tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/racial-diversity-on-campus-28725/articlesRacial diversity on campus – La Conversation2023-07-04T11:23:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2075242023-07-04T11:23:29Z2023-07-04T11:23:29ZSouth African universities must do more to tackle staffs’ race and gender imbalances<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533992/original/file-20230626-17-5n5iwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are more black African academic staff at South African universities than before.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">PeopleImages/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the advent of South Africa’s democracy in 1994, an <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/vc/documents/The_Challenges_of_Transformation_in_Higher_Eduaction_and_Training_Institutions_in_South_Africa.pdf#page=23">overwhelming majority of academics</a> in the country’s public higher education institutions were white men. Black South Africans (a group consisting of those designated as Indian, Coloured or African <a href="https://www.apartheidmuseum.org/exhibitions/race-classification#:%7E:text=Racial%20classification%20was%20the%20foundation,either%20white%20or%20non%2Dwhite">under apartheid</a>) constituted 89% of the overall population. But they made up <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/vc/documents/The_Challenges_of_Transformation_in_Higher_Eduaction_and_Training_Institutions_in_South_Africa.pdf#page=23">just 17%</a> of the academic workforce.</p>
<p>The situation was similar for non-academic employees like managers, administrators, and service and technical staff.</p>
<p>The higher education sector, like everything else in South Africa, needed to change to reflect the non-racial, non-sexist values foregrounded from 1994 and <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/saconstitution-web-eng.pdf#page=7">enshrined in the constitution</a> two years later. </p>
<p>The National Commission on Higher Education published <a href="https://www.ecsecc.org/documentrepository/informationcentre/higher_education_transformation.pdf">a report</a> in 1996 that outlined how such shifts could happen at the country’s <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/vc/documents/The_Challenges_of_Transformation_in_Higher_Eduaction_and_Training_Institutions_in_South_Africa.pdf#page=10">21 public universities</a> (there are 26 public universities today). New policies and <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/higher-education-act">legislation</a> were formulated to codify institutional change. </p>
<p>Nearly 30 years on, how has the staffing situation changed – or not – at South African universities? The Council on Higher Education, an independent statutory body which performs quality control assessments for the sector, wanted to find out. The council asked us to investigate this issue as part of <a href="https://www.che.ac.za/sites/default/files/flipbooks/2023/che_review/index.html">a broader review</a> of the sector (our submission starts on page 146).</p>
<p>Our findings reveal that staffing at public higher education institutions remains polarised in terms of race and gender. The composition of the workforce still doesn’t reflect <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa/Conservation#ref44029">the country’s demographics</a>. White men continue to dominate.</p>
<p>The pace of change is frustratingly slow. There are a few likely reasons for this. One is that the higher education sector <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-dominance-of-big-players-is-bad-for-south-africas-economy-92058">reflects</a> many other parts of South African society, including the wider economy. Race and gender disparities are not unique to the sector.</p>
<p>It is crucial to address staff employment inequities in public higher education institutions. The sector’s political, social and economic value is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325781607_Conceptualising_Higher_Education_and_the_Public_Good_in_Ghana_Kenya_Nigeria_and_South_Africa">fundamental</a> in a diverse society that aspires to inclusivity.</p>
<p>Genuine diversity is critical for teaching and learning, too. Research has shown that students benefit enormously from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238506813_The_Educational_Benefits_of_Diversity_Evidence_from_Multiple_Sectors">being at universities with diverse teaching staff</a>. They can learn both from those who share or have shared their social and economic experiences, and those who do not.</p>
<h2>Key findings</h2>
<p>The period under review was 1994 to 2019. Our findings were drawn from two data sets: the Department of Higher Education and Training’s South African Post-Secondary Education data, dating from 1994 to 2002; and Higher Education Management Information System data from 2003 to 2018. This was supplemented by secondary data and other information acquired through literature review and document analysis.</p>
<p>Here are some key findings.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>There have been gradual increases in the numbers of all previously marginalised groups (women, black Africans, Indians and Coloureds) in academic staff. However, white men remain the dominant group, especially in the professorial rank. They account for 67% (2,086) of academic staff at a professor post level. The proportion of black African academic staff at the professor level doubled, from 8% (196) in 2000 to 19% (602) in 2018.</p></li>
<li><p>There have been significant shifts in the professional support staff category. In 2002, white people accounted for 67% in this group; black Africans accounted for just 22%, while the Coloured and Indian categories were 5% each. In 2018, the proportion of white professional staff declined to 35%, black African staff increased to 41%, Coloured staff increased to 16% (785) and Indian staff increased to 8%.</p></li>
<li><p>The non-professional administration staff workforce is the most transformed. For example, 66% of professional and administrative support staff are black African and female; [51% of](https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15833#:~:text=More%20than%20half%20(51%2C1,households%20are%20headed%20by%20females) South Africa’s national population is female.</p></li>
<li><p>The black African majority are still under-represented within the executive and senior management echelons. Black Africans make up 37% of the people who hold executive and senior management positions despite constituting <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/south-africa-is-young-and-female-stats-sa-report-20180723">80.9% of the country’s population</a>. Of all the executive and senior managers in public higher education institutions, 45% are women, although women make up 51% of the total population.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>By 2018 black Africans made up 58% of the total workforce in this category. The white population group remained over-represented at 20% while its share in the overall population of the country was <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/south-africa-is-young-and-female-stats-sa-report-20180723">about 7.8%</a>. The representation ratios of coloureds (17%) and Indian (7%) in non-professional administration staff were also above their proportional representation in the overall population of South Africa, which is at 8.8% and 2.5%, respectively.</p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>There are several ways to speed up the pace of change in university staffing. </p>
<p>Sector-wide mentoring programmes could provide support and guidance to early-career academics. This would help them to navigate the academic landscape and develop their skills. These programmes should be tailored to address the particular challenges faced by women, black African academics and disabled individuals. </p>
<p>Talent management strategies are needed to prepare emerging scholars. Promising academics must be identified and nurtured so they can advance to senior positions.</p>
<p>Universities also need strategies to attract and retain under-represented groups. This will help to improve gender and racial parity.</p>
<p>On paper, these strategies are already in place at many universities. But they have a fundamental flaw: they’re not <a href="https://www.intersectionaljustice.org/what-is-intersectionality">intersectional</a>. Racial and gender discrimination do not happen in a vacuum. They intersect with other forms of discrimination.</p>
<p>Mentorship, retention and support programmes at many South African universities tend to focus solely on fostering gender and racial equality. They may not adequately address the complex and intersecting challenges faced by individuals belonging to multiple marginalised groups. Meaningful, lasting change in the country’s university staffing structures requires a far more integrated approach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study was funded and published by the South African Council on Higher Education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monwabisi K Ralarala and Nhlanhla Mpofu do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite some positive shifts, the staffing situation at public higher education institutions remains polarised in terms of race and gender.Mncedisi Maphalala, Director in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), Durban University of TechnologyMonwabisi K Ralarala, Dean: Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of the Western CapeNhlanhla Mpofu, Chair- Curriculum Studies, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1400422020-07-09T12:14:36Z2020-07-09T12:14:36ZSimply scrapping the SAT won’t make colleges more diverse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346404/original/file-20200708-23-1w2dmnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C3600%2C2700&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">College entrance exams are being rethought.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/melissa-fernandez-directs-students-wearing-protective-masks-news-photo/1213157483?adppopup=true">Johnny Louis/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the University of California decided in early 2020 to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-defines-testing-down-11589746251?fbclid=IwAR3BbbBTfZD2lJVNp8eb3ZyK55vobUHYUQboo7nYrXFsuJd6UflXvPxAF_w">stop using the ACT and SAT in admissions by 2025</a>, the decision sparked discussions anew about how <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/27/754799550/college-board-drops-its-adversity-score-for-each-student-after-backlash">fair and useful</a> college entrance exams are in the first place.</p>
<p>Studies have shown, for instance, that some SAT questions <a href="https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.80.1.j94675w001329270">systematically favor</a> white students over Black students of equal ability. Some scholars say wordy math questions in the new SAT, introduced in 2016, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-sat-redesign/">create unfair barriers</a> for English language learners. In other standardized tests, some math questions might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10627190903422906">favor</a> English-speaking students over English language learners of equal mathematical ability.</p>
<p>But a <a href="https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/sttf-report.pdf?mod=article_inline">faculty-led report</a> – meant to help University of California, or UC, leadership decide whether to keep using the test – found no clear evidence of racial bias in the SAT. In fact, the report says sizable numbers of first-generation, low-income and “underrepresented minorities,” such as Black, Hispanic and Native American students, have earned admissions to the University of California due “solely by virtue of their SAT scores.” A great deal of diversity may be lost if the University of California were to drop the test.</p>
<p>On the other hand, UC’s student body does not quite reflect California’s diversity. In 2019, only 22% of students who enrolled in UC self identified as Hispanic. But Hispanics, the <a href="https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-population/">largest ethnic group in California</a>, make up over 39% of the state’s population. That same year, underrepresented minorities made up 45% of the state’s population, but only <a href="https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/fall-enrollment-glance">26% of UC’s enrollment</a>.</p>
<p>Such demographics and the size of the UC system – which enrolls more than 280,000 students on 10 campuses – might encourage a <a href="https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional">growing number of schools</a> to make the SAT or ACT optional. Would phasing out college admissions tests be a positive trend or the wrong way to go?</p>
<h2>In search of alternatives</h2>
<p>I am a mathematician and an educator who has reviewed SAT questions, <a href="https://www.aera.net/Publications/Online-Paper-Repository/AERA-Online-Paper-Repository/Owner/673739">studied how test questions function</a> for different student groups and authored recommendations for <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3238702">enhancing equity</a> in college outcomes and assessments. My views are informed by these combined perspectives.</p>
<p>Doing away with the SAT may feel liberating and just. But it is a school’s goal and the steps taken to meet it that will determine if doing away with college entrance exams is beneficial or detrimental.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Experts’ <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/05/26/experts-consider-how-new-admissions-test-could-change-higher-education">suggestions on what might come next</a> range from replacing the tests with evaluations of student portfolios to basing admissions on students’ high school records. Ultimately, a region’s demographics and a college’s purpose must count in admission decisions. </p>
<h2>Diversity won’t automatically increase</h2>
<p>Colleges and universities <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-you-thought-colleges-making-the-sat-optional-would-level-the-playing-field-think-again-89896">won’t necessarily become more diverse</a> just because the SAT has become optional. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0162373714537350">study of 180 liberal arts colleges</a> found that test-optional policies did not increase the numbers of low-income and minority students, for example.</p>
<p>Increasing diversity in college requires being intentional: attracting and engaging student populations that remain underrepresented in colleges and universities, such as Black and Hispanic students.</p>
<p>Subjects such as math are still taught from a very <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1199868">individualistic, white, Eurocentric</a> vantage point. This may put students of color, who don’t see their history or culture reflected in the curriculum, at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>In addition, some admission decisions may inadvertently favor privileged students. Say, for example, a college suspends the SAT and increases the weight of essays in admissions. Students with access to parents, counselors or advisers who are college graduates – or those otherwise “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/liberal-faculty-endorse-testing-11581466138?mod=article_inline">steeped in the academic ethos</a>” – may know what types of essays will resonate with an admission committee. Such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038506069843">social and cultural background</a> can still operate as an advantage in the current system. </p>
<h2>Strengths versus weaknesses</h2>
<p>There are two views to take with incoming students – a deficit view or an asset view. The first sees students’ weaknesses: what they lack. An <a href="https://teachereducation.steinhardt.nyu.edu/an-asset-based-approach-to-education-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters/">asset view</a> sees their strengths: what students bring to the table in terms of their culture, identity and knowledge. </p>
<p>The choice of view might make or break efforts to diversify college admissions.</p>
<p>Deficit views – which can lead to lowering performance standards or requiring students to take too many remedial courses – have unfortunately <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1361332052000341006">been pervasive</a> in American education. Yet, there are growing efforts to focus on strengths.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Hispanic-Serving-Institutions-in-Practice">asset-based teaching in mathematics</a> replaces memorization with creative ways of reasoning, and individualism with collaborative learning. </p>
<p>Some programs are also looking to <a href="https://sites.google.com/math.arizona.edu/steminhsi/working-group/case-studies/abstracts">place more value on the culture and language</a> of incoming students. An increasingly diverse workforce better serves an increasingly diverse population. </p>
<h2>Past versus present</h2>
<p>Different groups of students may perform differently on a fair test. Such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716219843469">differences in how students do on a test</a> need not mean a test is unfair. Yet, in some cases, differences in group outcomes can in fact be <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/21/new-evidence-racial-bias-sat">due to unintended bias</a> in test questions – that is, bias that unfairly puts particular kinds of students at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>Undetected, such biases might result in a score indicating that someone’s math – or verbal – ability is lower than it actually is.</p>
<p>How might this happen? A math problem about baseball may test more than mathematics knowledge. It may put me at a disadvantage if I know little about the sport, but not if I am familiar with it. My math ability is the same, but the sports context may introduce an unwanted bias.</p>
<p>The verbal SAT <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716219843469">once contained</a> such questions. A well-known example among scholars is the “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jul-27-me-sat27-story.html">oarsman is to regatta</a>” as “runner is to marathon” answer to a verbal SAT analogy question from years gone by.</p>
<p>But research suggests that the SAT may <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/race-gaps-in-sat-scores-highlight-inequality-and-hinder-upward-mobility/">still be biased</a> against particular underrepresented groups, including those with a history of oppression. Could changes in the SAT ever fairly reflect the cultural diversity of today’s America?</p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0002716219847139">history of testing in the United States</a> shows that the SAT, and our colleges and universities, were created at a time when the country’s demographic, social and cultural realities were very different from today. The test was not made by and for today’s America. And likely, it was not designed to build on the strengths of diverse students or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/us/tutors-see-stereotypes-and-gender-bias-in-sat-testers-see-none-of-the-above.html">avoid deficit views</a>. </p>
<p>Changing admissions requirements is supposed to help make schools more diverse. But doing this will require more than changing tests or doing away with testing requirements. It’s going to require a <a href="https://medium.com/@educationotherwise/https-medium-com-educationotherwise-so-you-want-to-decolonize-higher-education-4a7370d64955#_ftn1">radical rethinking</a> of higher education based on equity and the strengths and needs of America today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guadalupe I. Lozano has received funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>College entrance exams haven’t always been the most fair. But will getting rid of them lead to more diversity on campus?Guadalupe I. Lozano, Director, Center for University Education Scholarship, and Associate Reserach Professor of Mathematics, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1010032018-08-09T10:42:09Z2018-08-09T10:42:09ZFor universities, making the case for diversity is part of making amends for racist past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230814/original/file-20180806-34489-hovfc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Historically, many American universities helped lay the foundation for eugenics, a pseudoscience used to justify racism.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/yale-university-new-haven-connecticut-usa-734467159?src=ziWzIPTvPkRyJliM_PgwMA-1-0">Helioscribe/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Trump administration recently announced plans to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-to-rescind-obama-era-guidelines-on-race-in-college-admissions-1530619273">scrap Obama-era guidelines</a> that encouraged universities to consider race as a factor to promote diversity on campus, claiming the guidelines “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/07/05/trump-administration-rescinds-obama-guidance-race-and-admissions">advocate policy preferences and positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution</a>.” </p>
<p>Some university leaders immediately went on the defense.</p>
<p>Harvard University stated that it <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/7/5/trump-admissions-guidelines/">plans to continue to use race</a> as an admission factor to “create a diverse campus community where students from all walks of life have an opportunity to learn from and with each other.” </p>
<p>Similarly, Gregory L. Fenves, president of the University of Texas at Austin, noted how the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/03/UT-Trump-affirmative-action/">“affirmed the University of Texas’ efforts to enroll a diverse student body</a>.” He also stated that <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/03/UT-Trump-affirmative-action/">“diversity is essential”</a> to the university’s efforts to provide the highest quality education. </p>
<p>But, why is diversity essential for the educational mission of U.S. universities? </p>
<p>Advocates for diversity in higher education emphasize a variety of reasons. They range from business oriented considerations, like the need for a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/10/09/41004/10-reasons-why-we-need-diversity-on-college-campuses/">diverse and well-educated workforce</a> to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse marketplace or the belief that diversity fosters innovation and creativity. Another reason is based on the idea that diversity enriches the educational experience of all students on campus, not just minorities. </p>
<p>In addition to the reasons above, we believe that diversity is also an ethical obligation of American universities. We write not only as professors but as <a href="https://soa.utexas.edu/people/juan-miro">higher education administrators</a> with a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=A8Vwd2sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">keen interest in diversity on campus</a>. We believe that promoting diversity in our campuses helps fulfill the inclusive vision that gave birth to our nation. This vision became enshrined in the Declaration of Independence when it proclaimed that “all men are created equal.” </p>
<p>Sadly, the “all men are created equal” proclamation was not a guiding principle for our universities not so long ago. Quite the contrary, they fostered ideas that promoted racial disparagement and exclusion, causing great harm to the country in ways that we must still deal with today. For instance, <a href="http://dailytexanonline.com/2018/02/20/the-5-percent-ut-lacks-black-representation">black students were not admitted</a> to the University of Texas and many other universities until the 1950s, and lack of black representation among students and faculty remains an issue. The pursuit of diversity now can help universities make amends for aggressive anti-diversity practices of the recent past. </p>
<h2>Universities and eugenics</h2>
<p>At the beginning of the 20th century, many administrators, alumni and faculty members from American universities were at the forefront of the eugenics movement, a <a href="https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3335">pseudoscience</a> that sought to improve the genetic qualities of human populations by selective breeding. The movement was led by presidents of elite private institutions like <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/2016/03/harvards-eugenics-era">Harvard</a>, <a href="https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3456-god-and-white-men-at-yale">Yale</a> and <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796">Stanford</a>, and also at public universities like <a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/section/viewpoints/op-ed-cc-little-naming-buildings-eugenics">Michigan</a> and <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/%7Elkaelber/eugenics/WI/WI.html">Wisconsin</a>.</p>
<p>Eugenicists championed ideas of racial superiority. For them, the Nordic “race” – that is, people from Northern Europe, like Anglo-Americans – was the master race. Accordingly, they regarded Africans, Asians and even Southern and Eastern Europeans as inferior. They believed the immigration of these groups to the U.S. <a href="https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3456-god-and-white-men-at-yale">should be curtailed</a>.</p>
<p>“The Nordic race will vanish or lose its dominance,” renowned Yale professor and economist Irving Fisher <a href="https://reason.com/archives/2002/03/26/eugenics-rides-a-time-machine">warned in 1921</a>. Eugenicists were anti-diversity. They considered immigration and racial mixing a threat. They spoke of the “yellow peril,” the “flooding of the nation with foreign scum” and the arrival of “defectives, delinquents and dependents.” These views are not unlike President Trump’s recent complaints about Mexico sending <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/37230916/drug-dealers-criminals-rapists-what-trump-thinks-of-mexicans">“rapists” and “criminals,”</a> or about <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/immigrants-shithole-countries-trump/index.html">admitting people into the U.S. from “shithole countries.”</a> </p>
<p>Beyond teaching eugenics on campus – 376 American colleges were <a href="https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3456-god-and-white-men-at-yale">offering courses on the subject</a> by the late 1920s – these academic leaders and their followers <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/2016/03/harvards-eugenics-era">worked hard</a> to take eugenics ideas mainstream – and did so <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/2016/03/harvards-eugenics-era">“with considerable effect,”</a> according to Harvard Magazine.</p>
<p>The eugenecists’ ideas may not have predated the racial prejudices and segregationist practices that existed in the United States, but they provided academic validity to help sustain those prejudices and practices.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231177/original/file-20180808-138709-1hp5vcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melville W. Fuller (1833-1910), eighth chief justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1888 through 1910. The court decided in favor of racial segregation in the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melville-w-fuller-18331910-eighth-chief-242817226?src=qKK7o7SvMcgK6JmFswCVXA-1-6">Everett Historical/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court had paved the way for segregation when it ruled in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/163us537">Plessy v. Ferguson</a> that keeping races “separate but equal” was constitutional. Then in the 1920s, at the height of the racial caste system known as <a href="https://ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm">“Jim Crow,”</a> the U.S. government embraced new policies promoted by eugenicists. </p>
<p>Those policies included new anti-miscegenation laws that <a href="http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay7text.html">criminalized</a> <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/eugenics-race-and-marriage">interracial marriage</a>. They also included forced sterilization programs. These programs affected all racial groups but especially targeted women, minorities and the poor.
Eugenicists advocated effectively for forced sterilization in <a href="https://timeline.com/supreme-court-forced-sterilization-763f8bfefe48">court cases</a> that remained the law of the land for decades.</p>
<p>The eugenics movement also actively advocated in Congress for policies to prevent immigration by “undesirable” racial and ethnic groups. And the movement succeeded. With the <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act">Immigration Act of 1924</a>, Congress implemented quotas that favored immigration from Northern Europe and drastically reduced arrivals of Eastern European, Jews, Italians and Africans. It completely stopped immigration from Asia.</p>
<p>These policies were developed to reverse fears of what President Theodore Roosevelt called <a href="https://www.bartleby.com/268/10/29.html">“race suicide”</a> or the dwindling of the Anglo-American <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/09/19/how-white-supremacy-went-global/?utm_term=.d53e44443bfe">“stock</a>.”</p>
<h2>Reversing a racist past</h2>
<p>New York lawyer Madison Grant, a graduate of Yale and Columbia, was a prominent eugenicist and friend of President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1916 he published “<a href="https://archive.org/stream/passingofgreatra00granuoft/passingofgreatra00granuoft_djvu.txt">The Passing of the Great Race</a>,” widely considered the most influential eugenics book. Grant attempts to <a href="http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/connections/53eea903803401daea000001">use science to justify racism</a>. The book was translated to German and after he became Fürher, Adolf Hitler wrote a fan letter to Grant thanking him and praising the book as <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796">“his Bible.”</a> </p>
<p>It was only after the Holocaust that the U.S., rather slowly, <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/2016/03/harvards-eugenics-era">abandoned</a> its own eugenicist policies. Interracial marriage was still forbidden in 16 states when it was <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/eugenics-race-and-marriage">declared unconstitutional in 1967</a>. Coerced or involuntary sterilizations continued to happen <a href="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/unwanted-sterilization-and-eugenics-programs-in-the-united-states/">into the 1970s.</a></p>
<p>The fact that thinkers from prestigious American universities provided the intellectual foundations for Hitler’s racial cleansing policies is scarcely mentioned in our country. We believe it is time for universities to undertake a discussion about this disturbing chapter of their history – a time when their own community <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/2016/03/harvards-eugenics-era">led the development of white supremacist ideologies</a>.</p>
<p>It is also timely to reflect on the extraordinary impact universities can have in our nation and the world. A century after the misguided eugenics movement took a hold of higher education in the U.S., most universities now actively work to be inclusive and diverse. They must embrace their renewed values and help lead our nation toward a more just and equitable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101003/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since US universities once stood at the forefront of the eugenics movement and its racist ideas, they should right the wrongs of the past by pursuing diversity on campus, two scholars argue.Juan Miró, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, David Bruton, Jr. Centennial Professor in Urban Studies, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at AustinEdmund T Gordon, Vice Provost for Diversity, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/597842016-06-23T17:06:39Z2016-06-23T17:06:39ZAfter Supreme Court’s Fisher decision: what we need to know about considering race in admissions<p>On Thursday, June 23, <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-981_4g15.pdf">the U.S. Supreme Court upheld</a> the constitutionality of a race-conscious post-secondary admissions policy at the University of Texas at Austin. </p>
<p>Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered to be the swing vote, joined Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, in a 4-3 decision that affirmed the constitutionality of the race-conscious policy and the university’s compelling interest in the educational benefits of a diverse student body. </p>
<p>At the same time, the decision addressed the need for institutions to continue to assess whether so-called race-neutral alternatives are available and workable, and suffice for achieving the university’s goals. </p>
<p>A large body of evidence shows so-called race-neutral admissions policies are not as effective for attaining racial diversity on campus. They could even exacerbate existing racial inequities. </p>
<h2>The Fisher case</h2>
<p>In 2008, Abigail Fisher, a white woman, applied to the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and was denied admission. She then sued the university on the grounds that the university’s admissions policy, which considered race as one of many other factors, violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A lower court ruled in favor of UT Austin. </p>
<p>In 2012, the case came up before the Supreme Court. In 2013, the Supreme Court <a href="http://qz.com/444199/factoring-race-into-college-admissions-is-crucial-to-campus-diversity/">sent the case back</a> to the lower court to conduct a more rigorous assessment of whether UT Austin needed to consider race at all in admissions in order to have more diversity. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court was concerned that the lower court had relied primarily on the university’s judgment, without conducting an independent review of whether the institution had sufficiently considered race-neutral approaches. </p>
<p>After having been decided again in UT Austin’s favor by the lower court, and appealed again by Fisher, the court affirmed the lower court’s ruling that UT Austin justified its consideration of race and its policy was constitutional. </p>
<h2>What are race-neutral approaches?</h2>
<p>Universities and colleges have turned to <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Race-Class-and-College-Access-Achieving-Diversity-in-a-Shifting-Legal-Landscape.aspx">a number of approaches</a> that, under the legal definition, can be considered race-neutral. </p>
<p>In law, these efforts are called race-neutral because they do not explicitly consider race in admissions.</p>
<p>Such strategies are meant to encourage more underrepresented students of color to enroll in college. These include outreach and recruitment efforts, such as visits to high schools that enroll high percentages of students of color and those with low socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>They can also include placing greater weight on a student’s socioeconomic status, instead of their race, in the admissions process. Or, as was the case in Texas, “percent plans” that guarantee admissions to students who graduate within a specified percentage of their high school class.</p>
<p>And what’s the evidence on such race-neutral efforts?</p>
<h2>Racial diversity declines with race-neutral admissions</h2>
<p>One of my prior <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/01/14/0002831212470483">studies</a> found that bans on race-conscious admissions led to substantial declines in racial diversity across a number of important graduate fields of study, such as engineering, the natural sciences and the social sciences, and <a href="http://theconversation.com/ban-on-affirmative-action-in-medicine-will-hurt-all-39904">schools of medicine.</a> </p>
<p>In the field of engineering alone, student of color enrollment declined by 26 percent. This happened at public institutions across California, Florida, Texas and Washington. At public medical schools in six states that banned race-conscious admissions, it dropped by 17 percent. It was so even when post-secondary institutions in states with bans pursued race-neutral alternatives. </p>
<p>Others have documented similar results in undergraduate enrollment following bans in race-conscious admissions.</p>
<p>Research has documented declines in African-American and Latino enrollment at the most <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00170#.VmbvJ9-rR">selective undergraduate schools</a>, in the fields of <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/issues/volume-72-number-1/threat-diversity-legal-education-empirical-analysis-consequences">law</a>, and <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">business</a> following such bans.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00170#.VmbvJ9-rR">study</a> of the impact in California, Florida, Texas and Washington state, bans at the most selective institutions (top 50 universities listed in the 1995 US News & World Report college rankings) led to a 1.74 percentage point decline in African-American enrollment, roughly a 2.03 percentage point decline in Latino enrollment, and a decrease in Native American enrollment of roughly .47 percentage points. </p>
<p>Because of the small percentage of students at these institutions who are African-American (5.79 percent), Latino (7.38 percent) and Native American (.51 percent), these changes in enrollment are very large in relative terms. </p>
<h2>What do we know about race-neutral policies?</h2>
<p>In a <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807757551.shtml">study</a> that I conducted with a colleague at the University of Michigan, where race-conscious admissions is banned, we asked administrators about the viability of expanded outreach to high schools as a strategy to encourage more students of color to apply.</p>
<p>We found that administrators were concerned about the effectiveness of these alternatives. They noted that even if more students of color apply, it did not mean they would be admitted or able to enroll without targeted financial aid. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">University of Michigan has banned race-conscious admission policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brostad/2902469588/in/photolist-5qtV67-4Eiwbe-4EnLTY-4GbSPQ-p2DZxK-jPHUJn-eckQez-nhQ1mN-4EivCk-b2szW-LjYKi-bxSa6T-4Ecfg5-z6oEpy-pLbEvz-8NpRS9-9ArUW8-cY3aoJ-JUhBE-doA2xR-LDz54-5BTbLL-5Mqc2-9NEYMC-aPnyWk-ej89r2-4EnLNu-6NPykM-j8qckK-guva-59rLW1-qRpPDs-dACFTy-gmv6Af-qyVSiA-ei4Yxc-pBfW5C-9AuP1L-5F3oAr-4EivEM-4EivYp-59rLJG-eb6xWy-em2Y6E-nDFqu-6euix-LDBWM-4G7GC6-6Upiu4-3j2NKD">Bernt Rostad</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other studies show that race-neutral policies to achieve racial diversity have not worked. In Fisher II, for which I served as a counsel of record, <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/14-981_amicus_resp_823Social-Scientists.authcheckdam.pdf">over 800 social scientists</a> gathered evidence for a friend of the court brief. </p>
<p>For example, evidence from Texas, California and Florida shows that percent plans have not <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/flores_white_paper.pdf">proven to be reliable alternatives</a>.</p>
<p>And class-based approaches, such as replacing the consideration of race with socioeconomic background in admissions, are not an effective path toward racial diversity. </p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/reardon_white_paper.pdf">most rigorous studies</a> show that it is the combination of both class and race in admissions that generates the most robust student body diversity. For these reasons, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/27/should-affirmative-action-be-based-on-income/class-based-affirmative-action-works">arguments that seek to replace the consideration of race with socioeconomic class</a> merely fabricate a false choice.</p>
<p>Over the last two decades <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">California has tried</a> to bring racial diversity through race-neutral approaches. These include extensive outreach and support programs with very high investment of financial resources. </p>
<p>However, at UC Berkeley and UCLA, the proportion of California resident African-American students offered admission in 2011 was still 46 percent lower than 1995, the year before Proposition 209, the ban on race-conscious admissions in that state, was in place.</p>
<h2>How race-neutral approaches can hurt diversity efforts</h2>
<p>Race-neutral approaches can also have consequences for supporting inclusive campus environments for all students. The negative consequences can extend beyond the decline in the number of students of color who are admitted and undermine other efforts that are needed to improve racial climate on college campuses.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/52/5/828">study</a> that I conducted with a colleague, we found that laws like Proposal 2 – which banned race-conscious admissions in Michigan in 2006 – limited the actions administrators could take to address existing racism. </p>
<p>Administrators discussed how after the law, they felt they had to make their efforts around racial diversity less visible and felt less empowered to advocate for racial diversity. They were concerned that the law contributed to negative perceptions about the university’s commitment to racial diversity, which could discourage students of color to apply.</p>
<p>In contrast, other <a href="https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/mei/milem_et_al.pdf">research</a> has shown that diversity efforts needed to be visible. It also found that higher education professionals needed to feel empowered to do the work that is necessary to support students of color. </p>
<h2>How not discussing race worsens inequities</h2>
<p>Efforts to enact so called race-neutral approaches can also lead to what scholars have termed color-mute language or actions undertaken in a colorblind framework. Such an approach also has negative implications for racial equity on campus.</p>
<p>Scholar <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7773.html">Mika Pollock has studied this phenomenon extensively in the K-12 context</a>. She shows that actively deleting race from conversations can increase the role race plays in creating inequities. Color-mute language keeps us from discussing ways in which opportunities are not racially equal. They allow racial biases to go unchecked.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/01/18/how-so-called-colorblind-admissions-reviews-create-barriers-people-color-essay">recent major study</a> documents similar risks of a race-neutral approach in higher education. Over 60 interviews of professors at 10 highly ranked doctoral programs revealed that when faculty and decision-makers undertake ostensible race-neutral approaches in admissions – despite good intentions to increase diversity – it silences discussions around actions that can systematically exclude underrepresented students of color, such as assessment tests.</p>
<p>This evidence shows that diversity efforts under the mantle of race-neutral strategies can actively perpetuate the very racial inequities that educators want to address and dismantle.</p>
<h2>The need to maintain an ongoing focus on race</h2>
<p>All of this means that as institutions chart their next steps and responses to Fisher II, it will be important to maintain an active focus on race, such as understanding how admissions decisions can account for the ongoing racial inequities in K-12 schooling.</p>
<p>It will be important for administrators to develop a more complex understanding of how race and class intersect so both factors can be meaningfully considered in admissions. Faculty and administrators should also be supported to help counter racial biases that can play out in programmatic decisions for the university.</p>
<p>In following the court’s ruling in Fisher II, post-secondary institutions will need to become more active and nuanced in how they address race and racial inequality in their policies and practices, and they will be able to turn to a large body of evidence to guide their efforts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liliana M Garces receives funding from the William T. Grant Foundation for work on another research project. </span></em></p>In the Fisher case judgment, the Supreme Court has reminded institutions to assess race-neutral policies. But evidence shows race-neutral policies could worsen racial inequalities.Liliana M. Garces, Associate Professor of Education, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.