tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/race-conscious-admissions-28729/articlesRace-conscious admissions – The Conversation2023-07-17T12:26:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086472023-07-17T12:26:53Z2023-07-17T12:26:53ZWhat the US can learn from affirmative action at universities in Brazil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537512/original/file-20230714-20840-9sb46u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C31%2C5252%2C3491&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Affirmative action for college students in Brazil led to better employment prospects for those who benefited from the policy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/brazilian-students-royalty-free-image/623768390?phrase=brazil+college+&adppopup=true">Cesar Okada via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Brazil <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/world/americas/brazil-enacts-affirmative-action-law-for-universities.html">implemented affirmative action</a> at its federal universities in 2012, the policy prompted a public debate that largely resembles the debate over affirmative action in the United States.</p>
<p>Brazil’s affirmative action policy requires every federal university to reserve at least half of all seats for students from certain groups. Out of that half, about half of the seats go solely to Black, mixed and Indigenous Brazilians. The other half go to low-income public-school students. Other universities are free to set their admissions policies. </p>
<p>Like many Americans, some Brazilians worried that affirmative action would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/world/americas/brazil-enacts-affirmative-action-law-for-universities.html">reduce the quality of education in public universities</a>. Some were concerned that only <a href="https://www.scielo.br/j/op/a/QyKvRBhmPkKc5f8v7LHFWbg/?lang=pt">the more privileged members in the targeted groups would benefit</a> and that affirmative action wasn’t worth it. Others doubted that beneficiaries could keep up academically and feared that their <a href="https://ojs.ufgd.edu.br/index.php/movimentacao/article/viewFile/5113/3957">peers would suffer</a> as a result.</p>
<p>As researchers who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ma37cqEAAAAJ&hl=en">college admissions</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V6FhDu4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">economics</a> and the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AfGX7nYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">equity of social interventions and policies</a>, we took a critical look at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12564">effects of affirmative action in Brazil</a>. To do this, we examined prior research, as well as the effects of affirmative action on student learning and future earnings. In America, these outcomes are difficult to study because, prior to the use of race being banned in college admissions, schools implemented affirmative action as they saw fit. In Brazil, all federal universities had to implement affirmative action the same way.</p>
<h2>Unfounded fears</h2>
<p>Brazilian federal universities are some of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-has-tuition-free-college-but-it-only-serves-a-portion-of-its-citizens-2015-6">best in the country</a>. Even more importantly, they are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-has-tuition-free-college-but-it-only-serves-a-portion-of-its-citizens-2015-6">tuition-free</a>. They are the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/brazil-where-free-universities-largely-serve-the-wealthy/389997/">preferred universities</a> for most high school students and their families. Historically, mostly well-off students attended these universities.</p>
<p>Through our research, we concluded not only that Brazilians’ fears about affirmative action lowering the quality of the nation’s universities were largely unwarranted, but also that across most measures the policy has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12564">proved to be quite beneficial</a>. </p>
<p>Specifically, we found that:</p>
<p>• Those admitted to universities via affirmative action performed quite well in their studies. By the time they graduated, their grade-point averages were not much different from the GPAs of other students. In the most selective majors, the disparities in GPAs that existed when students began their studies <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joes.12564">had largely disappeared by graduation</a>. </p>
<p>• Students admitted through affirmative action <a href="https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.47.3.754">did not hamper the learning of their peers</a>. Sometimes, they outperformed peers who entered college the regular way without affirmative action. This is a reminder that traditional admissions processes may not be as meritocratic as some people may think.</p>
<p>• Students admitted via affirmative action were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.06.017">7% more likely</a> to work as managers or directors later in their careers than if the policy were not in effect. Such students also end up with many more years of education than they would otherwise. This means that many of these students would not pursue a higher education degree at all if these places were not reserved for them.</p>
<h2>Implications for the United States</h2>
<p>As elite colleges and universities in the U.S. grapple with how to achieve diversity after the Supreme Court banned the use of race in college admissions, we believe our findings bear particular relevance.</p>
<p>Some Americans argue that schools can achieve diversity <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104839">through race-neutral policies</a>. At least in the Brazilian context, we found that race-neutral policies were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12564">ineffective for achieving racial diversity</a>.</p>
<p>We found that race-targeted policies were associated with a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101931">significant increase in Black students</a>, whereas race-neutral policies didn’t affect the percentage of Black, mixed and Indigenous Brazilian students in college. Part of the reason is because a large share of candidates, white and nonwhite, compete under income-based quotas. Thus, income-based quotas do not effect the racial composition of university students because these quotas benefit students from all racial backgrounds.</p>
<p>Race-based affirmative action seems necessary to achieve racial diversity, according to the Brazilian evidence. This is consistent with at least one other study from the U.S., where race-neutral policies have been shown to be <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20161290">less effective than those explicitly considering race</a>. </p>
<p>By almost every measure studied, affirmative action in Brazil worked to generate a more diverse student body without reducing the quality of education. Even so, the inequality in Brazil’s higher education system remains. </p>
<p>In 2000, out of the 853,000 students enrolled in tuition-free public universities, around 596,000 were white and 239,000 were Black. By 2010, the system had expanded to 1,788,000 places, <a href="https://www.scielo.br/j/cp/a/tttVNfkLTtGXpmB8JDFcdnD/?lang=pt#ModalFigf4">with white students numbering 1,063,000 and Black students 689,000</a>. Brazil’s congress successfully made affirmative action mandatory in part because of the large impact of the many-but-scattered initiatives by public universities in the 2000s. </p>
<p>As the U.S. grapples with issues of equity and access to higher education, Brazil’s experience imparts valuable lessons. There, race-based affirmative action policies promote diversity and the values of equal opportunity that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01339-1">American universities like to espouse</a>. Race-based affirmative action can effectively increase enrollment of underrepresented minorities without compromising academic performance. This is something that income-based quotas may not be able to accomplish. Further, the Brazilian experience shows that these policies do not negatively impact other students.</p>
<p>Now that the U.S. courts have banned the use of race in college admissions, college and university leaders must find and adopt new ways to make their campuses more diverse. How to achieve that may be a challenge, but it seems to remain a worthwhile pursuit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208647/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>Research has found that race-neutral policies were not enough to achieve diversity in Brazil’s higher education system. Three scholars probe what that means for the United States.Neil Lewis Jr., Associate Professor of Communication and Social Behavior, Cornell UniversityInácio Bó, Associate Professor of Economics, University of MacauRodrigo Zeidan, Professor of Practice, NYU Shanghai and Fundação Dom Cabral, NYU ShanghaiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2093012023-07-13T12:39:43Z2023-07-13T12:39:43ZSupport for legacy admissions is rooted in racial hierarchy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536923/original/file-20230711-8310-5fk3le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=266%2C95%2C3923%2C3029&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Critics of legacy admissions argue they maintain racial hierarchies that disproportionately benefit white students.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/high-school-teenager-students-attending-graduation-royalty-free-image/186834119?phrase=college%2Bgraduation">YinYang/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Not long after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision to <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf">ban the use of race in college admissions</a>, people began to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/legacy-college-admissions-under-scrutiny-again-after-supreme-court-ruling-on-affirmative-action">ask questions once again</a> about the fairness of legacy admissions.</p>
<p>Legacy admission is a practice in which colleges give a preference to the children of graduates when deciding which students to let in.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angelica-Gutierrez-12/research">researcher who specializes in education and workplace policies</a>, I have examined why people support legacy admissions and not affirmative action. I found that even though legacy admissions are based on parental connections to a given school, support for the policy actually has something to do with race.</p>
<p><a href="http://lawyersforcivilrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Federal-Civil-Rights-Complaint-Against-Harvard.pdf">Race is at the heart of a complaint</a> that <a href="https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/activists-challenge-harvard-s-legacy-admissions/7168000.html">Black and Latino community groups</a> filed against Harvard University just days after the court’s 6-3 ruling against affirmative action. The groups filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The complaint argues that legacy admissions are tantamount to racial discrimination because Harvard grants preferential treatment to legacies – 70% of whom are white. The complaint alleges that Harvard’s use of legacy admissions therefore violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits racial discrimination in institutions that receive federal funds.</p>
<p>The groups – the Chica Project, African Community Economic Development of New England and the Greater Boston Latino Network – are among the <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4084026-attention-turns-to-legacy-admissions-after-affirmative-action-ruling/">growing number</a> of those who question the double standard that lurks behind legacy admissions. And that is: Why can family ties be considered in the college admission process, but not race?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a person hunches over a poster showing support for affirmative action but not legacy admissions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536922/original/file-20230711-27-ijmj52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536922/original/file-20230711-27-ijmj52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536922/original/file-20230711-27-ijmj52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536922/original/file-20230711-27-ijmj52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536922/original/file-20230711-27-ijmj52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536922/original/file-20230711-27-ijmj52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536922/original/file-20230711-27-ijmj52.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">
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<span class="caption">Legacy admissions have faced growing criticism after the recent Supreme Court decision that ended the consideration of race in college admissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-rally-against-the-us-supreme-courts-latest-decisions-news-photo/1375289467?adppopup=true">Anadolu Agency/Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Examining rationales</h2>
<p>As a researcher, I began to probe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.10.011">people’s attitudes about legacy admissions</a> – and whether the practice is fair – over a decade ago. I found that those who support legacy admissions do so in part because they want to maintain a racial hierarchy. In this hierarchy, white Americans are the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741">dominant group</a>, and ethnic minorities are subordinates.</p>
<p>Dominance is based on group access to resources that have positive social value. These resources include power, status and prestige. Relative to ethnic minorities, white Americans have higher levels of <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/racial-inequality-in-the-united-states">wealth, education and labor market participation</a>. They also occupy more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001020">positions of authority</a>.</p>
<p>To examine people’s beliefs about racial hierarchy and how much they support it, I used a construct called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741">social dominance orientation</a>. Researchers have described social dominance orientation as the degree to which individuals support a group-based hierarchy and the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/D-Worley/publication/360669756_Sidanius_and_Pratto_Social_Dominance_1999/links/62847984a5268672baf92726/Sidanius-and-Pratto-Social-Dominance-1999.pdf">domination of “inferior” groups</a>.</p>
<p>Those who seek to maintain the hierarchy will support policies that benefit the dominant group. Similarly, they will oppose policies that they believe threaten the hierarchy by benefiting ethnic minorities. </p>
<h2>Taking a closer look</h2>
<p>I used social dominance orientation in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.10.011">two different studies</a> to examine people’s attitudes toward legacy admissions versus affirmative action. In the first study, I recruited 80 UCLA students from an online database maintained by the university. Of that group, 38 were Asian, 36 were white, four were Latino and two were multiracial. </p>
<p>I first measured social dominance orientation by asking participants to rate how positively or negatively they felt about the eight statements in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000033">social dominance orientation scale</a>. Examples of the statements include: “It’s probably a good thing that certain groups are at the top and other groups are at the bottom.” Another one is: “Some groups are simply inferior to other groups.”</p>
<p>After completing the measure, participants were randomly assigned to review either a legacy policy or an affirmative action policy. I then measured participants’ policy support by asking them to rate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with various statements about the policy that they were assigned to review. One statement was: “This admissions policy will help admit highly qualified individuals.” Another statement was: “To what extent do you agree or disagree that this policy is legitimate and should be continued?”</p>
<p>Just as was found in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.476">previous research</a>, I found that people who wanted to maintain social dominance for white people were largely the same people who supported legacy admissions. They also largely opposed affirmative action.</p>
<p>These findings are consistent with the idea that individuals who seek to maintain the existing hierarchy will not support a policy that benefits ethnic minorities. However, they will support a policy that benefits the dominant group. This is relevant to the discussion of legacy admissions because members of the dominant group – in this case, white Americans – are more likely to have parents who went to college.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three students wearing mortarboards and graduation gowns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536928/original/file-20230711-17-ur6l4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536928/original/file-20230711-17-ur6l4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536928/original/file-20230711-17-ur6l4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536928/original/file-20230711-17-ur6l4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536928/original/file-20230711-17-ur6l4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536928/original/file-20230711-17-ur6l4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536928/original/file-20230711-17-ur6l4r.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">
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<span class="caption">Research shows that those who support legacy admissions also largely oppose affirmative action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/three-university-graduates-smiling-in-a-row-royalty-free-image/172585547?phrase=college+graduation&adppopup=true">XiXinXing via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Underlying motives</h2>
<p>In the second study, I took a closer look at support for legacy admissions. Even though Asian American and white American students were supportive of legacy admissions in the first study, I couldn’t establish why. Both Asian Americans and white Americans were the <a href="https://apb.ucla.edu/file/78a10987-9501-4822-8bed-1f6504775dc9">majorities in the student population at UCLA</a> – 37% and 32%, respectively – so it was unclear whether their support for legacy admissions reflected a desire to maintain the existing hierarchy or self-interest. In other words, it was possible that both Asian American and white American students supported legacy admissions not because they wanted to uphold the hierarchy. Rather, their support could have been because both groups believed their children and grandchildren would benefit from the policy in the future.</p>
<p>To better determine the underlying motivation for support of legacy admissions, in the second study I examined only the views of Asian Americans. Fifty-four self-identified Asian students participated.</p>
<p>Consistent with the first study, I first measured participants’ social dominance orientation. I then randomly assigned participants to read about legacy admissions that would benefit either Asian Americans or white Americans. Half the participants received an admissions excerpt that concluded: “Because legacy policies improve the admissions prospects for alumni children, Asians will be the primary beneficiaries.” For the other half, the excerpt concluded: “Because legacy policies improve the admissions prospects for alumni children, whites will be the primary beneficiaries.” I then measured participants’ support for the legacy policy by using the same items from the first study.</p>
<p>If Asian Americans supported legacy admissions in the first study simply because they believed that their children and grandchildren would benefit from this policy in the future, then in the second study we would have seen support for the use of legacy admissions when they read that the policy would benefit Asian Americans. Instead, I found that support is driven not by self-interest but a desire to maintain the hierarchy. The results revealed that Asian Americans supported legacy admissions only when white Americans were the perceived beneficiaries. There was no significant support for legacy admissions when Asian Americans were the perceived beneficiaries.</p>
<p>In all, the results show that support and opposition to policies doesn’t depend on the actual policies. Rather, it depends on the perceived effect the policies will have on the racial hierarchy. </p>
<h2>The quest for equality</h2>
<p>Policies like affirmative action <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373713508810">can level the playing field and increase access</a> to college for historically excluded groups. However, legacy admission policies can maintain the hierarchy because they disproportionately benefit white people – the historically advantaged group.</p>
<p>Now that consideration of race in college admissions has been banned, universities have an opportunity to revamp how they decide which students to admit. In writing for the majority, Justice John Roberts noted that the Constitution requires schools to be colorblind. He wrote that a student “must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual – not on the basis of race.” But if colorblind is the standard, do legacy admissions meet it? Based on my analysis of the evidence, the answer would have to be no.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angelica S. Gutierrez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some colleges grant preferential treatment in the admission process to children of alumni. A researcher examines what’s behind people’s support for the practice.Angelica S. Gutierrez, Professor of Management, Loyola Marymount UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936942022-11-07T13:35:05Z2022-11-07T13:35:05ZWhat is affirmative action, anyway? 4 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493356/original/file-20221103-13-ektkq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C5964%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Supreme Court is deciding a case on whether, and how, universities may consider an applicant's race when making admissions decisions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourtAffirmativeAction/fbd3e6c1fd874e8abdfda436c87b422a/photo">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions could soon be a thing of the past. At least that’s the <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/10/30/affirmative-action-supreme-court-harvard-unc">impression many observers got</a> after listening to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/supreme-court-affirmative-action-cases-college-admissions-north-carolina-harvard/">oral arguments about the practice</a> before the U.S Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Scholars writing for The Conversation U.S. have taken a closer look at affirmative action and how it has been seen and used in the realm of higher education.</p>
<h2>1. Even some supporters don’t know how it works</h2>
<p>When <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DMreKvQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">OiYan Poon</a>, a race and education scholar at Colorado State University, traveled across the nation to ask Asian Americans what they knew about affirmative action, they found that even people who were part of organizations that publicly supported or opposed it didn’t quite understand how affirmative action works.</p>
<p>For instance, “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-colleges-use-affirmative-action-even-some-activists-dont-understand-105453">30 out of 36 presented outdated myths</a>” about affirmative action, she wrote. “These 30 included 13 affirmative action supporters and 17 opponents,” who talked about ideas such as “‘racial quotas,’ which were declared unconstitutional in [1978]. They also thought it involved ‘racial bonus points’ for Black and Latino applicants,” Poon found.</p>
<p>In fact, Poon wrote, “race-conscious admissions is now practiced through holistic review of individual applicants. Such individualized review is meant to recognize, in a limited way, how race and racism might have shaped each applicant’s perspectives and educational opportunities.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-colleges-use-affirmative-action-even-some-activists-dont-understand-105453">How do colleges use affirmative action? Even some activists don't understand</a>
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<h2>2. Banning affirmative action has clear effects</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C5923%2C3928&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black woman wearing a black graduation cap and gown is seated in between two white male college graduates." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C5923%2C3928&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487587/original/file-20221001-25-5op2nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some researchers say graduation is less likely for Black, Hispanic and Native American students when affirmative action is outlawed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/students-at-commencement-ceremony-royalty-free-image/88170494?adppopup=true">Andy Sacks via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>It’s possible to predict what could happen if the Supreme Court rules against affirmative action. As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SE2WERAAAAAJ&hl=en">Natasha Warikoo</a>, a Tufts University professor who studies racial equity in education, pointed out: “<a href="https://theconversation.com/affirmative-action-bans-make-selective-colleges-less-diverse-a-national-ban-will-do-the-same-189214">Since nine states already have bans on affirmative action</a>, it’s easy to know what will happen if affirmative action is outlawed. Studies of college enrollment in those states show that enrollment of Black, Hispanic and Native American undergraduate students will decline in the long term.”</p>
<p>“Undergraduate enrollment is not the only area of higher education that will be affected. A ban on affirmative action will ultimately lead to fewer graduate degrees earned by Black, Hispanic and Native American students,” she wrote.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/affirmative-action-bans-make-selective-colleges-less-diverse-a-national-ban-will-do-the-same-189214">Affirmative action bans make selective colleges less diverse – a national ban will do the same</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. The difference is big</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4538%2C3263&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two female students walk on the campus of UCLA." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4538%2C3263&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Public universities in California cannot consider race in admissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-walk-through-the-campus-of-the-ucla-college-in-news-photo/1205520367?adppopup=true">Mark Ralston/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lK3kzlYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Vinay Harpalani</a>, a scholar of discrimination at the University of New Mexico, delivered some numbers: After California banned affirmative action at its state universities, “[t]he enrollment of Black, Latino and Native American students dropped dramatically in the University of California system. For example, at UCLA, the percentage of underrepresented minorities dropped from 28% to 14% between 1995 and 1998. There was a similar drop at UC Berkeley.”</p>
<p>In more recent years, he reported, “The enrollment numbers have recovered, largely due to increased Latino enrollment. Currently at UCLA, 22% of the undergraduate student body is Latino and 3% is Black. But it is also important to note that the number of Latino high school graduates has more than tripled since 1997.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-california-vote-to-keep-the-ban-on-affirmative-action-means-for-higher-education-149508">What the California vote to keep the ban on affirmative action means for higher education</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<h2>4. A military case for affirmative action</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wounded white soldier is carried by a Black soldier during the Vietnam War." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492564/original/file-20221031-7911-wj31l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492564/original/file-20221031-7911-wj31l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492564/original/file-20221031-7911-wj31l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492564/original/file-20221031-7911-wj31l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492564/original/file-20221031-7911-wj31l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492564/original/file-20221031-7911-wj31l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492564/original/file-20221031-7911-wj31l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A wounded soldier is carried by members of the 1st Cavalry Division near the Cambodian border during the Vietnam War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wounded-soldier-is-carried-by-members-of-the-1st-calvary-news-photo/514870008?phrase=vietnam%20war%20black%20soldiers&adppopup=true">Bettmann/GettyImages</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>In an article explaining the point of view of 35 military officers who have asked the Supreme Court to continue to allow affirmative action, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/travis-knoll-1377873">Travis Knoll</a>, a historian at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte, looked to the nation’s – and the military’s – racial experience during the Vietnam War.</p>
<p>“[I]n 1962, when U.S. involvement was starting to grow in Vietnam, <a href="https://theconversation.com/conservative-us-supreme-court-reconsidering-affirmative-action-leaving-the-use-of-race-in-college-admissions-on-the-brink-of-extinction-190313">Black commissioned officers</a> represented only 1.6% of the officers corps,” he wrote. “Military academies remained virtually segregated, with Black people making up less than 1% of enrollees. As a result, the number of Black officers didn’t grow much.”</p>
<p>That led to unrest in the ranks: “Over the next five years, the number of Black soldiers fighting and dying on the front lines grew to about 25%. Racial tensions between white and Black soldiers led to at least 300 fights in a two-year-period that resulted in 71 deaths,” Knoll wrote. “Fueling those fights was the belief among Black soldiers that the largely white officers didn’t care about their lives.”</p>
<p>That experience, Knoll explained, drove home to the military the idea that diversity in leadership was extremely important. “It also began the military’s use of affirmative action, including race-conscious admissions policies at service academies and in ROTC programs.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/conservative-us-supreme-court-reconsidering-affirmative-action-leaving-the-use-of-race-in-college-admissions-on-the-brink-of-extinction-190313">Conservative US Supreme Court reconsidering affirmative action, leaving the use of race in college admissions on the brink of extinction</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Scholars explain what affirmative action is – and isn’t – as well as what its effects are, and why, among others, the military has supported it for decades.Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation USJamaal Abdul-Alim, Education Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1495082020-11-10T13:22:58Z2020-11-10T13:22:58ZWhat the California vote to keep the ban on affirmative action means for higher education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368016/original/file-20201106-15-117hmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4538%2C3263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Public universities in California cannot consider race in admissions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-walk-through-the-campus-of-the-ucla-college-in-news-photo/1205520367?adppopup=true">Mark Ralston / Getty</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_16,_Repeal_Proposition_209_Affirmative_Action_Amendment_(2020)">On Nov. 3, California voters rejected Proposition 16</a>, a proposed amendment to the California Constitution which would have reinstated affirmative action in the state’s public institutions. Here, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lK3kzlYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Vinay Harpalani</a>, an expert on affirmative action in university admissions, discusses the history of this debate in California and what the rejection of this measure in 2020 will mean for the state.</em></p>
<h2>Why did California ban affirmative action in higher education?</h2>
<p>During the 1990s, the ban was part of a larger backlash against <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/california-affirmative-action-ballot-measure/2020/10/28/9449726c-1492-11eb-9f38-35350e52c23c_story.html">growing racial and ethnic diversity in California</a>. Then-Governor Pete Wilson attacked affirmative action, arguing that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/01/us/california-governor-vows-to-cut-affirmative-action.html">any consideration of race was unfair discrimination</a>, even if it helped underrepresented minorities. In June 1995, Governor Wilson issued an <a href="http://boardarchives.metro.net/BoardBox/Box02/00000498.pdf">executive order</a> that began to phase out affirmative action. Shortly thereafter, the regents of the University of California voted to <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-21-mn-26379-story.html">end the use of race</a> as a factor in admissions.</p>
<p>Then, in 1996, California voters approved <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_209,_Affirmative_Action_Initiative_(1996)">Proposition 209</a>, an amendment to the California Constitution. It fully eliminated the state government’s use of affirmative action. This effort was <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Ward_Connerly">spearheaded by Ward Connerly</a>, a prominent Black opponent of affirmative action.</p>
<p>Proposition 209 was named the “<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_209,_Affirmative_Action_Initiative_(1996)">California Civil Rights Initiative</a>” – a very deceptive title, in my opinion. The ballot initiative used almost the same language as the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act">Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>, and many voters thought they were voting for a similar law, not a ban on affirmative action.</p>
<h2>What was the effect of the initial ban in terms of access to higher education?</h2>
<p>The enrollment of Black, Latino and Native American students <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">dropped dramatically in the University of California system</a>. For example, at UCLA, the percentage of underrepresented minorities dropped <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">from 28% to 14% between 1995 and 1998</a>. There was a similar drop at UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>The enrollment numbers have recovered, largely due to increased Latino enrollment. Currently at UCLA, <a href="https://www.admission.ucla.edu/campusprofile.htm">22% of the undergraduate student body is Latino and 3% is Black</a>. But it is also important to note that <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/dropping-affirmative-action-had-huge-impact-on-californias-public-universities/642437">the number of Latino high school graduates has more than tripled since 1997</a>.</p>
<p>The effect at other UC campuses is a bit more complicated. Some of the campuses saw <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">increased racial diversity</a>, not only because the Latino population grew, but also because applicants who were not admitted to UC Berkeley or UCLA would instead enroll at a different campus. Additionally, the affirmative action ban affects the California State University system, where it has impacted <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/dropping-affirmative-action-had-huge-impact-on-californias-public-universities/642437">the ability to offer race-conscious financial aid packages</a>, and California’s community colleges.
In total, <a href="https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov17/b1attach1.pdf">California’s public higher education institutions enroll over 2 million students</a>. </p>
<h2>Why doesn’t the ban conflict with Supreme Court rulings?</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-241">Grutter v. Bollinger</a> in 2003 and <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981">Fisher v. University of Texas </a> in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that universities have the option to use affirmative action in admissions if they want to. But it did not require them to do so, and it has actually said that universities should consider race only if they really need to in order to have a diverse student body.</p>
<p>Also, in another case, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2013/12-682">Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action</a> in 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that a state can ban affirmative action at its public universities. So while the Supreme Court has said that there is no federal constitutional violation when public colleges and universities consider race as an admissions factor on a limited basis, states can choose to make it illegal if they want to.</p>
<h2>How will keeping the ban affect higher education in California?</h2>
<p>It will be an impediment to racial equity. Although California’s population continues to become more diverse, the affirmative action ban prevents underrepresented minority groups from having the same educational opportunities. Race-conscious policies are especially necessary for underrepresented minorities to have access to the most prestigious institutions, such as UCLA and UC Berkeley, which open many doors for professional advancement. Also, another continuing effect in my view will be the decreased quality of education at California colleges and universities. The U.S. Supreme Court itself said that having a racially diverse student body <a href="https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/diversity-and-living-constitution-theory/">improves education for everyone</a>, including white students. The inability to consider race will mean that students of different backgrounds will have less opportunities to learn from each other.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149508/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I have worked with the local Democratic party on a limited basis, for instance doing presentations on voter suppression.
I also work with the American Constitution Society, which advocates for progressive causes including diversity, and the Society of American Law Teachers.</span></em></p>How will the rejection of a 2020 ballot initiative affect student demographics at California’s colleges and universities?Vinay Harpalani, Associate Professor of Law and Henry Weihofen Professor, University of New MexicoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/826332017-08-21T10:57:05Z2017-08-21T10:57:05ZColleges need affirmative action – but it can be expanded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182642/original/file-20170818-7941-147b9b6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Race-neutral affirmative action can help identify first-generation students like Blanca Diaz and LaQuintah Garrett.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Amy Anthony</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2003, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/case.html">Justice Antonin Scalia</a> predicted that the Supreme Court’s sanctioning of race-conscious affirmative action in higher education would spark future litigation for years to come. And right he was. From <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981">defeated claims of discrimination</a> against the University of Texas at Austin to an <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/11/18/law-suit-admissions-alleged-discrimination/">ongoing lawsuit</a> against Harvard, colleges continue to come under attack for considering race as a factor in admissions decisions.</p>
<p>The recent report of the Department of Justice’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html">possible investigation</a> of “intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions” demonstrates that the assaults aren’t likely to end anytime soon.</p>
<p>As a <a href="http://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/nelson_eboni.php">professor of law and scholar</a> dedicated to ensuring equal educational opportunities for students of color, I believe now is an important time to earnestly consider other methods for diversifying student bodies. Race-neutral alternatives could effectively consider such factors as socioeconomic status and educational background, while supplementing more traditional affirmative action.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lawyer Bert Rein and his client, Abigail Fisher, failed in their discrimination case against UT Austin’s affirmative action policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Race-based’ vs. ‘race-conscious’</h2>
<p>When thinking about affirmative action, it’s important to first define (and debunk) a few key terms, starting with “race-based” and “race-conscious” affirmative action.</p>
<p>“Race-based affirmative action” is a misnomer often used to describe some college admissions policies. “Race-based” implies that an admissions decision is made <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/02/how-affirmative-action-at-colleges-hurts-minority-students/">solely because of or based upon an applicant’s race or ethnicity</a>, which could not be farther from the truth. A university’s decision to admit, deny or waitlist an applicant is based upon <a href="https://professionals.collegeboard.org/guidance/applications/decisions">myriad criteria</a>, ranging from standardized test scores to state of residency. Race is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/college-admissions-how-diversity-factors-in/2012/02/20/gIQAs0BHSR_blog.html">just one of many admissions factors</a> a university may consider.</p>
<p>This approach is more appropriately termed “race-conscious.”</p>
<p>Schools that employ race-conscious admissions policies do so in order to achieve the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40251923">educational, social and democratic benefits</a> of a diverse student body.</p>
<p>As the Supreme Court held in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-516">Gratz v. Bollinger</a>, race is not and cannot be the determining factor under a constitutional race-conscious plan. Therefore, when people claim that an African-American or Hispanic student was admitted because of race, they’re often not only inaccurate but also dismissive of the student’s other numerous attributes that played a role in the university’s decision.</p>
<h2>Race-neutral alternatives</h2>
<p>Opponents of race-conscious affirmative action often assert that such policies are <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/todays-affirmative-action-is-racism-2/">racist</a> or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/affirmative-action-based-on-income/2012/11/08/a519f67e-17e9-11e2-9855-71f2b202721b_story.html">disproportionately benefit privileged minority students</a> from middle- and upper-class backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Justice Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger, which asserted that schools must consider ‘workable race-neutral alternatives.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For its part, the Supreme Court is also skeptical of using <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/11-345.pdf">racial classifications in governmental decision-making</a>. As a result, it has held that institutions of higher education must afford serious consideration to “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-345_l5gm.pdf">workable race-neutral alternatives</a>” before implementing a race-conscious policy.</p>
<p>Importantly, the court’s use of the term “race-neutral” does not mean “race-blind.” That is, universities are permitted to think about how alternative admissions criteria could help them achieve their diversity goals. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-raceneutralreport.html">Race-neutral criteria</a> could include socioeconomic background, high school or undergraduate institution, or class rank. In other words, these are factors that may contribute to a school’s racial diversity, but applicants themselves are not considered based on race.</p>
<p>In some cases, it’s <a href="http://www.uclalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Kidder-D64-update.pdf">proven difficult</a> for race-neutral admissions policies to achieve the same levels of racial diversity as those achieved through direct consideration of race. However, such measures <a href="https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/race-neutral-policies-and-programs-achieving-racial-diversity">have been useful</a> in helping to diversify student bodies when used in conjunction with or in lieu of race-conscious affirmative action.</p>
<h2>The viability of race-neutral alternatives</h2>
<p>When coupled with the stark <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/the-33-whitest-jobs-in-america/281180/">racial disparities</a> that continue to plague some professions, the uncertain future of race-conscious affirmative action calls for a renewed focus on alternatives that look beyond race alone.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TV isn’t the only place where the legal profession remains one of the whitest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USA Network</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My co-researchers, <a href="http://cosw.sc.edu/faculty/ronald-pitner">Dr. Ronald Pitner</a> and <a href="https://dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/academics/faculty/resident-faculty/carla-pratt">Professor Carla D. Pratt</a>, and I recently took a look at one particular aspect of higher education diversity: law school admissions.</p>
<p>Law schools play a unique role in training <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/2013/12/law-schools-leadership-and-change/">our country’s next generation of leaders</a>. It is, in fact, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2336994">vital to the future of our democracy</a> that we continue to provide students from historically underrepresented racial groups with access to legal education. And yet, the legal profession was recently determined to be “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/27/law-is-the-least-diverse-profession-in-the-nation-and-lawyers-arent-doing-enough-to-change-that">one of the least racially diverse professions in the nation</a>.”</p>
<p>To help law schools improve their diversity, we examined the relationship between race and race-neutral identity factors in law school admissions. The project, which was funded in part by a grant from <a href="https://www.accesslex.org/accesslex-center-legal-education-excellence">AccessLex Institute</a>, surveyed over a thousand first-year law students at schools throughout the country and asked about various aspects of their identity, such as socioeconomic status and educational background.</p>
<p>Our findings indicated that African-American and Hispanic students were <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2849546">significantly more likely</a> than both white and Asian/Pacific Islander students to have qualified for free or reduced lunch programs in elementary or secondary school, had a parent or guardian who received public assistance when the student was a dependent minor, and received a Pell Grant during their undergraduate studies – all of which are race-neutral factors that schools could consider in admissions decisions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Race-neutral affirmative action can help identify first-generation students and students from low-income families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Pat Sullivan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How admissions could change</h2>
<p>Based on the sample of participants in our study, it’s clear that privilege did not catapult all students of color to law school. Many of them had to overcome the structural inequalities of poverty, race and public education to embark on a legal career. Expanding opportunities for these and other minority students will benefit not only legal education and the legal profession, but also society more broadly.</p>
<p>Race-neutral admissions policies could help identify and create opportunities for these students.</p>
<p>To be clear, I do not advocate for the wholesale substitution of traditional race-conscious admissions measures with the factors we studied. Race-conscious policies continue to be the <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/reardon_white_paper.pdf">most effective</a> means by which to create diverse student bodies.</p>
<p>However, we encourage law schools and other institutions of higher education to utilize these and other race-neutral admissions factors as a means of complying with the Supreme Court’s affirmative action mandates and testing the viability of policies that take such factors into account.</p>
<p>Doing so will help ensure that traditionally underrepresented students of color will continue to have access to colleges and universities that serve as gateways to career, financial and life opportunities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eboni Nelson receives funding from AccessLex Institute. </span></em></p>Race-conscious admissions policies are still the best way to achieve diversity on campus. Yet, some race-neutral methods could help colleges improve diversity – and stand up to legal scrutiny.Eboni Nelson, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824022017-08-15T01:21:46Z2017-08-15T01:21:46ZThe legal threat to diversity on campus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181984/original/file-20170814-28487-1pxsvu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could legal intimidation threaten race-conscious admissions in the U.S.?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last summer, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can use race as <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-supreme-courts-fisher-decision-what-we-need-to-know-about-considering-race-in-admissions-59784">one factor among many</a> in making admissions decisions. The court determined that such policies helped further an institution’s mission to attain the educational benefits of diversity.</p>
<p>A recent report by The New York Times, however, has brought affirmative action back to the forefront. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html">According to The New York Times</a>, the Trump administration may be considering a “project” to direct Department of Justice resources to investigate race-conscious admissions. While Department of Justice officials responded that the internal memo <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/justice-department-denies-personnel-posting-reflects-policy-affirmative/story?id=48987401">did not reflect new department policy</a>, the story has placed colleges and universities “on notice” that their efforts may face renewed scrutiny.</p>
<p>As an education and legal scholar of equity in higher education, I’ve <a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/legal-developments/legal-briefs/amicus-brief-of-social-scientists-in-fisher-case/14-981-823-social-scientists-fisher.pdf">represented hundreds of social scientists</a> before the Supreme Court to support colleges’ use of race-conscious admissions. My belief – and that of <a href="http://diversemilitary.net/2017/08/08/colleges-plan-for-assault-on-affirmative-action/">many educators and civil rights advocates</a> – is that the alleged investigation by the Department of Justice is meant to intimidate institutions and, perhaps, sway admissions officers from considering race in their admissions policies. </p>
<p>Unintentional or not, the potential threat of legal action could have a dramatic impact on the diversity of college campuses across the country.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182009/original/file-20170814-29240-j1sdh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">University of Michigan student Ebrie Benton protests against the state’s ban on affirmative action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Al Behrman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Legal intimidation</h2>
<p>Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling last year, conservative groups like <a href="https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/">Students for Fair Admissions</a> continue to press lawsuits against universities that employ race-conscious admissions. Cases against <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/6/8/judge-rejects-dismissal-admissions/">Harvard University</a> and <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article9233270.html">UNC Chapel Hill</a> are making their way through the courts and could potentially bring affirmative action to the Supreme Court again.</p>
<p>However, Harvard and Chapel Hill have some of the <a href="http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/EndowmentFiles/2016-Endowment-Market-Values.pdf">largest endowments</a> in the country, with US$34 billion and $2 billion, respectively. Might institutions that lack the financial resources to defend against lawsuits begin changing admissions policies and practices in order to avoid potential legal threats?</p>
<p>A <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GDJP6">recent study</a> found that over the last 20 years, a public commitment to race-conscious admissions has become far less common, particularly among institutions that are <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/08/03/outside_of_elite_colleges_affirmative_action_is_already_disappearing.html">relatively lower in the status hierarchy</a>. In 1994, 82 percent of “very competitive” public universities openly considered race as one of many factors in admissions decisions. By 2014, that number declined to just 32 percent. The “most competitive” universities, however, have continued their public commitment to race-conscious admissions practices unabated.</p>
<p>While the reasons for this trend haven’t been studied directly, it’s worth noting that the “most competitive” institutions are also the institutions that have more financial resources to defend against potential legal action.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lawyer Bert Rein speaks to press during the 2015 affirmative action case. He’s joined by his client, Abigail Fisher, and legal strategist Edward Blum, founder of Students for Fair Admissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why opposition exists</h2>
<p>In many ways, higher education provides a pathway to positions of power and influence in the United States.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-rich-powerful-people-went-to-elite-colleges-2014-6">Attending an elite institution</a> remains an important part of the trajectory for those in the ruling class. <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/10/28/harvard-stanford-yale-graduate-most-members-of-congress">Harvard, Stanford and Yale</a>, for example, have graduated considerably more recent members of Congress than other less prestigious schools. </p>
<p>Elite institutions also provide <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/what-is-an-elite-college-really-worth/521577/">particularly high labor market returns</a> for students of color. Economists have shown, for example, that attending the most selective institutions made an especially big difference in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w17159">life earnings</a> for black, Latino and first-generation students.</p>
<p>Keeping the path to high-status positions open for people of color was one of the reasons the Supreme Court found race-conscious admissions to be constitutional. In <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/">the words of the court</a>, to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, “the path to leadership must be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.”</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/05/opinion/sunday/white-resentment-affirmative-action.html">recent opinion piece</a> by Emory professor <a href="http://aas.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/anderson-carol.html">Carol Anderson</a> made the compelling case for why opposition to affirmative action is grounded on the politics of white resentment – that is, a false view that opening the path to the ruling class for black and Latino students represents a “theft” of those resources from white students.</p>
<h2>A world without affirmative action</h2>
<p>What happens when colleges and universities cannot consider race as a factor in admissions?</p>
<p>Research shows that, without race-conscious admissions, the racial diversity of student bodies drops substantially. For example, African-American and Latino enrollment declined at the most selective undergraduate institutions in states with <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00170">bans on affirmative action</a>. Similar findings were reported in enrollment at <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/issues/volume-72-number-1/threat-diversity-legal-education-empirical-analysis-consequences">law schools</a> and <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">business schools</a> after these bans were instituted. </p>
<p>My own research documents <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-supreme-court-case-on-race-in-admissions-matters-more-than-ever-51945">declines due to affirmative action bans</a> across a number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831212470483">graduate fields of study</a>, including engineering and natural and social sciences as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2015.0009">medical schools</a>.</p>
<p>The decline in racial diversity across these educational sectors exacerbates the already disproportionately low number of students of color in these programs and reduces the <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8757.html">variety of perspectives that are needed</a> to foster innovation and advance scientific inquiry. </p>
<p>In short, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15615538">race-conscious admissions do make a difference</a> in campus diversity, allowing universities to address, rather than exacerbate, existing racial inequities. </p>
<h2>Next steps for universities</h2>
<p>Though the Fisher case cleared a path for race-conscious admissions, universities <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Colleges-Can-Prepare-for/240835">must still do their part</a>. The court ruled that institutions must be able to connect racial and ethnic diversity to their mission and demonstrate why so-called “race-neutral” efforts are not as effective as race-conscious ones.</p>
<p>However, these steps alone are not enough for preserving true diversity in the face of ongoing attacks.</p>
<p>One of the very important aspects of the Fisher decision is that the Court’s rationale reflects a robust understanding of diversity: namely, that diversity is about more than the number of students of color; it’s also about fostering an environment in which students can benefit from diversity.</p>
<p>Research suggests that this means ensuring that students are engaging across racial and ethnic lines. In an analysis of decades of social science research, my co-author and I learned that realizing the benefits of diversity requires healthy, even if uncomfortable, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X14529814">cross-racial interactions</a>.</p>
<p>Doing so requires attending to the ways that race, in explicit and subconscious ways, influences our interactions and shapes educational opportunity. It’s hard to see how institutions can do so without considering race in their educational policies and practices – including college admissions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82402/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liliana M Garces has received funding from the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for her research. Opinions are her own and do not represent those of the foundations or the University of Texas at Austin.</span></em></p>For colleges and universities that lack the multi-billion-dollar endowments of schools like Harvard, the mere threat of legal action may be enough to put an end to race-conscious admissions policies.Liliana M. Garces, Associate Professor of Education, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/821902017-08-08T00:59:03Z2017-08-08T00:59:03ZAffirmative action around the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181263/original/file-20170807-25576-1vrldo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Educafro, a Brazilian black activist movement, protested in 2012 to demand more affirmative action programs for higher education.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Eraldo Peres</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As reports have surfaced of the Trump administration’s intent to <a href="http://time.com/4883793/justice-department-college-admissions-affirmative-action/">investigate affirmative action admissions</a> in higher education, the debate over whether and how race should be considered in college admissions has emerged with renewed vigor.</p>
<p>In the past four years, United States Supreme Court cases like <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2013/12-682">Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action</a> and <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981">Fisher v. University of Texas-Austin</a> have addressed this debate head on. </p>
<p>In what The New York Times called “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/opinion/racial-equality-loses-at-the-court.html">a blinkered view on race in America</a>,” justices in the 2014 Schuette case ruled 6-2 (with Justice Elena Kagan recusing herself) that voters could eliminate affirmative action policies in state public education. Two years later, however, in the Fisher case, they ruled that the University of Texas-Austin’s affirmative action policy was constitutional, affirming that the goal of a diverse student body within selective colleges and universities is a “compelling interest” in the U.S. </p>
<p>Now it has emerged that President Trump’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/us/politics/asian-americans-complaint-prompted-justice-inquiry-of-college-admissions.html">Justice Department will be investigating</a> a yet-to-be-decided complaint challenging Harvard University’s affirmative action admissions policies, brought by a coalition of Asian-American groups. </p>
<p>So, is affirmative action in higher education on its way out? If you look beyond the U.S. and take a global perspective, the answer is no.</p>
<h2>A global perspective</h2>
<p>Our research has shown that about <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Affirmative-Action-Matters-Creating-opportunities-for-students-around-the/JENKINS-Moses/p/book/9780415750127">one-quarter of the world’s countries</a> have some form of affirmative action for student admissions into higher education. Many of these programs have emerged over the last 25 years. </p>
<p>These policies may go by various names – affirmative action, reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination – but all are efforts to increase the numbers of underrepresented students in higher education. </p>
<p>A wide variety of institutions and governments on six continents have programs to expand admission of students from minority groups on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, class, geography or type of high school. Several use a combination of these categories.</p>
<p>And given that U.S. policies are older than most, much of the cutting-edge thinking on affirmative action is now coming from other parts of the world.</p>
<h2>Affirmative action around the world</h2>
<p>Though <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811">affirmative action policies as we know them</a> have been in place in U.S. higher education since 1978, they are not the oldest: <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Identity-and-Identification-in-India-Defining-the-Disadvantaged/Jenkins/p/book/9780415560627">India’s policies for lower-caste students</a> take that prize. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/1181733/next_twenty_five_years">South Africa’s many, and varied, alternative access programs</a> not only admit underrepresented students – especially black female students – but they also provide special courses and mentoring to facilitate those students’ success. </p>
<p>The French are even more reluctant than many Americans to consider race directly, but some selective institutions have increased students of color by <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/04/one-french-schools-secret-for-making-affirmative-action-work/255612/">targeting neighborhoods or particular schools located in priority education areas</a>. Areas are classified as Zones d’Education Prioritaires – priority education zones – based on several criteria, including high percentages of immigrant students for whom French is a second language, students performing below grade level and low-income students. Students from these zones are eligible to compete to be part of special admissions programs, which are designed to give them greater access to selective higher education.</p>
<p>India is less coy about who is being targeted, coining the rather blunt term “other backward classes” as an official designation for one set of recent beneficiaries of affirmative action in higher education. India continues to recognize the importance of caste discrimination, but also <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Identity-and-Identification-in-India-Defining-the-Disadvantaged/Jenkins/p/book/9780415560627">includes economic criteria</a> when defining other backward classes. They exclude, for example, individuals whose family income or property exceeds certain limits. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19188610">Brazil has been developing affirmative action programs</a> in its most prestigious public universities over the past two decades. The issue is often framed by human rights and social justice concerns; the Brazilian government first introduced the potential need for affirmative action as a “right thing to do” after years of denial of racial inequalities in the country.</p>
<h2>Beyond race</h2>
<p>Whereas the earliest forms of affirmative action focused on race and ethnicity, programs that started more recently are likely to include women. The inclusion of women has been particularly pervasive in the wave of policies that emerged around the world in the 1990s and 2000s. Affirmative action for women is now <a href="https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/view/5672">the most prevalent form of affirmative action</a> for students in higher education. </p>
<p>Countries that have some kind of affirmative action related to gender in higher education admissions are now <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Affirmative-Action-Matters-Creating-opportunities-for-students-around-the/JENKINS-Moses/p/book/9780415750127">spread across world regions</a>, and include eight countries in Africa, seven in Europe and four in North America and the Caribbean.</p>
<p>Affirmative action based on geography (the place a student comes from) appeals to policymakers reluctant to give race, ethnicity or caste such a prominent and explicit role. Such policies are now catching on around the world: In addition to France, universities in <a href="http://www.ugc.ac.lk/downloads/admissions/local_students/Admission%20to%20Undergraduate%20Courses%20of%20the%20Universities%20in%20Sri%20Lanka%202011_2012.pdf">Sri Lanka</a>, for example, use geographic district as a targeted category because it’s less controversial than ethnicity or language.</p>
<h2>Looking beyond US borders</h2>
<p>In short, affirmative action is alive and well – and on the rise – around the world. Indeed, some of the most creative discussions and innovations are happening <a href="https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/growing-demand-for-higher-education-puts-affirmative-action-in-the-spotlight/">outside the United States</a>.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/affirmative-action-should-be-viewed-in-global-context-33618">article</a> originally published on Nov. 13, 2014.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michele S. Moses receives funding from the Fulbright Scholar Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Dudley Jenkins receives funding from the Fulbright Scholar Program.</span></em></p>‘Positive discrimination’ policies around the world are on the rise. What might other countries teach the U.S. about attaining racial, economic and gender equality in higher education?Michele S. Moses, Professor of Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice, University of Colorado BoulderLaura Dudley Jenkins, Professor of Political Science, University of Cincinnati Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/821312017-08-07T02:24:39Z2017-08-07T02:24:39ZThe missing elements in the debate about affirmative action and Asian-American students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181076/original/file-20170804-23934-u3juga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protest against racial quotas during a rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington in 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Media reports have stated that the Justice Department under President Donald Trump is planning to investigate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/may/16/asian-american-groups-file-racial-quotas-complaint-against-harvard-university">a complaint of discrimination</a> against Harvard University brought by a coalition of Asian-American groups. </p>
<p>From our perspective as scholars who study affirmative action, race and diversity in higher education, the complaint reflects a <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/article/What-You-Need-to-Know-About/240820">flawed understanding</a> of race-conscious education policies like affirmative action.</p>
<p>How do affirmative action policies work, and whom do they affect? </p>
<h2>Fisher case</h2>
<p>Let’s first look at the legal wrangling that has been going on for some time on this issue. Since the 1978 <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811">Regents of the University of California v. Bakke</a> case, the Supreme Court consistently has affirmed that under certain conditions (e.g., no numerical set-asides or quotas, diversity is a compelling interest) it is constitutional for institutions of higher education to consider a student’s race in admissions processes. </p>
<p>Most recently, in a landmark judgment on June 23, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-supreme-courts-fisher-decision-what-we-need-to-know-about-considering-race-in-admissions-59784">upheld the constitutionality of race-conscious affirmative action</a> in university admissions in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-crucial-texas-case-on-race-considerations-in-college-admissions-44117">Abigail Fisher</a> case.</p>
<p>Fisher, a white woman, had sued the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) for its race-conscious admissions policy after she was denied admission. She had argued that the university violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.</p>
<p>Supporters of race-conscious admissions programs were understandably gratified. But as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/us/affirmative-action-battle-has-a-new-focus-asian-americans.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170803&nlid=78846674&tntemail0=y">recent discussion about affirmative action demonstrates,</a> the case did not resolve the larger moral and political disagreements over affirmative action.</p>
<p>Indeed, over the last 40 years, affirmative action opponents have repeatedly strategized anew after important Supreme Court decisions in favor of affirmative action.</p>
<h2>Harvard lawsuit</h2>
<p>It is perhaps no coincidence that Edward Blum, Abigail Fisher’s adviser and the executive director of the <a href="https://www.projectonfairrepresentation.org/">Project on Fair Representation</a>, is the one leading the most recent court challenge to affirmative action, the lawsuit challenging Harvard University’s race-conscious admissions policy. What is different about the <a href="http://studentsforfairadmissions.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SFFA-v.-Harvard-Complaint.pdf">Harvard lawsuit</a> is that the lead plaintiff in the case is not a white student but Asian-American. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asian-Americans participate in an Advancing Justice conference.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/justiceconf/15364290448/in/photolist-ppG1gs-ppEvQx-ppKxNw-pE4tMS-fjpnxG-oKkpH2-oKioP3-ppHAfX-ppDjC4-pG9Svz-pG8YoZ-ppG1qf-pE4uUm-pE3uKL-oKmiSx-pG8XtT-ppGYWb-fjaaza-oKioG9-pFU68K-ppKtHh-ppJvdo-pFVaor-pGefe3-ppJxjY-fjoUu7-pE4oZA-ppHDCP-oKiruy-ppJowh-ppHBEa-ppEuFD-ppGTMy-pE3vFd-fjpa2y-pE4uiw-oKmmzg-pE4usQ-oKik3f-ppKtKG-oKisgd-pE3pYb-pE4qTf-pGeeEs-pFVbe4-pE4px9-ppKvjd-pGefJ1-pGedjw-ppGUdU">Advancing Justice Conference</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“<a href="https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/">Students for Fair Admissions</a>,” an arm of the Project on Fair Representation, filed a suit against Harvard College on Nov. 17, 2014, on behalf of a Chinese-American applicant who had been rejected from Harvard. The lawsuit charges that the university’s admissions policy violates <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/race/index.html">Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>, which bars federally funded entities from discriminating based on race or ethnicity.</p>
<h2>How it started</h2>
<p>This controversy over how Asian-Americans are being treated in selective college admission was jump-started in 2005, when sociologists <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/%7Etje/">Thomas Espenshade</a> and <a href="http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/cchung/files/chang_y_chung.pdf">Chang Chung</a> published <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/%7Etje/files/webOpportunity%20Cost%20of%20Admission%20Preferences%20Espenshade%20Chung%20June%202005.pdf">findings</a> from their study on the effects of affirmative action bans on the racial and ethnic composition of student bodies at selective colleges and universities. </p>
<p>Espenshade and Chung found that if affirmative action were to be eliminated, the acceptance rates for black and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/12/08/students-adopt-gender-nonspecific-term-latinx-be-more-inclusive">Latino</a> applicants would likely decrease substantially, while the acceptance rate for white applicants would increase slightly. </p>
<p>But more than that, what they noted was that the acceptance rate for Asian-American applicants would increase the most by far. </p>
<p>As the researchers explained, Asian-American students “would occupy four out of every five seats created by accepting fewer African-American and Hispanic students.” </p>
<p>Such research has been cited to support claims of admissions discrimination against Asian-Americans. </p>
<p>In the complaint against Harvard, Espenshade’s research was cited as evidence of discrimination against Asian-Americans. Specifically, the lawsuit cited research from 2009 in which Espenshade, this time with co-author <a href="https://www.rti.org/expert/alexandria-walton-radford">Alexandria Radford,</a> <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9072.html">found</a> that Asian-American applicants accepted at selective colleges had higher standardized test scores, on average, than other accepted students. </p>
<p>These findings, especially that Asian-American applicants seem to need a higher SAT score than white applicants or other applicants of color in order to be admitted to a selective college, are being used as proof that elite institutions like Harvard are discriminating against Asian-Americans in their admissions processes. </p>
<h2>The picture is more complicated</h2>
<p>Selective admissions processes are much more complicated than SAT score data can show. There are many factors that are taken into consideration for college admission. </p>
<p>For example, in the “holistic” admissions processes endorsed by the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger, standardized text scores are not the only, or even the main, criterion for admission. <a href="https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/holisticreview/about/">“Holistic” review</a> takes many relevant factors into account, including academic achievement, of course, but also factors such as a commitment to public service, overcoming difficult life circumstances, achievements in the arts or athletics, or leadership qualities.</p>
<p>So, why would the plaintiff in the Harvard case conclude that the disparities in SAT scores shown by Espenshade and Radford necessarily indicate that Asian-American applicants are being harmed by race-conscious affirmative action? </p>
<p>In fact, legal scholar <a href="http://apahenational.org/?page_id=402">William Kidder</a> <a href="http://media.asian-nation.org/Kidder-Negative-Action.pdf">has argued</a> that the way Espenshade and Radford’s findings have been interpreted by affirmative action opponents is not accurate. </p>
<p>Based on his analysis, Kidder concluded, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Exaggerated claims about the benefits for APAs [Asian Pacific Americans] of ending affirmative action foster a divisive public discourse in which APAs are falsely portrayed as natural adversaries of affirmative action and the interests of African American and Latinos in particular.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In our opinion as well, focusing on simplistic ideas about standardized tests as the primary evidence for who “deserves” to be admitted to elite institutions like Harvard may serve to stir up resentment among accomplished applicants who get rejected.</p>
<h2>Asian-Americans are not a monolithic group</h2>
<p>As the “Harvard Not Fair” website and accompanying lawsuit demonstrate, Espenshade’s findings have been used to fuel a <a href="http://www.jaconlinejournal.com/archives/vol26.1-2/banning-politics.pdf">politics of resentment</a> among rejected Asian-American applicants.</p>
<p>When speaking with reporters, Espenshade himself has acknowledged that <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/5/16/complaint-federal-harvard-admissions/">his data are incomplete</a> – given that colleges take myriad factors into account in admissions decisions – and that his findings have been overinterpreted and actually <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/03/elite">do not prove</a> that colleges discriminate against Asian-American applicants. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are Asian-American students a monolithic group?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brainchildvn/3005463222/in/photolist-5zzMvq-4E3x4k-gZVoyq-6fVSsc-hyi8DC-8x8MvT-dkX8eD-4E3x56-dkY496-dkX8gg-4Tenr6-gZWMk2-5zziDu-4TAeVw-5zzTqq-5zzX5C-gZWopW-5zzZ8G-5zviMz-4VFbik-bDyRg3-5zzbuG-5zzRBs-dkX8ec-r4DrgY-4WEYRg-5zzUpu-5zzhcm-5zvyzF-5zvdua-9wAUG5-5zvhUB-dkY4de-5zvpVg-5zuXBV-5zvQtz-5zv7a2-5zvoRZ-5zAbwj-5zvAs2-aEfpT3-reqP2q-foRaAe-5zvYLt-5zzY33-5zA4fL-5zv12i-5zvxrk-5zvagc-5zuUp2">Charlie Nguyen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, in using <a href="http://harvardnotfair.org/">images of Asian-American students</a> to recruit complainants against Harvard and other highly selective institutions of higher education, the Project on Fair Representation <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/chains-of-babylon">relies on the idea</a> that Asian-Americans comprise a monolithic group. In fact, the term “Asian-American” refers to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-there-an-asian-disadvantage-in-higher-ed-44070">diversity of Asian ethnicities</a> in the United States, whose educational opportunities and achievements vary widely. </p>
<p>The 2010 census question on race included check boxes for six Asian groups – Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese – along with a box for “Other Asian,” with a prompt for detailed responses such as “Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian, and so on.” </p>
<p>Furthermore, by casting plaintiffs as meritorious and deserving of a spot at an elite university, it also conveys the <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10134.html">stereotypical received wisdom about Asian-American “model” students</a> who are wronged by race-conscious affirmative action programs. </p>
<p>In actuality, many <a href="https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/professionals/asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-facts-not-fiction.pdf">Asian-Americans benefit from affirmative action policies</a>.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on July 14, 2016.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Paguyo receives funding from the National Science Foundation and in the past has received funding from the American Educational Research Association. She is a owner and consultant for Data Luminaries, LLC. She is affiliated with the Democratic Party and is a member of the American Educational Research Association, American Evaluation Association, American Society for Engineering Education, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Maeda and Michele S. Moses 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>Scholars argue that the complaint of bias against Harvard reflects a flawed understanding of affirmative action policies.Michele S. Moses, Professor of Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice, University of Colorado BoulderChristina Paguyo, Post Doctoral Fellow, Colorado State UniversityDaryl Maeda, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/796262017-06-27T01:04:06Z2017-06-27T01:04:06ZElite public schools that rely on entry exams fail the diversity test<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175401/original/file-20170623-17473-1dgwqa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stuyvesant High School students arrive on the first day in 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Mark Lennihan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The jewels in many an urban school district’s crown are their exam schools, competitive public schools that base enrollment on test scores. With a school like New York’s <a href="http://stuy.enschool.org/">Stuyvesant</a>, <a href="http://www.bls.org/">Boston Latin</a> or <a href="http://www.wpcp.org/">Walter Payton</a> (in Chicago) on their transcript, students are grouped with other, high-achieving peers, receive rigorous instruction and complete several Advanced Placement courses – all helping to clear a straight path to college and career success.</p>
<p>Hailed as <a href="http://observer.com/2007/08/stuyvesant-high-school-the-ultimate-meritocracy/">promoting meritocracy</a>, exam schools in fact <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/opinion/the-truth-about-new-york-citys-elite-high-schools.html">promote inequity</a>, especially for black and Latino students.</p>
<p>Working for over 25 years at the K-12 and higher education levels (as both a faculty member and administrator), I’ve seen this skewed enrollment pattern play out over and over again. However, several elite U.S. colleges and universities are embracing new admissions policies – policies that, if also implemented by top-tier exam schools, could promote greater access for all students.</p>
<h2>The minority enrollment gap</h2>
<p>When it comes to student diversity, elite high schools leave much to be desired.</p>
<p>Take New York City, for example. This past spring, the city’s eight exam schools (among them <a href="http://stuy.enschool.org/">Stuyvesant</a>, <a href="http://www.bths.edu/">Brooklyn Tech</a> and <a href="http://www.bxscience.edu/">Bronx Science</a>) accepted 5,078 rising ninth grade students solely based on test scores. This, despite New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s <a href="http://nyckidspac.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/NYC-Kids-PAC-Questionnaire-Bill-de-Blasio.pdf#page=4">campaign promise</a> to base admissions to all schools on more “holistic” factors. </p>
<p>Black and Latino students will make up only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/opinion/the-truth-about-new-york-citys-elite-high-schools.html">10 percent</a> of this year’s incoming class – though they account for 70 percent of public school students in New York City. At Stuyvesant this fall, only 13 students out of almost 1,000 incoming freshmen will be black.</p>
<p>Even with <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/05/09/admissions-boston-latin-school-other-exam-schools-lacking-diversity-advocates-say/hwlwBqU9zNm0ZfRzMQeSVJ/story.html">recent efforts</a> to improve racial and ethnic diversity among its exam schools, Boston has also faced enrollment equity challenges. At Boston’s flagship public exam high school, Boston Latin School, the student body remains significantly white and Asian. The school’s incoming seventh grade class, for example, is only eight percent black and 14 percent Latino, in contrast to district-wide rates of approximately 32 percent black and 42 percent Latino.</p>
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<h2>Rethinking admissions policies</h2>
<p>As long as admission to exam schools is based solely on test scores or grades, this pattern may very well continue indefinitely.</p>
<p>Black and Latino students are just as capable and deserving of exam classroom seats as other students. However, they must contend with a range of factors that often don’t impact their nonminority counterparts, including <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100422153804.htm">poor-quality instruction</a> at lower grades; unequal access to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/inequality-public-schools/395876/">tutoring, test prep and enrichment</a>; low <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/07/19/scrutiny-for-superintendent-tommy-chang-plan-expand-access-advanced-work-classes/ZHxmuOLCRvPTRgzrQJafjL/story.html">placement of elementary students</a> into advanced classes; and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/03/20/the-insidiousness-of-unconscious-bias-in-schools/">unconscious bias</a>. Minority students also can contend with <a href="http://www.apa.org/research/action/stereotype.aspx">stereotype threat</a>, a phenomenon where they conform – often unintentionally – to negative stereotypes about their race’s ability to perform well within academic settings.</p>
<p>These factors can all negatively affect success on the standardized tests and grades that exam schools use for admissions.</p>
<p>A solution to breaking this pattern may come from several elite colleges and universities that are rethinking their admissions policies. Led by <a href="http://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/">Making Caring Common</a>, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, these institutions are piloting new admissions policies that focus less on numbers and more on “ethical engagement.”</p>
<p>In a report released in January 2016, Making Caring Common argued for elite colleges and universities to include opportunities for candidates to submit <a href="http://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/files/gse-mcc/files/20160120_mcc_ttt_execsummary_interactive.pdf">authentic demonstrations of empathy, service to others and commitment to the common good</a> as part of their application. They contend that these important values are worth promoting to students and families. In fact, research suggests that strength of character and “grit” are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087">key determinants of future academic and career success</a>.</p>
<p>Importantly, these new metrics could weigh social and emotional attributes that students across all backgrounds could exemplify in some way.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175392/original/file-20170623-29849-1b465u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175392/original/file-20170623-29849-1b465u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175392/original/file-20170623-29849-1b465u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175392/original/file-20170623-29849-1b465u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175392/original/file-20170623-29849-1b465u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175392/original/file-20170623-29849-1b465u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175392/original/file-20170623-29849-1b465u0.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">Bronx Academy for Software Engineering hosted a community service day in May 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmannion/33788452493/">Jon Mannion</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A movement gaining traction</h2>
<p>Since the report’s release, <a href="https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/collegeadmissions">over 175 colleges and universities</a> – including Harvard, Yale, Boston College, MIT, Michigan State and the University of Chicago – have endorsed this admissions framework, with the goal of increasing student diversity. Boston public schools and several Boston-area private schools have endorsed the report as well.</p>
<p>Yet Boston, New York and other cities with exam schools must now “walk the walk” by implementing concrete approaches, such as asking for examples of ethical engagement or empathy as part of the application process. A school might give special consideration, for example, to candidates who worked to support their families at an early age, served as caregivers to younger siblings, organized efforts to support a needy classmate or led a food drive to help a local shelter.</p>
<p>Exam schools across the country could team with Making Caring Common and its growing list of higher education partners to determine how best to validly and reliably collect, evaluate and weight these types of student experiences. </p>
<p>If this new strategy to promote enrollment equity is gaining traction at Harvard and Yale, it should be considered by exam high schools as well. Otherwise, future incoming classes at Stuyvesant and Boston Latin will continue to look much the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jake Murray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Elite exam schools are some of the least diverse public schools in the US. Here’s how colleges like Harvard could teach high schools like Stuyvesant to improve their admissions process.Jake Murray, Faculty Director for Professional Education, BU School of Education, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618992016-07-14T22:28:05Z2016-07-14T22:28:05ZAfter Fisher: affirmative action and Asian-American students<p>After eight years, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-crucial-texas-case-on-race-considerations-in-college-admissions-44117">Abigail Fisher</a> case finally <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-supreme-courts-fisher-decision-what-we-need-to-know-about-considering-race-in-admissions-59784">has been put to rest</a>. In a landmark judgment on June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of race-conscious affirmative action in university admissions. </p>
<p>Abigail Fisher, a white woman, had sued the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) for its race-conscious admissions policy after she was denied admission. She had argued that the university violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.</p>
<p>Supporters of race-conscious admissions programs are understandably gratified. But has the case resolved the larger moral and political disagreements over affirmative action?</p>
<p>Roger Clegg, president of the <a href="http://www.ceousa.org/">Center for Equal Opportunity</a>, which supports colorblind policies, has already called the decision just “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/politics/supreme-court-affirmative-action-university-of-texas.html?_r=0">a temporary setback</a>.”</p>
<p>Indeed, over the last 40 years, affirmative action opponents have repeatedly strategized anew after important Supreme Court decisions in favor of affirmative action. They did so after the 1978 decision in <a href="http://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/constitutional-law/constitutional-law-keyed-to-chemerinsky/equal-protection/regents-of-the-university-of-california-v-bakke/">Regents of the University of California v. Bakke</a>, when the Supreme Court, while allowing race to be one of the factors in choosing <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/Moses_TheDiversityRationale.TheIntellectualRootsofandIdeal.pdf">a diverse student body</a>, held the use of quotas to be “impermissible.” </p>
<p>And they did so after the 2003 decision in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/case.html">Grutter v. Bollinger</a>, when the high court again ruled that race-conscious affirmative action was constitutional.</p>
<p>We are scholars who study affirmative action, race, and diversity in higher education. We believe that the disagreement about affirmative action will not
end anytime soon. And it may well center on lawsuits on behalf of Asian-American college applicants. </p>
<h2>Here is what is coming next</h2>
<p>Through his organization, the <a href="https://www.projectonfairrepresentation.org/">Project on Fair Representation</a>, Abigail Fisher’s advisor, Edward Blum, is currently engaged in a <a href="https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/">lawsuit challenging</a> Harvard University’s race-conscious admissions policy. </p>
<p>What is different about the <a href="http://studentsforfairadmissions.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SFFA-v.-Harvard-Complaint.pdf">Harvard lawsuit</a> is that the lead plaintiff in the case is not a white student. The plaintiff is an Asian-American student. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130611/original/image-20160714-23365-137rvqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asian-Americans participate in an Advancing Justice conference.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/justiceconf/15364290448/in/photolist-ppG1gs-ppEvQx-ppKxNw-pE4tMS-fjpnxG-oKkpH2-oKioP3-ppHAfX-ppDjC4-pG9Svz-pG8YoZ-ppG1qf-pE4uUm-pE3uKL-oKmiSx-pG8XtT-ppGYWb-fjaaza-oKioG9-pFU68K-ppKtHh-ppJvdo-pFVaor-pGefe3-ppJxjY-fjoUu7-pE4oZA-ppHDCP-oKiruy-ppJowh-ppHBEa-ppEuFD-ppGTMy-pE3vFd-fjpa2y-pE4uiw-oKmmzg-pE4usQ-oKik3f-ppKtKG-oKisgd-pE3pYb-pE4qTf-pGeeEs-pFVbe4-pE4px9-ppKvjd-pGefJ1-pGedjw-ppGUdU">Advancing Justice Conference</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Students for Fair Admissions,” an arm of the Project on Fair Representation, filed a suit against Harvard College on November 17, 2014, on behalf of a Chinese-American applicant who had been rejected from Harvard. The lawsuit charges that Harvard’s admissions policy violates <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/race/index.html">Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>, which bars federally funded entities from discriminating based on race or ethnicity.</p>
<p>The “<a href="http://harvardnotfair.org/">Harvard University Not Fair</a>” website greets readers with a photo of an Asian-American student accompanied by the following text: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Were you denied admission to Harvard? It may be because you’re the wrong race.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How it started</h2>
<p>This controversy over how Asian-Americans are being treated in selective college admission was jump-started in 2005, when sociologists <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/%7Etje/">Thomas Espenshade</a> and <a href="http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/cchung/files/chang_y_chung.pdf">Chang Chung</a> published <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/%7Etje/files/webOpportunity%20Cost%20of%20Admission%20Preferences%20Espenshade%20Chung%20June%202005.pdf">findings</a> from their study on the effects of affirmative action bans on the racial and ethnic composition of student bodies at selective colleges and universities. </p>
<p>Espenshade and Chung found that if affirmative action were to be eliminated, the acceptance rates for black and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/12/08/students-adopt-gender-nonspecific-term-latinx-be-more-inclusive">Latino</a> applicants would likely decrease substantially, while the acceptance rate for white applicants would increase slightly. But more than that, what they noted was that the acceptance rate for Asian-American applicants would increase the most by far. </p>
<p>As the researchers explained, Asian-American students “would occupy four out of every five seats created by accepting fewer African-American and Hispanic students.” </p>
<p>Such research has been cited to support claims of admissions discrimination against Asian-Americans. </p>
<p>In the complaint against Harvard, Espenshade’s research was cited as evidence of discrimination against Asian-Americans. Specifically, the lawsuit cited research from 2009 in which Espenshade, this time with coauthor <a href="https://www.rti.org/expert/alexandria-walton-radford">Alexandria Radford,</a> <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9072.html">found</a> that Asian-American applicants accepted at selective colleges had higher standardized test scores, on average, than other accepted students. </p>
<p>These findings, especially that Asian-American applicants seem to need a higher SAT score than white applicants or other applicants of color in order to be admitted to a selective college are being used as proof that elite institutions like Harvard are discriminating against Asian-Americans in their admissions processes. </p>
<h2>The picture is more complicated</h2>
<p>As we know, selective admissions processes are much more complicated than SAT score data can show. There are many factors that are taken into consideration for college admission. </p>
<p>For example, in the “holistic” admissions processes endorsed by the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger, standardized text scores are not the only, or even the main, criterion for admission. <a href="https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/holisticreview/about/">“Holistic” review</a> takes many relevant factors into account, including academic achievement, of course, but also factors such as a commitment to public service, overcoming difficult life circumstances, achievements in the arts or athletics, or leadership qualities.</p>
<p>So, why would the plaintiff in the Harvard case conclude that the disparities in SAT scores shown by Espenshade and Radford necessarily indicate that Asian-American applicants are being harmed by race-conscious affirmative action? </p>
<p>Legal scholar <a href="http://apahenational.org/?page_id=402">William Kidder</a> <a href="http://media.asian-nation.org/Kidder-Negative-Action.pdf">has shown</a> that the way Espenshade and Radford’s findings have been interpreted by affirmative action opponents is not accurate. The interpretation of this research itself rests on the faulty assumption that affirmative action is to blame if an academically accomplished Asian-American applicant gets rejected from an elite institution. </p>
<p>Based on his analysis, Kidder concluded, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Exaggerated claims about the benefits for APAs [Asian Pacific Americans] of ending affirmative action foster a divisive public discourse in which APAs are falsely portrayed as natural adversaries of affirmative action and the interests of African American and Latinos in particular.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In our opinion as well, focusing on simplistic ideas about standardized tests as the primary evidence for who “deserves” to be admitted to elite institutions like Harvard may serve to stir up resentment among accomplished applicants who get rejected.</p>
<p>As the “Harvard Not Fair” website and accompanying lawsuit demonstrate, these findings have been used to fuel a <a href="http://www.jaconlinejournal.com/archives/vol26.1-2/banning-politics.pdf">politics of resentment</a> among rejected Asian-American applicants.</p>
<p>When speaking with reporters, Espenshade himself has acknowledged that <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/5/16/complaint-federal-harvard-admissions/">his data are incomplete</a> – given that colleges take myriad factors into account in admissions decisions – and his findings have been overinterpreted and actually <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/03/elite">do not prove</a> that colleges discriminate against Asian-American applicants. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130456/original/image-20160713-12389-1m8kj97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are Asian-American students a monolithic group?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brainchildvn/3005463222/in/photolist-5zzMvq-4E3x4k-gZVoyq-6fVSsc-hyi8DC-8x8MvT-dkX8eD-4E3x56-dkY496-dkX8gg-4Tenr6-gZWMk2-5zziDu-4TAeVw-5zzTqq-5zzX5C-gZWopW-5zzZ8G-5zviMz-4VFbik-bDyRg3-5zzbuG-5zzRBs-dkX8ec-r4DrgY-4WEYRg-5zzUpu-5zzhcm-5zvyzF-5zvdua-9wAUG5-5zvhUB-dkY4de-5zvpVg-5zuXBV-5zvQtz-5zv7a2-5zvoRZ-5zAbwj-5zvAs2-aEfpT3-reqP2q-foRaAe-5zvYLt-5zzY33-5zA4fL-5zv12i-5zvxrk-5zvagc-5zuUp2">Charlie Nguyen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, in using <a href="http://harvardnotfair.org/">images of Asian-American students</a> to recruit complainants against Harvard and other highly selective institutions of higher education, the Project on Fair Representation <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/chains-of-babylon">relies on the idea</a> that Asian-Americans comprise a monolithic group. In fact, the term “Asian-American” refers to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-there-an-asian-disadvantage-in-higher-ed-44070">diversity of Asian ethnicities</a> in the United States, whose educational opportunities and achievements vary widely. </p>
<p>The 2010 census question on race included check boxes for six Asian groups – Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese – along with a box for “Other Asian,” with a prompt for detailed responses such as “Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian, and so on.” </p>
<p>In addition, by casting plaintiffs as meritorious and deserving of a spot at an elite university, it also conveys the <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10134.html">stereotypical received wisdom about Asian-American “model” students</a> who are wronged by race-conscious affirmative action programs. </p>
<h2>The Harvard lawsuit comes next</h2>
<p>At this time, Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, is pending. </p>
<p>Now that Fisher has been decided, this case is the next front in the divisive politics surrounding race-conscious affirmative action in higher education admissions.</p>
<p>Relevant to the Harvard case is that a civil rights complaint alleging that Princeton University discriminates against Asian-American applicants was dismissed in 2015 after a long federal <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S44/30/14M00/index.xml?section=topstories">Office of Civil Rights investigation</a>.</p>
<p>Although public disagreement about the policy continues, affirmative action is an imperfect, but as yet necessary tool that universities can leverage to cultivate robust and diverse spaces where students learn. June 23’s <em>Fisher</em> ruling underscores that important idea. </p>
<p>Related to the coming public discussions about the Harvard lawsuit, we are of the opinion that race-conscious policies like affirmative action need to be supported. The fact is that “Asian-Americans” have diverse social and educational experiences. And many <a href="https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/professionals/asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-facts-not-fiction.pdf">Asian-Americans benefit from affirmative action policies</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Paguyo receives funding from the National Science Foundation and in the past has received funding from the American Educational Research Association. She is a owner and consultant for Data Luminaries, LLC. She is affiliated with the Democratic Party and is a member of the American Educational Research Association, American Evaluation Association, American Society for Engineering Education, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Maeda and Michele S. Moses 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>Here’s why disagreement about affirmative action will not end any time soon. Coming up next is a lawsuit brought by Asian-Americans challenging Harvard’s race-conscious policy.Michele S. Moses, Professor of Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice, University of Colorado BoulderChristina Paguyo, Post Doctoral Fellow, Colorado State UniversityDaryl Maeda, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/615592016-06-24T10:13:56Z2016-06-24T10:13:56ZEliminating inequalities needs affirmative action<p><em>The Supreme Court has upheld the affirmative action admission policy of University of Texas. Abigail Fisher, a white woman, applied to the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) in 2008. She sued the university after she was denied admission on the grounds that the university’s race-conscious admissions policy, violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.</em> </p>
<p><em>On Thursday, June 23, the Supreme Court ruled that the race-conscious admissions program was constitutional – a decision that the three scholars on our panel welcome. They tell us why existing educational inequalities need considerations of race and ethnicity in admissions.</em></p>
<h2>How else do you eliminate inequality?</h2>
<p><em>Richard J. Reddick is an associate professor in educational administration at University of Texas at Austin.</em></p>
<p>UT Austin’s history on legal decisions about race in higher education goes back to Sweatt v. Painter (1950), a case that successfully challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine articulated in Plessy v. Ferguson (1898). The landmark case helped pave the way for Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nhl/learn/themes/CivilRights_DesegPublicEd.pdf">outlawed racial segregation</a> in education. </p>
<p>The next test, in the Hopwood v. Texas (1996) case, came <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-diversity-can-the-us-constitution-stand-51971">from the other direction</a>. Cheryl Hopwood was a white applicant who was denied admission. She challenged UT Austin’s use of race in its admissions decisions as unconstitutional. The Fifth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals eliminated the consideration of affirmative action in universities and colleges in Texas. This decision was overruled in 2003.</p>
<p>Fisher, then, was another challenge to the university’s renewed efforts to provide educational opportunity and access to underrepresented students at predominantly white institutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127963/original/image-20160623-30272-4pava3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127963/original/image-20160623-30272-4pava3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127963/original/image-20160623-30272-4pava3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127963/original/image-20160623-30272-4pava3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127963/original/image-20160623-30272-4pava3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127963/original/image-20160623-30272-4pava3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127963/original/image-20160623-30272-4pava3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UT Austin’s history on legal decisions about race in higher education goes back to Sweatt v. Painter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/qmechanic/1355030048/in/photolist-34JTe3-p9bF94-6NjUzW-qB8UW2-dfE8LW-6NjVgW-88LNp-8ShHSk-5bukJd-7UDPHm-34EkyK-m3VrJF-55mnPE-sj213-aaSa9h-nASSWi-beapu-33L9GB-oPr4Cp-qYDCk-LEpq-qYDJv-8GQSAP-njFaY1-6tVNvY-bKyEjH-86n57A-njFhte-5nXGVV-9N2GjV-86j72V-cmwckh-7hY2of-7uabSk-ezX7pS-dAofyK-34EkvR-dpUQEN-dfE93W-djr52j-3c95g-4oBUCQ-dfE5ge-5HoYcg-qR7QQJ-qCa7Zy-9hGcom-dfEHWz-5G1JgB-dfE5e2">qmechanic</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Opponents of affirmative action often argue that metrics, such as test scores and class rank, that appear to be neutral, should be the method by which to admit students. </p>
<p>These arguments fail to <a href="https://www.apa.org/ed/resources/racial-disparities.pdf">consider the real impact</a> that racial and socioeconomic discrimination has on educational opportunity. School resources and teacher quality <a href="https://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/why-segregation-matters-poverty-and-educational-inequality/orfield-why-segregation-matters-2005.pdf">differ significantly</a>, and intangibles such as leadership opportunities often depend on subjective criteria such as teacher recommendations. </p>
<p>Furthermore, many students from underrepresented communities <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/0362-6784.00140">confront challenges in navigating school systems</a>. We additionally know that standardized testing <a href="http://hepgjournals.org/doi/abs/10.17763/haer.79.3.43n8521j3rk54221">can show bias</a> <a href="http://www.hepgjournals.org/doi/abs/10.17763/haer.73.1.8465k88616hn4757">in certain populations</a>.</p>
<p>In other words, these “neutral” measures actually reinforce social inequities. </p>
<p>The most selective institutions of higher education in the nation <a href="http://asr.sagepub.com/content/72/4/487.abstract">no longer rely solely</a> on these metrics. They seek out students with a variety of experiences – factors that may not always correspond to test scores and class ranking.</p>
<p>Today’s ruling is a reassurance, as fleeting as it might be, that the massive task of eliminating educational inequality – which correlates to many other forms of inequality – can be supplemented by approaches in college admissions that consider race and ethnicity. </p>
<p>It does not minimize the importance of eradicating racial discrimination in all walks of life: in the words of UT Austin president Greg Fenves, “race continues to matter in American life.” </p>
<p>However, emphasizing the significance of careful, narrowly tailored approaches to enhancing diversity at predominantly white institutions is a victory for the scholars, researchers, administrators and families who have demonstrated how diversity provides <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED430514">significant educational benefits</a> for all students and American society.</p>
<h2>What are the implications for other colleges?</h2>
<p><em>Stacy Hawkins is an associate professor at Rutgers University, where she teaches courses in Employment Law and Diversity in the Law.</em></p>
<p>The Supreme Court’s <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-981_4g15.pdf">decision</a> is cause for both celebration and circumspection. </p>
<p>Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court’s moderate swing justice, whose opinion was rightly <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/12/scalia_s_rant_and_alito_s_reasoning_in_the_fisher_supreme_court_oral_arguments.html">predicted</a> to be the key to the decision, undoubtedly shocked many by voting for the first time to uphold a race-conscious admissions policy. </p>
<p>However, the decision is more consistent with Justice Kennedy’s prior decisions, notwithstanding the difference in outcome, than might appear at first blush.</p>
<p>On the one hand, Justice Kennedy reaffirmed his commitment to diversity as a compelling educational interest in 21st-century America (a view he expressed in prior cases on diversity in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/">higher education</a>, as well as in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/551/701/">primary and secondary schools</a>). </p>
<p>On the other hand, however, Justice Kennedy also reaffirmed his long-standing belief that, notwithstanding this interest, race may play no more a role than is absolutely necessary to achieve the educational benefits of diversity.</p>
<p>In striking this delicate balance, Justice Kennedy sanctioned the University of Texas’ race-conscious admissions policy today, but gave fair warning that the future of this policy is by no means secure. </p>
<p>More important perhaps than the implications of this decision for the University of Texas is what, if any, implications this decision may have for other colleges and universities?</p>
<p>As Justice Kennedy acknowledged, the University of Texas is unique in its use of race to narrowly supplement a plan that admits the overwhelming majority of students (at least 75 percent) on the sole basis of high school class rank without regard to race, a feature that was critical to Justice Kennedy’s approval of the policy. </p>
<p>Thus, the vast majority of colleges and universities may still be left to wonder about the constitutionality of their own race-conscious admissions policies that operate more widely than Texas’ does. </p>
<p>With a similar <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-harvard-discrimination/">case</a> against Harvard University currently winding its way through the federal courts, the answer may not be far off.</p>
<h2>Affirmative action bans exist in many states</h2>
<p><em>Stella M. Flores is an associate professor of higher education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University.</em></p>
<p>Demography, economy and diversity are key issues facing the nation’s colleges and universities and should also be a part of their policy design.</p>
<p>In Fisher v. Texas today, Justice Kennedy’s opinion clearly states two outcomes. The first is that the university’s deliberation that race-neutral programs had not achieved their goals was supported by significant statistical and anecdotal evidence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127967/original/image-20160623-30242-rp5dav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127967/original/image-20160623-30242-rp5dav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127967/original/image-20160623-30242-rp5dav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127967/original/image-20160623-30242-rp5dav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127967/original/image-20160623-30242-rp5dav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127967/original/image-20160623-30242-rp5dav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127967/original/image-20160623-30242-rp5dav.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">Admissions policies at universities play a key role in diversifying key areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=supreme%20court&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=376433869">Supreme Court image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second is that universities have the obligation to periodically reassess their admissions programming using data to ensure that a plan is narrowly tailored so that race plays no greater role than is necessary to meet its compelling interests. This is in essence an <a href="https://www.ets.org/s/achievement_gap/diversity/index.html">accountability mechanism</a> for universities to follow using data and research.</p>
<p>Admissions policies at universities play an important role in the ability to diversify key fields relevant to the nation’s economy, including law, medicine, STEM, education and public policy, so that they can appropriately reflect and serve the unprecedented demographic expansion facing our country.</p>
<p>The decision ensures that pathways to the nation’s most critical educational and employment fields <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/01/14/0002831212470483">will stay open</a>.</p>
<p>But there are other considerations and realities that include the following. First, some of the nation’s most racially diverse states will still operate under affirmative bans due to state legislation and referenda. These include California, Florida, Michigan, Arizona and Oklahoma.</p>
<p>Second, there is still a clear need for additional effective policies and efforts beyond a consideration of race in college admissions to address the disconnect between the demographics of the nation and its public K-12 schools and who is represented at selective colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Retracting the use of race nationally would have been a step toward increasing racial and ethnic inequality in schools and society. But we’re in a time where race really matters in this country and in how we learn together as a diverse society in our classrooms. This decision reflects this reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard J. Reddick receives funding from WT Grant Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stella M Flores receives funding from the Ford Foundation as a evaluation consultant to a project examining the changes in affirmative action law. She also received funding from the Educational Testing Service on a project examining race-neutral alternatives. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stacy Hawkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Three scholars reflect on the Supreme Court decision in the Fisher case and why institutions need to consider race.Richard J. Reddick, Associate Professor in Educational Administration, The University of Texas at AustinStacy Hawkins, Associate Professor, Rutgers UniversityStella M Flores, Associate Professor of Higher Education, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/440702015-07-15T10:14:28Z2015-07-15T10:14:28ZAsian America needs affirmative action in higher education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181298/original/file-20170807-25514-vlet5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite criticism from segments of the community, affirmative action helps many disadvantaged Asian-Americans.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-women-sitting-library-dazed-expression-238077097">Torwai Studio/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Affirmative action is back in the news, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html">The New York Times reported</a> that the Trump administration is taking a look at the <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/5/16/complaint-federal-harvard-admissions/">pending case</a> against Harvard University’s affirmative action admissions policies. </p>
<p>This case – and many others like it – was brought about by anti-affirmative action activists including some Asian-Americans, who suggest that universities are discriminating against Asian-American students by holding them to a higher standard.</p>
<p>They appear to be supported by research that shows that successful Asian-American applicants have <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2017/08/07/look-data-and-arguments-about-asian-americans-and-admissions-elite">higher scores than whites and other racial groups</a> on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT. And as a result, private admissions consultants are advising Asian-American students on how to “<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2015/06/01/college-counselors-advise-some-asian-students-appear-less-asian/Ew7g4JiQMiqYNQlIwqEIuO/story.html">appear less Asian</a>” to boost their chances of admission to elite universities. </p>
<p>These stories perpetuate <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/unraveling-the-model-minority-stereotype-9780807749739">stereotypes of Asian-Americans</a> as high-achieving model minorities. They also suggest that there’s an unspoken quota on the number of Asian-American students at elite universities.</p>
<p>As Asian-American scholars committed to social justice education, we argue that the issues are far more complex than what these stories suggest.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181292/original/file-20170807-25535-1osjrno.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stereotypes of Asian-Americans as overachieving students ignore the very real disadvantage that many underrepresented Asians face.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/edMXjF">Adriaan Goossens</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Asian diversity</h2>
<p>First and foremost, let us consider whether all Asian-Americans are members of a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NfV8Iy4CNaoC&pg=PA207">high-achieving</a> monolithic <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/unraveling-the-model-minority-stereotype-9780807749739">model minority</a>, as these reports seem to suggest.</p>
<p>Research in higher education shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2004.0025">class and ethnicity</a> shape Asian-Americans’ post-secondary decisions, opportunities and destinations. The model minority stereotype, in fact, begins to break down when we look at the data by ethnicity and class. </p>
<p>While Chinese-Americans and Indian-Americans do have <a href="http://care.gseis.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2011_CARE_Report.pdf">high rates of educational attainment</a>, it’s a different story for Southeast Asian-Americans.</p>
<p>Southeast Asian-Americans have among the lowest educational attainment in the country (e.g., <a href="http://www.searac.org/sites/default/files/SEARAC_Fact_Sheets_ACCESS_FINAL.pdf">fewer than 40 percent</a> of Americans over the age of 25 of Laotian, Cambodian or Hmong descent have a high school diploma). Compared to East Asians (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) and South Asians (Indian, Pakistani), Southeast Asians in the U.S. are <a href="http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415899475/">three to five times more likely</a> to drop out of college. </p>
<p>Southeast Asian-American students struggle with high rates of poverty and are <a href="http://www.searac.org/content/education-policy-resource-hub">often trapped</a> in programs for English learners, which fail to prepare them for college. </p>
<p>But this diversity among Asian-Americans is often lost in conversations about the “Asian disadvantage.” As a result, the interests of the most vulnerable Asian-Americans are not represented by anti-affirmative action rhetoric.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181293/original/file-20170807-27840-1s5tl64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hmong-Americans have some of the lowest averages when it comes to high school and college degree attainment in the U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Morry Gash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Race and college admissions</h2>
<p>Most elite colleges and universities, both private and public, use <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/the-false-promise-of-holistic-college-admissions/282432/">holistic admissions practices</a>. These aim to paint a more complete and complex picture of applicants through the consideration of letters of recommendation, admissions interviews, personal essays, grade point averages, test scores and experiences in a range of both co- and extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>According to the Supreme Court, race may be <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981">one among many considerations</a> in the admissions process. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/opinion/is-harvard-unfair-to-asian-americans.html">critics charge</a> that these policies unfairly disadvantage Asian-Americans, with an unspoken quota on the number of Asian-American students admitted to elite universities.</p>
<p>After all, critics ask, if an otherwise qualified Asian-American student scores better on the SAT, should that student not be preferred over the competition – whatever race or ethnicity they may be?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87962/original/image-20150709-10876-yiznai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87962/original/image-20150709-10876-yiznai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87962/original/image-20150709-10876-yiznai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87962/original/image-20150709-10876-yiznai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87962/original/image-20150709-10876-yiznai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87962/original/image-20150709-10876-yiznai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87962/original/image-20150709-10876-yiznai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Access to test preparation varies among Asian-Americans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/15267290@N03/2083325695/in/photolist-4b6A9x-hyRSPd-785h2-5RRcAT-4b6A2p-3359Vs-4baBPU-4b6ASD-4b6AJp-4baBoJ-32ZEd2-3xJbEz-8UrcVy-h3x7LD-9FgMt5-2Cef64-8TZKk8-m5iAUp-8TZg4D-3nnzoN-2S8Wwv-94MQLu-paxqf1-4pm62Q-3mLyF-aSkrpx-8TZfEH-4SRkCf-8T2w1d-8GtErk-62G9KN-6sWfxA-6sS7gX-23Jxro-kE5SyR-6sS7gc-99SuRj-r6aqAH-6V4viw-8v6717-bBWdsu-bBWdsy-8U48Fb-8U3jm3-9uM78c-kAyysP-8U3iS9-4UXsmn-aBFiHW-8U48pY">naraekim0801</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Test scores favor the rich</h2>
<p>One problem with theories of the “Asian disadvantage” is the assumption that test scores are an accurate, fair and objective way to assess applicants, and that they should be a dominant factor in determining college admissions.</p>
<p>However, studies have shown that test scores are <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/nail-biting-standardized-testing-may-miss-mark-college-students/">not great predictors of success in college</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-10-08/sats-the-test-prep-business-is-booming">rapidly growing test-prep industry</a> gives a decided advantage to those families with the resources to pay for these courses.</p>
<p>Among Asian-Americans, participation in test prep courses and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711417009">private tutoring</a> appears to vary across class and ethnic groups.</p>
<p>One study found that Chinese-Americans (44.3 percent) and Korean-Americans (52.4 percent) had the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2004.0025">highest rates of SAT prep participation</a>, with Chinese and Koreans from the highest income bracket being most likely to take these preparation courses. </p>
<p>Test scores, in some ways, tell us more about access to resources than about student capacity and learning: The reality is that students do not enter into these tests as equals.</p>
<h2>Why we support holistic admissions</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181297/original/file-20170807-25539-aspdru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taiwanese-American Jeremy Lin attended Harvard and went on to become a star player in the NBA. Lin believes his race discouraged many college recruiters, but was admitted by Harvard’s holistic admissions process.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Michael Dwyer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s true that even holistic admissions put <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X14523039">those with greater resources at an advantage</a>. In addition to test preparation courses and tutoring, those with higher income can potentially afford to pay for numerous extracurricular activities and even private admissions counselors to “package” their children. </p>
<p>However, we believe that holistic admissions still represent our best bet for capturing who students are and can be. They allow colleges to look beyond a test and consider students – including Asian-Americans – as whole individuals. </p>
<p>While Asian-American critics of holistic admissions and affirmative action have gotten the most attention in the press, there are many other Asian-Americans who support <a href="http://asianamericancivilrights.org">these practices</a>. </p>
<p>As Asian-American scholars who support both holistic admissions and affirmative action, we assert that many Asian-Americans have been helped by affirmative action policies in higher education. In fact, may Asian-Americans could benefit from affirmative action after college, where they often face what’s known as the <a href="http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2015/06/09/why-asian-americans-shouldnt-chuck-affirmative-action-out-the-window/ideas/nexus/">bamboo ceiling</a>, which impedes their growth in corporate America.</p>
<p>These policies are needed.</p>
<p>Not all Asian-Americans have the socioeconomic advantages needed to compete in higher education. Holistic admissions and affirmative action protect the interests of underrepresented Asian-Americans’ access to a college degree.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on July 15, 2015. Since publication, Kevin Kumashiro has retired as dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stacey Lee received funding from the Spencer Foundation for unrelated research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin K. Kumashiro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not all Asian-Americans are high-achieving model minorities. What happens when the myth of Asian disadvantage hurts some of the most marginalized students in the US?Stacey Lee, Professor & Chair of Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin-MadisonKevin K. Kumashiro, Dean of School of Education, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.