A historical perspective is offered to explain how race has declined in significance as higher education and student affairs have moved toward multicultural social justice. Educators and administrators are urged to reconsider race and racism in dialogues, programs, policies, and institutional change efforts.

Questions the effectiveness of affirmative action programs in education. (JOW)

Background/Context: Although frequently associated with the United States, affirmative action is not a uniquely American social policy. Indeed, 2003 witnessed review and revision of affirmative action policies affecting higher education institutions in both France and the United States. Using critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical lens, this…

The conflict between access and quality in education has been front-page news for decades. Policies regarding the role of elite universities, the organisation of secondary education, admissions criteria, courses of study, high stakes testing, and fiscal and programme accountability have changed with uncommon frequency, resulting in confusion and…

This article examines one university's policies regarding Native mascots and ethnic fraud through a Tribal Critical Race Theory analytic lens. Using the principle of interest convergence, we argue that institutions of higher education allow and even work actively towards a particular form or level of diversity, but they do not extend it far…

A comparative analysis of how access and equity are defined and how policies have evolved reveals a number of commonalities and differences between countries. The overall trend is a movement from the priority given to "inherited merit" in the admission process through a commitment to formal equality, towards the application of some modes of…

This work reviews race-based admission and its alternatives, as well as the benefits of diversity on college campuses. This entails an overview of the research regarding the effectiveness of class-based approaches to achieving diversity and evidence of the importance of establishing a critical mass of persons of color at predominately white…

Understandably, current discussions about access that take place in higher education circles often focus on the underrepresentation of students from low-income families. At the same time, recent events in Michigan have refocused attention on questions of race- and gender-based affirmative action. Thus, how can higher education ensure that students…

Discusses how, as lawyers on both sides make their final preparations for the approaching April 1 deadline to present oral arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court in the University of Michigan's two affirmative action cases, legal scholars say it is anyone's guess on who will eventually prevail in the landmark decision. (EV)

Discusses one scholar who believes that even though the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the University of Michigan admissions cases, Americans already are living in a post-affirmative action world. For this particular scholar, a ruling against Michigan might boost minority achievement. Others, however, are less optimistic. (EV)

Discusses how the Supreme Court will hear two cases involving racial preferences at the University of Michigan, with the fate of affirmative action in college admission in the balance. (EV)

Introduces a theme issue that includes a collection of articles on work being done to prevent movement backward in efforts to gain equal educational opportunity for minority group students, discussing affirmative action, racial discrimination and bias, and equity in higher education (with a focus on California's efforts to roll back affirmative…

On December 4, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two significant affirmative-action cases. Each case--one from Seattle and the other from Louisville--involves the constitutional validity of school-district plans that consider race in assigning students to public schools. Determined parents from both cities will ask the court to declare the…

Affirmative action in college admissions is based on the premise that a diverse student body contributes to interactions among students from different backgrounds, which are in turn positively related to desirable outcomes of college. This study evaluates the merits of this rationale for affirmative action by examining the direct and indirect…

The higher education diversity programs that Texas enacted after "Hopwood v. University of Texas" banned affirmative action had unexpected positive consequences for the state's high schools. The Texas top 10% law, the Longhorn Opportunity Scholarship and Century Scholarship programs, and the Towards Excellence, Access and Success Grant…