ERIC Number: ED634987
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023-Feb-9
Pages: 8
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Policymakers Should Use Supreme Court Cases on Racial Preferences to Launch Reform of College Accreditation. Issue Brief. No. 5302
Butcher, Jonathan
Heritage Foundation
Racial preferences, as practiced in academia and elsewhere, by definition, discriminates against individuals based on their race. Radical academics and writers, including the founders of critical race theory, have long supported the use of race as a predominant factor in postsecondary and graduate school admissions. If the Court rules as it should that postsecondary institutions cannot use race as a factor in school admissions, that decision will be a crucial step away from racial prejudice and towards meritocracy and colorblindness--two pillars of the civil rights movement. Other college officials might want to abandon racial prejudice in school operations, but biased college accreditors may coerce them into maintaining discriminatory policies. Accreditors, however, also contribute to the prejudicial environment in college admissions through their accrediting requirements. Lawmakers must reform the postsecondary accreditation system. What may sound like merely a set of bureaucratic reforms to the accrediting process would be, in fact, a long-overdue reform of higher education, improving student access to institutions, allowing colleges to make decisions in students' best interests instead of under pressure from federal rules, and provide more transparency for students and families in the college application process.
Descriptors: Educational Change, Court Litigation, Accreditation (Institutions), Race, College Admission, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, Decision Making, Admission Criteria, Civil Rights, Racism, Racial Discrimination, Minority Group Students, Access to Education, College Applicants, Educational Policy, Federal Government, Institutional Evaluation
Heritage Foundation. 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002-4999. Tel: 202-546-4400; Fax: 202-546-8328; e-mail: info@heritage.org; Web site: http://www.heritage.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Heritage Foundation, Center for Education Policy
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A