(2013). Critical Race Theory Counterstory as Allegory: A Rhetorical Trope to Raise Awareness about Arizona's Ban on Ethnic Studies. Across the Disciplines, v10 n3 Aug. he critical race counterstory in this essay takes on the form of allegory to raise awareness about Arizona's anti-immigrant/Mexican climate, and pays particular attention to legislation targeted at Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American studies (also RAZA studies) program…. [Direct]
(2015). The Shifting Financial Aid System in Spanish University: Grant-Recipients' Experiences and Strategies. Critical Studies in Education, v56 n3 p332-350. In 2012 Spain inaugurated a reform of its higher education financial aid system inspired by three principles: cost-sharing, increasing academic performance and school efficiency. This reform has shifted the aim of the system from equality of access to a type of meritocracy that can be defined as class-biased, as it is only applied to low-income students who require scholarships to fund their university education. After contextualizing this changing Spanish financial aid system, the life-experiences of grant-holders are discussed, based on in-depth interviews with scholarship recipients. Our analysis shows how the hardships and constraints that these low-income students endure during their university education have been toughened after the reform. The paper concludes that the reform increases and naturalizes the social inequalities that traditionally exist between youths of different social classes when planning, accessing and staying in university, as the critical sociology of… [Direct]
(2016). Efficacy versus Equity: What Happens When States Tinker With College Admissions in a Race-Blind Era?. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, v38 n2 p336-363 Jun. We investigate the efficacy and equity of college admissions criteria by estimating the effect of multiple measures of college readiness on college performance in the context of race-blind automatic admissions policies. We take advantage of a unique institutional feature of the Texas higher education system to control for selection into admissions. We find that SAT/ACT scores, high school exit exams, and advanced coursework are all predictors of student success in college. However, when we simulate changes in college enrollment and outcomes with additional admissions criteria, we find that adding SAT/ACT or exit exam criteria to an existing rank-based admissions policy significantly decreases enrollment among minorities, low-income students, and students who attend low socioeconomic status high schools, with the most negative effects generated by the SAT/ACT, while inducing only minimal gains in college grade point average and 4-year graduation rates…. [Direct]
(2014). International Berkeley: Enrolling International Students Yesterday and Today, Debates on the Benefits of Multicultural Diversity, and Macro Questions on Access and Equity. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.3.14. Center for Studies in Higher Education The argument that cultural and other forms of diversity enhance the educational experience of all students is generally associated with post-1960 efforts to expand the presence of disadvantaged groups on the campuses of America's universities and colleges. Yet, in the case of UC Berkeley, arguments on the merits of cultural diversity have much earlier roots in the historical enrollment of international students. Debates in the late 1800s and early twentieth century revolved around the appropriateness of enrolling foreign students, particularly those from Asia. The result was an important intellectual discussion on the merits of diversity that was eventually reframed to focus largely on underrepresented domestic students. In this short essay, I discuss how the notion of diversity, and its educational benefits, first emerged as a value at UC Berkeley. I then briefly discuss the significant increase of international students at UC Berkeley and other public universities. Thus far, the… [PDF]
(2013). How Much Do You Pay for College?. Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. At Middlebury College–and on campuses throughout the country–class is coming out of the closet. Long hidden from view, economic status is emerging from the shadows, as once-taboo discussions are taking shape. The growing economic divide in America, and on American campuses, has given rise to new student organizations, and new dialogues, focused on raising awareness of class issues–and proposing solutions. With the U.S. Supreme Court likely to curtail the consideration of race in college admissions this year, the role of economic disadvantage as a basis for preferences could further raise the salience of class. Today's young people have grown up in a world unlike that of their parents. Class inequality has taken on much greater salience than racial inequality. Today's youth didn't grow up seeing fire hoses being trained on peaceful civil-rights demonstrators. Instead they have grown up in a country where racism continues to exist, but where voters elected and then re-elected a… [Direct]
(2016). Race and Stratification in College Enrollment over Time. CEPA Working Paper No. 16-14. Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis In this study we examine trends in segregation by race and ethnicity in higher education from 1985 to 2013. We have three key findings. Over the past 30 years, students from different groups have attended college at increasingly similar rates; gaps are decreasing. But these decreases have been driven largely by large increases in minority student enrollment at non-degree granting and two-year colleges. Once we condition on attendance at a degree granting school, we see "increasing" gaps over time. Finally, among only four-year colleges, attendance has been tilted in favor of White students and been relatively unchanged for nearly 30 years. The only exception to this has been for the very few minority students who are able to enroll at the most selective institutions…. [PDF] [Direct]
(2015). The Influence of Campus Racial Climate on Graduate Student Attitudes about the Benefits of Diversity. Review of Higher Education, v38 n4 p589-617 Sum. This paper examines the relationship between campus racial climate and graduate student attitudes about the benefits of diversity. Grounded in the campus racial climate frameworks proposed by Hurtado, Carter, and Kardia (1998) and Milem, Chang, and Antonio (2005), the authors build a case for documenting how student attitudes about diversity may be influenced by campus environments. Multi-level regression analysis is applied to data from a climate survey administered to graduate students (N = 1052) at a large, public, research-based university. Findings support the authors' hypothesis, that campus racial climate influences student attitudes about the benefits of diversity…. [Direct]
(2015). Students at the Margins and the Institutions That Serve Them: A Global Perspective. Salzburg Global Seminar Session 537 (Salzburg, Austria, October 11-16, 2014). A Special Policy Notes, Spring 2015. Educational Testing Service In partnership with Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, Salzburg Global Seminar hosted an international strategic dialogue of 60 thought leaders, researchers, and practitioners from institutions serving marginalized populations to develop a platform for on-going dialogue, problem solving and solutions to common challenges. The program–"Students at the Margins and the Institutions that Serve Them: A Global Perspective"–was held October 11 to 16, 2014 at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria and builds on Salzburg Global's track record of programs delivering on educational equity, quality and innovation. Program participants represented 19 countries and all regions of the world and engaged in five interactive days of issue framing, dialogue and strategic synthesis of global research, policy and expertise, and together assembled various frameworks for action…. [PDF]
(2016). Equity and Excellence: Proactive Efforts in the Identification of Underrepresented Students for Gifted and Talented Services. Gifted Child Quarterly, v60 n3 p159-171 Jul. The identification of gifted and talented students and the accompanying fact that most identification systems result in the underrepresentation of students from African American, Hispanic, Native American, English language learning, and low-income families are two of the most discussed and hotly debated topics in the field. This article provides an overview of past efforts to mitigate inequity in both K-12 and higher education program identification, highlights successes and limitations, and presents a particular perspective in order to help facilitate broader thinking about the purpose of identification, the development of talent, and how academic excellence can be fostered while simultaneously increasing equity in gifted education…. [Direct]
(2014). It Just Happens: Colorblind Ideology and Undergraduate Explanations of Racial Interaction on Campus. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, v9 n3 p191-208 Nov. This article examines student perceptions of racial segregation on campus in terms of interaction across racial groups. Theories of colorblind racial ideology are used to interpret data from 14 group interviews focusing on 1.) the degree to which cross-group interaction is desired, 2.) perceptions of racial separation among students at a predominantly White elite university, and 3.) the rationale for lack of contact. In part because we are not limited to one race or to comparing only Black and White students and because we highlight student's stories and explanations, our findings provide better explanations of how students perceive and experience lack of racial interaction. We discuss implications including continued and possibly increased racial hostility towards underrepresented groups, social isolation of groups with less representation, effects on academic success, and the perpetuation of racial/ethnic stereotypes…. [Direct]
(2013). AERA et al. Amicus Brief: "Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin". Educational Researcher, v42 n3 p183-197 Apr. Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 37, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) et al. submit this brief as "amici curiae" in support of Respondents. "Amici curiae" comprise several of the nation's leading research associations: the American Educational Research Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Sociological Association, the American Statistical Association, the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the Law and Society Association, the Linguistic Society of America, and the National Academy of Engineering. "Amici curiae" have a longstanding interest in the accurate presentation of research relevant to the important questions of law raised by this case. "Amici curiae" are also particularly concerned about the possible misapplication of research findings in this case and with the possibility that the Court might be influenced by the presentation of flawed research and unreliable… [Direct]
(2012). Against "Diversity". Academic Questions, v25 n3 p377-388 Sep. The Supreme Court has granted review for the 2012 term in the case "Fisher v. University of Texas." Abigail Fisher, a rejected white applicant to the University of Texas, has challenged the use of racial and ethnic admission preferences, which the Court had allowed in its 2003 decision involving the University of Michigan law school, "Grutter v. Bollinger." The claim that "diversity" requires that each classroom be diverse is both novel and radical in its implications, as Judge Edith Jones noted in a blistering dissent for herself and four Fifth Circuit colleagues. In any event, new evidence and new developments make it appropriate for the Court to reconsider the holding in Grutter that the purported "educational benefits" from student body "diversity" justify the use of racial and ethnic preferences in the first place. Numerous amicus briefs urge it to do so, and the plaintiff herself explicitly raises that possibility. According to… [Direct]
(2012). Rethinking Research on the Impact of Racial Diversity in Higher Education. Review of Higher Education, v36 n1 p25-50 Fall. While the court-approved use of race in college admissions rests on the ability of institutions to produce educational benefits associated with diversity, existing research provides little practical insight for institutions, particularly with regard to the types of relations that foster such benefits. The authors review current research and conceptualizations in the study of racial diversity, revealing incomplete theories of socialization, unspecified mechanisms, and problematic assumptions. Using Gurin (1999) as a starting point, the authors propose a new framework and research agenda for examining the impact of racial diversity on students, integrating insights from network theory, social psychology, and sociology. (Contains 4 figures and 1 footnote.)… [Direct]
(2011). \Which\ Interests Are Served by the Principle of Interest Convergence? Whiteness, Collective Trauma, and the Case for Anti-Racism. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v14 n4 p435-459. A primary principle of critical race theory is \interest convergence,\ or the notion that progress toward racial equality will only be made when it converges with the interests of whites. Although I generally concur, I posit that \interest\ must be rendered more complex in order to fully understand the pernicious effects of racism on all people, and on whites in particular. While laws, cultural norms, institutional practices, and even the election of Barack Obama indeed serve the material and emotional interests of whites, their psychological and moral interests are simultaneously undermined. I complicate the meaning of \interest\ to show that while whites indeed benefit from racial hierarchy in numerous ways, a full deconstruction of racism and the collective trauma it induces must be considered with a more nuanced and disaggregated definition of \interest\ in mind. I put forth that while whites are advantaged in real and tangible ways in an endemic system of racial dominance, the… [Direct]
(2010). Just Admissions: South African Universities and the Question of Racial Preference. South African Journal of Higher Education, v24 n2 p258-267. South African universities and other institutions of higher education currently give preference to student applicants from designated \races\. This paper argues that such a policy is morally indefensible. Although the imperative to redress injustice is endorsed, this, it is argued, does not entail that applicants may be favoured on the basis of their (purported) \race\. Nor can the pursuit of diversity be used to defend racial preference. Next, it is argued that any policy on racial preference must have both a racial taxonomy and a method of assigning individuals to different taxonomic categories. It is argued that both competing methods of categorizing individuals–one subjective and the other objective–are unacceptable. Finally, the paper highlights a number of fallacious responses to criticisms of racial preference. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]