Without forceful and effective leadership, it is unlikely that American higher education will be able to improve the education of minority students. This includes setting institutional enrollment and graduation goals, supported by plans to remove barriers and improve teaching and learning, and aligning institutional incentives with goals and…

Increasingly, Blacks are recognizing a need to debate civil rights and affirmative action, tolerate diversity of opinion, and acknowledge that there is no single right Black answer. Although Black scholars who oppose racial preference are still in the minority, their views are gaining currency. Some propose unusual solutions. (MSE)

Discusses results of a survey of journalism and communications faculty at the University of Florida regarding the meaning of diversity: its impact on faculty members' professional life and on their concerns, hopes, and fears; resolving concerns about diversity; criteria for a diverse faculty; fairness in procedures and policies; and ensuring…

The real question behind affirmative action in higher education is whether the form of racial discrimination it represents is worth the improved access it provides. Three arguments favoring affirmative action in this context are that affirmative action (1) is needed to keep college admissions officers from discriminating against minorities; (2)…

Analyzed undergraduate and graduate enrollment trends to study whether Black gains in higher education have resulted in harm to Whites. Concludes that Black gains have not come at the expense of Whites, and suggests that gains among Asians, Latinos, and nonresident aliens better explain the slower rate of White gains. Contains 28 references.…

Examines the important components of the University of Michigan's defense of its affirmative action practices and considers the significance of the upcoming lawsuit to the public debate on affirmative action in higher education. "The Compelling Need for Diversity in Higher Education," prepared by experts in defense of the university's…

Offers evidence that, although blacks were making limited progress in higher education before and immediately after the civil-rights legislation of the 1960s, significant progress did not occur until the late 1960s and later after strong affirmative-action admissions programs were in place. (SLD)

Education has long been the focal point for the debate over black claims to a special relationship with American society. Some recent works dealing with the situation of blacks in American society and education are reviewed in the context of current concerns with multiculturalism. Among the issues considered is that of affirmative action in higher…

Looks at the reasons educators of color gave for entering pedagogy, what they expected from academia, and whether they thought they would remain in education, or return to the professional media full time. Attempts to describe minority faculty academic and professional training. Finds that minority educators had more education and media experience…

Examines the implications of court cases challenging the legality of affirmative action policies of college and university financial aid programs. Explains five exceptions to requirements that such programs be race-neutral. These exceptions are: when aid is for disadvantaged students, authorized by Congress, to remedy the effects of past…

An interview with Arthur Levine, the president of Teachers College, Columbia University (New York), discusses diversity, school vouchers, recruiting new teachers, affirmative action, student attitudes about race, the need for advocacy groups to counter the conservative National Association of Scholars, and his latest book, "Diversity on…

Presents exerts from a question and answer session with Robert Berdahl, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, presented to the National Press Club in 1999. Title of the talk was "The Public University in the Twenty-First Century." In particular, questions addressed the problem of working toward diversity following the…

As affirmative-action programs undergo legal scrutiny, nursing education is challenged to develop policies to broaden participation without reliance on racial categories. The benefits of diversifying the nursing work force need not be discarded in response to judicial and political actions. (Author/SK)

Notes that in 1998, despite energetic efforts to devise a more flexible admissions process at the University of California's professional schools, the percentage of entering black or Hispanic students (with the notable exception of 1997) stood at its lowest levels in 29 years. Discusses the problem, examining the effects of the University's…

Investigated the possible existence of a gender similarity bias in evaluations of gender discrimination allegations, using a laboratory experiment in which the strength of evidence against a defendant company and the gender of the plaintiff were manipulated. Participants were ethnically diverse undergraduate students. Although female mock jurors…