news lately claims that affirmative action is often unfair to the very students it is intended to help. Called the "mismatch" theory, it suggests that underrepresented minority students are more likely to leave science, math, and engineering when, because of affirmative action, they attend colleges for which they…

A growing number of business schools, including those at Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, and Stanford Universities and the University of Texas at Austin, have instituted programs to catch promising students early. The result, they hope, will be a more diverse student body, with more women and members of minority groups, as well as talented and ambitious…

According to a new survey by a leading higher-education group, women represent a significant share of the senior campus administrators whose jobs are most likely to lead to a college presidency. However, when it comes to members of racial minority groups, the supply of such potential leaders is much smaller. The survey, which was conducted by the…

Soon after Jamie P. Merisotis took over the Lumina Foundation for Education last year, he began talking about a "big goal." America must increase the proportion of its population with degrees or credentials to 60% by 2025, in order to remain globally competitive and meet the nation's growing demand for college-educated workers, he said.…

The use of race-sensitive criteria in admissions continues to be controversial, and critics have leveled three basic charges against it. For one, opponents say the practice constitutes reverse discrimination, lowering the chance of admission for better-qualified white students. They also contend that it creates a mismatch between the skills of…

The University of California has adopted changes to its undergraduate admissions policy that will enlarge its applicant pool and drop the requirement that students take the SAT Subject Tests. The policy is the most significant change in the university's admissions practices in at least a decade. It will increase the number of California…

Several months ago, the Educational Testing Service began planning a campaign to encourage more college juniors and seniors to consider graduate school--and to take its Graduate Record Examination. The timing may prove fortuitous. David G. Payne, executive director of the GRE, says the campaign seeks not only to expand students' options, but also…

Latinos are the largest ethnic minority group in the United States; they are taking resources and jobs from Americans; they are "browning" their racial makeup--among other scenarios of doom that have accompanied the immigration debate. But with the 2008 presidential campaign season, Latinos have suddenly become the belles of the ball.…

Isolation and lack of services for members of minority groups can be real hurdles for colleges in small towns and rural areas that want to diversify their work forces. The chance to meet people from the same background, worship in a shared faith, or share cultural interests can make or break someone's living experience. This article describes…