Malcom, Shirley M.; Malcom-Piqueux, Lindsey E. (2013). Critical Mass Revisited: Learning Lessons from Research on Diversity in STEM Fields. Educational Researcher, v42 n3 p176-178 Apr. Numerous legal scholars and social scientists have highlighted the ways in which research has informed judicial decision making. Because, in part, of convincing empirical research presented in several landmark cases (e.g., "Grutter v. Bollinger," 2003; "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1," 2007), the consideration of race in educational policies has been deemed permissible, albeit in limited, narrowly tailored ways. "Grutter" also represented an affirmation of the importance of research for social scientists whose work provided empirical evidence of the educational benefits of diversity and the importance of a "critical mass" of underrepresented students, which served as a basis for the Court's decision. Although the Court upheld the University of Michigan Law School's admissions policy in "Grutter," the opinion of the Court also stated the expectation that race would no longer need to be considered… [Direct]

Hawkins, B. Denise (2011). The Greatness Agenda. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v28 n20 p10-13 Nov. For Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, nothing beats the view from the top of the world that he helped shape during the past 20 years. Even on a day when storm clouds hover, the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, or UMBC, humbly acknowledges that his academic kingdom looks mighty good. He has been key in shaping the university into a STEM success story. Stephanie Bell-Rose, head of TIAACREF, said Dr. Hrabowski's leadership at UMBC and commitment to underrepresented groups in science and engineering have had a powerful impact on both the Maryland system and on higher education as a whole…. [Direct]

Erasmus, Z. (2010). Confronting the Categories: Equitable Admissions without Apartheid Race Classification. South African Journal of Higher Education, v24 n2 p244-257. South Africa's government requires information on apartheid race classification to implement and monitor racial redress. This has sparked resistance to race classification as a criterion for redress in higher education admissions. I argue that (1) jettisoning apartheid race categories now in favour of either class or "merit" would set back the few gains made toward redress; (2) against common sense uses of "race" and against the erasure of "race" through class reductionism; and (3) for developing and testing new indicators for "race" and class disadvantage with a view to eventually replacing apartheid race categories. I offer a critical-race-standpoint as an alternative conceptual orientation and method for transformative admissions committed to racial redress that is socially just. I conclude that admissions criteria should encompass the lived realities of inequality and be informed by a conception of humanism as critique. This requires… [Direct]

Shircliffe, Barbara J. (2012). Desegregating Teachers: Contesting the Meaning of Equality of Educational Opportunity in the South Post "Brown". History of Schools and Schooling. Volume 57. Peter Lang New York This book explores the battle to desegregate public school teachers in the South. It also considers the implications of linking racially balanced school faculties to equal educational opportunities for African American students. This book demonstrates that the legal struggle to desegregate teachers and other school personnel is critical to understanding the politics of school desegregation in the South and perhaps elsewhere. Its premise is that the status of educators–far from being at the margins of the desegregation story–was central in shaping the desegregation process and outcomes. This is important today as student populations became largely resegregated. To capture the dynamics of faculty desegregation at the district level, this book explores the process in two distinct southern metropolitan areas: Jackson, Mississippi and Tampa, Florida. This is an important book for researchers, professors, and pre-service teachers…. [Direct]

Briel, Don (2012). Mission and Identity: The Role of Faculty. Journal of Catholic Higher Education, v31 n2 p169-179 Sum. Although Catholic universities face a number of challenges in an increasingly unsettled economy, the situation also provides significant opportunities for Catholic universities to highlight the central importance of their Catholic identity in order both to recover their deepest commitments and to realize an advantage in an increasingly competitive market. The most fundamental requirement in responding to this opportunity is a renewed focus on the role of faculty reflected in new approaches to recruitment and hiring for mission, and in the development of new faculty development programs that provide sustained opportunities for faculty to explore the implications of the Catholic university's commitment to the unity of knowledge and the ultimate complementarity of faith and reason. These commitments will require a new institutional resolve but offer very significant rewards. (Contains 9 footnotes.)… [Direct]

Miranda, Maria Eugenia (2011). Taking Stock. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v28 n18 p14-15 Oct. During the past 10 years, Cornell University has made significant strides in recruiting underrepresented minorities and women in its faculty ranks, but a new internal study at the university is revealing that its success is a mixed bag. The number of minority faculty has grown about 52 percent, and the number of female faculty members has increased more than 38 percent in the last decade, according to a 2008 report by Dr. Robert Harris Jr., the former vice provost for diversity and faculty development. Meanwhile Dr. Zellman Warhaft was commissioned by the university provost to conduct follow-up study on Cornell's diversity recruitment. So far, Warhaft concludes that women and minorities still think that the campus climate is less favorable to them, based on initial feedback from e-mail surveys and in-person interviews. However, overall, women perceive the environment at Cornell to be more favorable to them than do underrepresented minorities, says Warhaft. Warhaft adds that Cornell… [Direct]

Michaels, Walter Benn (2011). The Trouble with Diversifying the Faculty. Liberal Education, v97 n1 p14-19 Win. The widespread sense that faculties at US colleges and universities need to be more diverse is tied to the sense that the students at US colleges and universities have become more diverse, which indeed they have. The increase in diversity in higher education over the last forty years has been matched by an increase in wealth. Thus the question about who should be on the faculty is a question about who should teach the rich kids, and although no one has argued that professors should be both as diverse as their students and as rich, the incomes of the teachers have, in fact, risen. The general rule of American upper-class life is that inequality is not a problem except when it comes to race and sex; the application of that rule to American colleges and universities is the call for faculty diversity. (Contains 4 notes.)… [Direct]

Stephan, Karl D. (2012). Authority in Engineering Education. American Journal of Engineering Education, v3 n2 p123-136. Authority as a philosophical concept is defined both in general and as it applies to engineering education. Authority is shown to be a good and necessary part of social structures, in contrast to some cultural trends that regard it as an unnecessary and outmoded evil. Technical, educational, and organizational authority in their normal functions in engineering education are described, and challenges to these types of authority in the form of laws, accreditation changes, and the rise of the discipline of engineering education research are detailed. The principle of subsidiarity (basically, devolution of authority to the lowest feasible level) is applied to the issue of authority in engineering education organizations…. [PDF]

Karkouti, Ibrahim Mohamad (2016). Professional Leadership Practices and Diversity Issues in the U.S. Higher Education System: A Research Synthesis. Education, v136 n4 p405-412 Sum. This paper examines the effects of negligence toward diversity issues on campus racial climate, describes how exclusionary practices affect minority students' (i.e., Asian American, Hispanic, Black, and Native American) educational experiences, and addresses faculty issues relevant to diversity. In addition, the paper identifies the factors that prevent, hinder, and promote the careers of faculty of color. Finally, two leadership frameworks that enable educational leaders to transform their organizational culture and diversify the racial and ethnic makeup of their institutional character are proposed…. [Direct]

Collins, William (2011). Authentic Engagement for Promoting a College-Going Culture. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, v15 n4 p101-118 Dec. The United States has lost ground internationally as a leader in educational attainment. Personal empowerment, national economic progress, and democratic ideals are enhanced through education, yet inequalities persist in the educational attainment of certain groups, such as low-income families or underrepresented minorities. Because the evolving economic landscape increasingly demands a diverse, highly trained, and well-educated labor force to fill the kinds of jobs required of the information age, the United States cannot afford to let large portions of its population languish educationally. Higher education outreach efforts to engage communities and promote the broad embrace of a college-going culture are seen as vital to achieving increased educational attainment. (Contains 2 tables.)… [PDF]

Frankenberg, Erica; Siegel-Hawley, Genevieve (2011). Redefining Diversity: Political Responses to the Post-PICS Environment. Peabody Journal of Education, v86 n5 p529-552. This article examines the federal and local political response to the "Parents Involved" decision. At the federal level, developments suggest a reaction to "Parents Involved" that, since President Obama has taken office, has been largely supportive of voluntary efforts to promote racial diversity. The administration has also been seeking to enforce more traditional race-based civil rights cases. Locally, even though reactions to the decision are as varied as the districts themselves, three broad categories of political responses emerge from our review of post-"Parents Involved" student assignment policies. They are the adoption of multifactor student assignment plans, the adoption of class-based (e.g., race-neutral) student assignments, and the elimination of efforts to pursue diversity. This article is particularly interested in examining the first two categories of responses. In doing so, we argue that some school districts are pursuing a redefined… [Direct]

Flores, Stella M.; Horn, Catherine (2012). When Policy Opportunity Is Not Enough: College Access and Enrollment Patterns among Texas Percent Plan Eligible Students. Journal of Applied Research on Children, v3 n2 Article 9. In 1998, Texas initiated a bold new statewide university admission policy aimed at increasing college access for traditionally underserved students in the state. House Bill 588 (known as the Texas Top 10 Percent Plan (TTPP)) guaranteed automatic admission to the college or university of their choice for all top performing students in Texas public high schools. Fourteen years after the plan's implementation, we see great strides and complexities in understanding student outcomes as a result of the percent plan. However, the legal controversy over the percent plan both in Texas and other states incorporating similar yet distinctly motivated alternative admissions plans continues to play out from institutional decision boards to the highest court in the nation. This study seeks to add to that discussion by exploring two questions. Descriptively, what are the admission and enrollment patterns within racial/ethnic groups of percent plan eligible students, over time, for Texas elite,… [PDF]

Lewis, Jioni A.; Neville, Helen A.; Spanierman, Lisa B. (2012). Examining the Influence of Campus Diversity Experiences and Color-Blind Racial Ideology on Students' Social Justice Attitudes. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, v49 n2 p119-136 May. This study examined the relationships between color-blind racial ideology (CBRI) and social justice attitudes among a racially diverse sample of first-year college students (N = 431). Results indicated that CBRI scores partially mediated the relation between participation in campus diversity experiences and social justice attitudes for Black, Latino, and White students differentially by racial group. CBRI scores accounted for 34% to 47% of this association. Implications for student affairs research and practice are discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)… [Direct]

Gouws, A. (2010). Race as Seriality: A Response to David Benatar and Zimitri Erasmus. South African Journal of Higher Education, v24 n2 p313-317. In this article I draw on the Sarte's notion of \seriality\ as theorized in his book \Dialectic of Reason\ and as interpreted by Iris Marion Young. I argue that seriality can be used to escape the false essentialism and identity politics of race as a category for admissions to universities. A series is a social collective whose members are unified passively by the objects around which their action is oriented, while a group is a collective where members recognize themselves and others pursuing the same goal (often leading to identity politics). Race as a series designates structural relations to material objects produced by prior history and material necessities of past practices, but disconnected from a racial identity. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]

Sander, Libby (2012). On University of Texas' Flagship Campus, Soul-Searching over Diversity. Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. The author reports on a Supreme Court case that is echoing across the University of Texas at Austin, and for some students, it is personal. Not long after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Abigail Fisher's case against the University of Texas at Austin, a lighthearted joke made the rounds at the Warfield Center for African and African-American Studies here on the flagship campus. At its core was a high-energy fifth-year student from Houston named Tedra Jacobs. Ms. Jacobs, an administrative assistant at the center, was admitted in 2008 as part of the freshman class Ms. Fisher had sought to join. Neither Ms. Jacobs nor Ms. Fisher graduated in the top 10 percent of her high-school class, a status that would have entitled her to admission under Texas law. So both were considered for admission under the university's "holistic review" policy, which includes race and ethnicity among many factors in weighing applications. Ms. Jacobs, the daughter of a single black mother and a… [Direct]

Abdul-Alim, Jamaal (2011). Diverse in India. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v28 n20 p18-19 Nov. When it comes to dealing with his fellow students at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Warner, a 21-year-old aerospace engineering major, says the fact that he comes from a group of farmers known as the Pallar community means nothing. But when it comes to his enrollment status as a student at IIT, it makes all the difference in the world. The Pallars are among the groups recognized as a "scheduled caste" by India's government. For Warner, being able to gain access to the elite IIT Madras is part of fulfilling a childhood dream that began when he took his first plane ride and became enamored with aerodynamics. As he strives to reach new heights, Warner's climb also represents an attempt to break free from the financial constraints of doing the work traditionally done by his forefathers. Warner thought if someone from the community is in a good position, financially and socially, they can help the community…. [Direct]

Okeke, Emeka Paul (2013). Addressing Gender Imbalance in Nigeria's Higher Education through Institutional Framework. African Higher Education Review, v7 n1 p88-98 May. This paper examined the gender imbalance among students in Nigeria's higher education and the possible ways to addressing them. The poor access of female gender to higher education in Nigeria has become a thing of great concern to all stakeholders such as School authorities, Government, International agencies and employers of labor. The paper therefore, looked at the Access, Participation and completion rate of female students in higher education as well as interventions to address the challenges. It is recommended that affirmative and motivating policies be put in place for the female students to be at parity with the male. It concluded by stating that equity interventions have not accompanied policies for expanding access to higher education for this vulnerable gender, thus, critical policies targeting participation of female students should be expanded…. [Direct]

(2011). Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity in Postsecondary Education. US Department of Justice The United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice issued this guidance to explain how, consistent with existing law, postsecondary institutions can voluntarily consider race to further the compelling interest of achieving diversity. It replaces the August 28, 2008 letter issued by ED's Office for Civil Rights entitled "The Use of Race in Postsecondary Student Admissions." This guidance addresses the degree of flexibility that postsecondary institutions have to take proactive steps, in a manner consistent with principles articulated in Supreme Court opinions, to meet this compelling interest. As the Supreme Court has made clear, such steps can include taking account of the race of individual students in a narrowly tailored manner. In four sections, the guidance: (1) describes the relevant legal framework for considering race to further the compelling interest in achieving diversity in postsecondary institutions; (2) sets forth… [PDF]

Contreras, Frances (2011). Achieving Equity for Latino Students: Expanding the Pathway to Higher Education through Public Policy. Multicultural Education Series. Teachers College Press Despite their numbers, Latinos continue to lack full and equal participation in all facets of American life, including education. This book provides a critical discussion of the role that select K-12 educational policies have and continue to play in failing Latino students. The author draws upon institutional, national, and statewide data sets, as well as interviews among students, teachers, and college administrators, to explore the role that public policies play in educating Latino students. The book concludes with specific recommendations that aim to raise achievement, college transition rates, and success among Latino students across the preschool through college continuum…. [Direct]

Roemer, Ann (2011). An Invisible Minority: Mexican English-Language Learners. College and University, v86 n3 p57-62 Win. Ever since the founding of this country, equality, freedom, and justice have been the underlying values of America's political and educational systems. More than 150 years later, higher education policymakers in the United States began to incorporate these values into their admissions decisions by including ethnic and racial diversity as a stated goal, not only for the purpose of redressing past injustices but also to prepare citizens to be successful in an increasingly multicultural society. However, as white students continue to dominate this nation's university campuses, the future appears bleak for minority groups, especially blacks and Latinos. As a group, Hispanics are the least educated minority in the country (Gandara 1995): They have the highest high school dropout rates of all minority groups (Llagas 2003). In response, the government of Mexico has initiated a binational agreement with the United States–and Texas, in particular–to help Mexican-English language learners… [Direct]

Gandara, Patricia; Orfield, Gary (2010). Deja Vu–The Access/Success Pendulum. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v27 n18 p20-21 Oct. In education, reform tends to follow cycles, often bouncing from one extreme to another without considering the possibility of incorporating multiple perspectives simultaneously. Policies aimed at helping more underrepresented students enter college and complete degrees have bounced from one pole to another, embracing access as the primary goal without giving adequate attention to successful completion, which results in many underrepresented students coming through the campus gate but relatively few leaving with degrees. There has been considerable publicity about the U.S.'s declining rankings in international comparisons of young people with college degrees. Today, America is not among the top 10 developed countries for degree attainment, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Americans are waking up to the fact that something must be done to increase the rate at which their youth gain degrees–especially youth of color–if the U.S. is to remain… [Direct]

Favish, J.; Hendry, J. (2010). UCT's Admissions Policies: Is the Playing Field Level?. South African Journal of Higher Education, v24 n2 p268-297. The article outlines how UCT's commitment to redress and diversity has officially guided the university's approach to admissions planning. In 2009 the Senate requested the Vice Chancellor to conduct a review of the admissions policy particularly to determine whether race continued to be an adequate proxy for disadvantage. This article analyses data prepared by the Institutional Planning Department of the University to support the review process, reflecting changes in the demographic profiles of all students and first-time entering (FU) intakes between 1994 and 2009. The data provide a more nuanced picture of offers, rejections and enrolments by race and poverty quintile of the 2009 new undergraduate intake. The article then goes on to assess the effects of various policy instruments used to facilitate access to UCT, demonstrating that the Academic Development Programmes have been the most significant instruments of facilitating access. Drawing on the analysis of the data, the article… [Direct]

Block, Lee Anne; Schmidt, Clea (2010). Without and within: The Implications of Employment and Ethnocultural Equity Policies for Internationally Educated Teachers. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, n100 Feb. Analyzing school division employment policies from six Winnipeg school divisions and the Manitoba K-12 Action Plan for Ethnocultural Equity (MECY, 2006), we discuss implications for the integration of internationally educated teachers in K-12 schools. Findings suggest that the policies exhibit several major limitations in advancing IET integration: lack of equity and IET-specific content in the case of most divisional policies and lack of stakeholder buy-in and implementation strategies in the case of the ethnocultural equity policy. Subsequent recommendations use the construct of interest convergence from critical race theory to advocate for educational policymaking and implementation that prioritize a more diverse teaching force. (Contains 2 footnotes.)… [PDF]

Devine, Dympna; Grummell, Bernie; Lynch, Kathleen (2009). Appointing Senior Managers in Education: Homosociability, Local Logics and Authenticity in the Selection Process. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, v37 n3 p329-349. While there is extensive research on educational leadership and management, the selection of leaders has received comparatively little attention. This article examines how educational leadership is constructed through the selection process in the context of a qualitative study of Irish education. It highlights the tensions that can exist for selection board assessors as they try to balance increasing performativity and new managerialist demands with the traditional ethical and moral dimensions of educational leadership. Key concepts of "local logics" and "homosociability" frame the analysis as it is shown how assessors often select "safe" candidates according to familiar qualities. This normalization is problematic when educational leadership is faced with intense organizational and socio-cultural change. It is also problematic in gender terms, especially in higher education, where the prevailing leadership model is a masculine one. Differences between… [Direct]

Hoover, Eric; Keller, Josh (2009). University of California Adopts Sweeping Changes in Admissions Policy. Chronicle of Higher Education, v55 n23 pA33 Feb. 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 high-school graduates who are considered for undergraduate admission by an estimated 40 percent, giving officials at the system's nine undergraduate campuses more flexibility to choose a freshman class. At the same time, the plan will cut the number of students in the state who are guaranteed admission based primarily on grades and test scores. In moving away from that guarantee and toward a more comprehensive review, the university will more closely align its admissions practices with those of other prominent public and private institutions. Supporters of the admissions plan hope it will increase the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the student… [Direct]

Poteat, V. Paul; Spanierman, Lisa B.; Todd, Nathan R. (2011). Longitudinal Examination of the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites across the College Experience. Journal of Counseling Psychology, v58 n4 p508-521 Oct. This longitudinal investigation adds to the growing body of scholarship on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites, which refer to the consequences of being in the dominant position in an unjust, hierarchical system of societal racism. We examined how White students' affective costs of racism (i.e., White empathy, guilt, and fear) changed across the college experience and how gender, colorblind racial ideology, and diversity experiences were associated with those costs. Findings indicated that White empathy, guilt, and fear each had a distinct trajectory of change across the college experience. Moreover, patterns of change for each cost were moderated by colorblind racial attitude scores at college entrance. We also found that participation in college diversity experiences (e.g., diversity courses) was associated with the costs; moreover, different types of diversity experiences were linked to particular costs. These findings provide insight into the affective experiences of White… [Direct]

Clegg, Roger (2008). Vision and the End of Racial Preferences. Academic Questions, v21 n3 p319-323 Sep. Are we facing the end of racial preferences in America? Mr. Clegg thinks we probably are, and examines the role demographics, law, attraction, and vision may play in their demise. What makes preferences still attractive to so many people? Do most Americans share a vision that includes the continued use of racial preferences? Mr. Clegg offers a list of \E pluribus unum\ features that \all Americans\ must share to participate fully in the life of our ever-changing multiracial, multiethnic country…. [Direct]

Broad, Kathryn; Childs, Ruth A.; Escayg, Kerry-Ann; Gallagher-Mackay, Kelly; McGrath, Christopher; Sher, Yael (2011). Pursuing Equity in and through Teacher Education Program Admissions. Education Policy Analysis Archives, v19 n24 Aug. This case study investigated equity in teacher education admissions. Through document analysis and structured interviews with ten past or current members of the admissions committee in a large initial teacher education program in Ontario, we developed an understanding of equity in teacher education admissions as encompassing two foci: equity in admissions–that is, equity of access for applicants to the program–and equity through admissions–that is, equity of educational opportunity and outcomes for the children in the schools where the teachers trained by the programs will eventually teach. Our analysis illustrates the importance of recognizing both foci and the tensions between them…. [PDF]

Stuart, Reginald (2011). Sidestep. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v28 n8 p15-17 May. It has been almost five years since Michigan voters chose to ban race-conscious programs from state-funded institutions. The impact of the decision was swift and painful for many, particularly in the state's public higher education landscape. Minority enrollment in public colleges–which was already low–plummeted in many categories as state-funded minority scholarships disappeared and a bad economy made alternative funds scarce. Programs and services that were targeted solely toward minorities and women vanished. Today, however, there are some signs of hope for minorities hoping to access higher education in Michigan. Five years after the racially polarizing campaign to pass the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative–widely known as Proposition 2–the state's public colleges and universities are learning how to adapt to a colorblind campus. From the University of Michigan to Grand Valley State University, Michigan schools are reinventing their recruiting programs and creating new… [Direct]

Hicks, Joe R. (2008). The New Frontier: Envisioning an America beyond Racial Preferences and Color-Coded Public Policy. Academic Questions, v21 n3 p324-331 Sep. Significant voices have begun challenging the orthodox view of America as a land of limited opportunities for minorities, with the Obama phenomena constituting the most conspicuous case in point. Mr. Hicks explains why racial preferences have failed and discusses the challenges Americans face in transcending divisions caused by identity politics. (Contains 15 footnotes.)… [Direct]