Affirmative Action Now

This timely work addresses the present state of affirmative action in higher education after the landmark decisions of Gratz v. Bollnger and Grutter v. Bollinger. Informative chapters provide an overall understanding of the history of affirmative action in higher education in the United States, pointers to students on writing the crucial application essay, and discussion of the percentage plan states. Other chapters explore financial and student aid and historically black colleges and universities, and offer advice for veterans returning to school. Resource chapters include lists of print and nonprint sources for further research and reading. Accessible, practical and up-to-date, this one-stop guide reassures students and families that higher education remains within their grasp. Affirmative Action Now facilitates understanding of the current practice of affirmative action in undergraduate, graduate, and professional school admissions. Concrete suggestions, including 15 rules to consider when applying for admission, provide a leg-up to the attentive student. In addition, detailed appendices provide an Affirmative Action Application Checklist along with other helpful data. Students, families and counselors will find a goldmine of useful information and practical advice in this accessible guide.

“A book that both taught me so much and also kept me on the edge of my seat. It is an invaluable text from a supremely talented writer.” —Clint Smith, author of How the Word is Passed The definitive history of the pervasiveness of racial inequality in American higher education America’s colleges and universities have a shameful secret: they have never given Black people a fair chance to succeed. From its inception, our higher education system was not built on equality or accessibility, but on educating—and prioritizing—white students. Black students have always been an afterthought. While governments and private donors funnel money into majority white schools, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and other institutions that have high enrollments of Black students, are struggling to survive, with state legislatures siphoning away federal funds that are legally owed to these schools. In The State Must Provide, Adam Harris reckons with the history of a higher education system that has systematically excluded Black people from its benefits. Harris weaves through the legal, social, and political obstacles erected to block equitable education in the United States, studying the Black Americans who fought their way to an education, pivotal Supreme Court cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, and the government’s role in creating and upholding a segregated education system. He explores the role that Civil War–era legislation intended to bring agricultural education to the masses had in creating the HBCUs that have played such a major part in educating Black students when other state and private institutions refused to accept them. The State Must Provide is the definitive chronicle of higher education’s failed attempts at equality and the long road still in front of us to remedy centuries of racial discrimination—and poses a daring solution to help solve the underfunding of HBCUs. Told through a vivid cast of characters, The State Must Provide examines what happened before and after schools were supposedly integrated in the twentieth century, and why higher education remains broken to this day.

The highly anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision in Fisher v. University of Texas placed a greater onus on higher education institutions to provide evidence supporting the need for affirmative action policies on their respective campuses. It is now more critical than ever that institutional leaders and scholars understand the evidence in support of race consideration in admissions as well as the challenges of the post-Fisher landscape. This important volume shares information documented for the Fisher case and provides empirical evidence to help inform scholarly conversation and institutions’ decisions regarding race-conscious practices in higher education. With contributions from scholars and experts involved in the Fisher case, this edited volume documents and shares lessons learned from the collaborative efforts of the social science, educational, and legal communities. Affirmative Action and Racial Equity is a critical resource for higher education scholars and administrators to understand the nuances of the affirmative action legal debate and to identify the challenges and potential strategies toward racial equity and inclusion moving forward.

This timely work addresses the present state of affirmative action in higher education after the landmark decisions of Gratz v. Bollnger and Grutter v. Bollinger. Informative chapters provide an overall understanding of the history of affirmative action in higher education in the United States, pointers to students on writing the crucial application essay, and discussion of the percentage plan states. Other chapters explore financial and student aid and historically black colleges and universities, and offer advice for veterans returning to school. Resource chapters include lists of print and nonprint sources for further research and reading. Accessible, practical and up-to-date, this one-stop guide reassures students and families that higher education remains within their grasp. Affirmative Action Now facilitates understanding of the current practice of affirmative action in undergraduate, graduate, and professional school admissions. Concrete suggestions, including 15 rules to consider when applying for admission, provide a leg-up to the attentive student. In addition, detailed appendices provide an Affirmative Action Application Checklist along with other helpful data. Students, families and counselors will find a goldmine of useful information and practical advice in this accessible guide.

The use of race-based affirmative action in higher education has given rise to hundreds of books and law review articles, numerous court decisions, and several state initiatives to ban the practice. However, surprisingly little has been said or written or done to challenge a larger, longstanding "affirmative action" program that tends to benefit wealthy whites: legacy preferences for the children of alumni. "Affirmative Action for the Rich" sketches the origins of legacy preferences, examines the philosophical issues they raise, outlines the extent of their use today, studies their impact on university fundraising, and reviews their implications for civil rights. In addition, the book outlines two new theories challenging the legality of legacy preferences, examines how a judge might review those claims, and assesses public policy options for curtailing alumni preferences. The book includes chapters by Michael Lind of the New America Foundation; Peter Schmidt of the "Chronicle of Higher Education"; former "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Golden; Chad Coffman of Winnemac Consulting, attorney Tara O'Neil, and student Brian Starr; John Brittain of the University of the District of Columbia Law School and attorney Eric Bloom; Carlton Larson of the University of California--Davis School of Law; attorneys Steve Shadowen and Sozi Tulante; Sixth Circuit Court Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr. and attorney Donya Khalili; and education writer Peter Sacks.

Affirmative action was meant to redress the lingering vestiges of the discrimination and exclusion so prominent in America's past and afford underrepresented groups the opportunities most take for granted. Its impact on higher learning has been immeasurable: diversity is part of the mission of most colleges and universities, and exposure to a variety of ethnicities, cultures and perspectives benefits all. Yet institutions are scrambling to reevaluate their mission and methods as courts mandate colorblind admissions and affirmative action is misconstrued and attacked as reverse discrimination, patronizing and insulting to minorities, or simply unnecessary. Diversity has plummeted on many campuses as a result, and elite institutions now struggle to enroll underrepresented groups. Discussions of the controversy reflect little understanding of the role of race in college admissions, ignore the fact that eligibility does not guarantee admission, and falsely cast affirmative action as a policy based on race alone. This assessment of the role of race in college admissions examines misconceptions surrounding affirmative action and the place of race in the admission process. Chapters explore declining diversity; the effect upon professional schools; the historical perspective of the subject; the courts' role in affirmative action; inequities in the admissions process; percentage plans as an alternative; the detrimental results of "colorblind" admissions; and ways to address the problem.

Focuses on affirmative action and its impact on colleges and universities since its inception in 1965. Suggests different perspectives on and approaches to affirmative action and offers and presents various voices on the impact and philosophical implications of affirmative action.