tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/race-neutral-admissions-28722/articlesRace-neutral admissions – The Conversation2023-12-06T13:26:28Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170472023-12-06T13:26:28Z2023-12-06T13:26:28ZBook explores how colleges seek to increase racial diversity without relying on race in college admissions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562849/original/file-20231130-27-n0ksy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C5699%2C3811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will commitments to diversity be enough?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/african-descent-male-college-student-graduation-on-royalty-free-image/1125957913?phrase=diverse+college+graduation">fstop123</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2022/20-1199">outlawed the use of race in college admissions</a> in June 2023, it forced colleges and universities to rethink how to maintain and increase diversity in their student bodies. It’s a topic that <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qmqHjM8AAAAJ&hl=en">political science professor Lauren Foley</a> had been exploring in her new book, “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479821662/on-the-basis-of-race/">On the Basis of Race: How Higher Education Navigates Affirmative Action Policies</a>.” Below, Foley expounds on what she sees as the future of diversity in higher education now that college admission officials can no longer consider race.</em></p>
<h2>Is racial diversity in higher education about to suffer?</h2>
<p>Yes, the likelihood of admission for racial minority students <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373713508810">will suffer</a> as a result of the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2022/20-1199">nationwide affirmative action ban</a> in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. We know this from research done in states with existing affirmative action bans. Courts and ballot initiatives have banned affirmative action state by state in the last three decades. These states include <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/001979390706000304">California in 1996</a>, <a href="https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2023/06/29/what-the-us-supreme-court-decision-rejecting-affirmative-action-means-in-washington">Washington in 1998</a>, <a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/news/sixteen-years-ago-affirmative-action-was-banned-in-michigan-with-upcoming-supreme-court-lawsuit-it-may-be-banned-nationwide/">Michigan in 2006</a>, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Affirmative_action_in_Nebraska">Nebraska in 2008</a> and <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Affirmative_action_in_Arizona">Arizona in 2010</a>. In 1996, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/78/932/504514/">Hopwood v. Texas</a> banned affirmative action across its jurisdiction: Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana.</p>
<p>Regardless of how selective a public university may be, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904820961007">the enrollment of racial minorities at those schools declines</a> if they are located in states that ban affirmative action.</p>
<p>The largest effects are felt at the most selective flagship universities, like <a href="https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/_files/uc-affirmative-action.pdf">University of California Berkeley, UCLA</a> and the <a href="https://record.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/220804_AmicusBrief.pdf">University of Michigan</a>. All of these schools self-reported dramatic declines in representation, particularly among Black, Hispanic and Native students. According to this data, underrepresented groups declined by 12% across the University of California system. At the University of Michigan, Black and Native undergraduate enrollment fell by 44% and 90%, respectively, in the years following the affirmative action ban.</p>
<p>Affirmative action was a precise tool in that it allowed universities to pay specific attention to specific populations of applicants. Without this tool, universities are left with blunt policy solutions and struggle to maintain and increase student racial diversity.</p>
<h2>What lessons does your book offer for colleges and universities?</h2>
<p>A ban on the method is not a ban on the goal.</p>
<p>Nationally, universities can <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf">no longer practice affirmative action</a> as a way to maintain racial diversity among their students. This does not mean, however, that universities will abandon their commitments to racial diversity.</p>
<p>Even in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/us/politics/affirmative-action-ban-states.html">states that already had bans on affirmative action</a> before the Supreme Court banned the practice, universities <a href="https://news.umich.edu/u-m-president-mary-sue-coleman/">reiterated</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2999406">their commitments to racial diversity</a>. They also reaffirmed that they would both comply with the ban and find ways to prioritize diversity. </p>
<p>Still, I believe affirmative action bans could have a chilling effect on the willingness of some universities to explicitly mention race in their discussions and policies regarding diversity and inclusion. Bans on affirmative action discourage university administrators from <a href="https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v4-18-449/">using race</a> as a criteria in admissions, even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/590673">when they are otherwise allowed</a> to do so. This research demonstrates how universities that are less selective have adopted broader statements about diversity and student recruitment that do not explicitly mention race.</p>
<h2>How are colleges responding?</h2>
<p>When colleges use race-neutral strategies to increase racial diversity, <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/94/3/712/58001/The-Effects-of-Affirmative-Action-Bans-on-College">they don’t get</a> <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/reardon_white_paper.pdf">the same results</a> that they did with race-conscious affirmative action. There simply are no policy tools <a href="https://www.uclalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Kidder-D64-update.pdf">that work as well</a> as affirmative action at producing racial diversity.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, universities will now seek out race-neutral methods to maintain or increase racial diversity on campus.</p>
<p>One example is <a href="https://cshe.berkeley.edu/publications/diversity-university-admissions-affirmative-action-percent-plans-and-holistic-review">holistic admissions</a>. This involves assessment of an applicant’s academic achievements using multiple factors. These factors include socioeconomic hardship, educational disadvantages or other forms of adversity. <a href="https://news.umich.edu/applications-to-u-m-are-the-highest-in-the-school-s-history/">Computer software</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/s1059-433720190000080001">can aid</a> universities in making demographic factors like the educational backgrounds of parents, the number of students on free or reduced lunch at the schools an applicant attended and the family’s socioeconomic status part of the admissions review.</p>
<p>Other states have tried legislative solutions, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4643283/">guaranteeing</a> <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED592617">enrollment</a> at state universities to graduating high school seniors in the top percent of their class.</p>
<p>Following the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling, some colleges and universities have pursued creative solutions to comply with the Supreme Court decision. For example, at Sarah Lawrence College, the admissions application <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2023/07/20/new-application-essay-prompt-cites-affirmative-action">cites language from the decision</a> when it asks students to comment on the role race has played in their lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Foley 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>The author of a new book on affirmative action in higher education discusses how colleges might still be able to become more diverse now that affirmative action has been banned.Lauren Foley, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Western Michigan UniversityLicensed 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>
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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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<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>
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</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/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/597842016-06-23T17:06:39Z2016-06-23T17:06:39ZAfter Supreme Court’s Fisher decision: what we need to know about considering race in admissions<p>On Thursday, June 23, <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-981_4g15.pdf">the U.S. Supreme Court upheld</a> the constitutionality of a race-conscious post-secondary admissions policy at the University of Texas at Austin. </p>
<p>Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered to be the swing vote, joined Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, in a 4-3 decision that affirmed the constitutionality of the race-conscious policy and the university’s compelling interest in the educational benefits of a diverse student body. </p>
<p>At the same time, the decision addressed the need for institutions to continue to assess whether so-called race-neutral alternatives are available and workable, and suffice for achieving the university’s goals. </p>
<p>A large body of evidence shows so-called race-neutral admissions policies are not as effective for attaining racial diversity on campus. They could even exacerbate existing racial inequities. </p>
<h2>The Fisher case</h2>
<p>In 2008, Abigail Fisher, a white woman, applied to the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and was denied admission. She then sued the university on the grounds that the university’s admissions policy, which considered race as one of many other factors, violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A lower court ruled in favor of UT Austin. </p>
<p>In 2012, the case came up before the Supreme Court. In 2013, the Supreme Court <a href="http://qz.com/444199/factoring-race-into-college-admissions-is-crucial-to-campus-diversity/">sent the case back</a> to the lower court to conduct a more rigorous assessment of whether UT Austin needed to consider race at all in admissions in order to have more diversity. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court was concerned that the lower court had relied primarily on the university’s judgment, without conducting an independent review of whether the institution had sufficiently considered race-neutral approaches. </p>
<p>After having been decided again in UT Austin’s favor by the lower court, and appealed again by Fisher, the court affirmed the lower court’s ruling that UT Austin justified its consideration of race and its policy was constitutional. </p>
<h2>What are race-neutral approaches?</h2>
<p>Universities and colleges have turned to <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Race-Class-and-College-Access-Achieving-Diversity-in-a-Shifting-Legal-Landscape.aspx">a number of approaches</a> that, under the legal definition, can be considered race-neutral. </p>
<p>In law, these efforts are called race-neutral because they do not explicitly consider race in admissions.</p>
<p>Such strategies are meant to encourage more underrepresented students of color to enroll in college. These include outreach and recruitment efforts, such as visits to high schools that enroll high percentages of students of color and those with low socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>They can also include placing greater weight on a student’s socioeconomic status, instead of their race, in the admissions process. Or, as was the case in Texas, “percent plans” that guarantee admissions to students who graduate within a specified percentage of their high school class.</p>
<p>And what’s the evidence on such race-neutral efforts?</p>
<h2>Racial diversity declines with race-neutral admissions</h2>
<p>One of my prior <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/01/14/0002831212470483">studies</a> found that bans on race-conscious admissions led to substantial declines in racial diversity across a number of important graduate fields of study, such as engineering, the natural sciences and the social sciences, and <a href="http://theconversation.com/ban-on-affirmative-action-in-medicine-will-hurt-all-39904">schools of medicine.</a> </p>
<p>In the field of engineering alone, student of color enrollment declined by 26 percent. This happened at public institutions across California, Florida, Texas and Washington. At public medical schools in six states that banned race-conscious admissions, it dropped by 17 percent. It was so even when post-secondary institutions in states with bans pursued race-neutral alternatives. </p>
<p>Others have documented similar results in undergraduate enrollment following bans in race-conscious admissions.</p>
<p>Research has documented declines in African-American and Latino enrollment at the most <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00170#.VmbvJ9-rR">selective undergraduate schools</a>, in the fields of <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/issues/volume-72-number-1/threat-diversity-legal-education-empirical-analysis-consequences">law</a>, and <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">business</a> following such bans.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00170#.VmbvJ9-rR">study</a> of the impact in California, Florida, Texas and Washington state, bans at the most selective institutions (top 50 universities listed in the 1995 US News & World Report college rankings) led to a 1.74 percentage point decline in African-American enrollment, roughly a 2.03 percentage point decline in Latino enrollment, and a decrease in Native American enrollment of roughly .47 percentage points. </p>
<p>Because of the small percentage of students at these institutions who are African-American (5.79 percent), Latino (7.38 percent) and Native American (.51 percent), these changes in enrollment are very large in relative terms. </p>
<h2>What do we know about race-neutral policies?</h2>
<p>In a <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807757551.shtml">study</a> that I conducted with a colleague at the University of Michigan, where race-conscious admissions is banned, we asked administrators about the viability of expanded outreach to high schools as a strategy to encourage more students of color to apply.</p>
<p>We found that administrators were concerned about the effectiveness of these alternatives. They noted that even if more students of color apply, it did not mean they would be admitted or able to enroll without targeted financial aid. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127949/original/image-20160623-30242-f765wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">University of Michigan has banned race-conscious admission policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brostad/2902469588/in/photolist-5qtV67-4Eiwbe-4EnLTY-4GbSPQ-p2DZxK-jPHUJn-eckQez-nhQ1mN-4EivCk-b2szW-LjYKi-bxSa6T-4Ecfg5-z6oEpy-pLbEvz-8NpRS9-9ArUW8-cY3aoJ-JUhBE-doA2xR-LDz54-5BTbLL-5Mqc2-9NEYMC-aPnyWk-ej89r2-4EnLNu-6NPykM-j8qckK-guva-59rLW1-qRpPDs-dACFTy-gmv6Af-qyVSiA-ei4Yxc-pBfW5C-9AuP1L-5F3oAr-4EivEM-4EivYp-59rLJG-eb6xWy-em2Y6E-nDFqu-6euix-LDBWM-4G7GC6-6Upiu4-3j2NKD">Bernt Rostad</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other studies show that race-neutral policies to achieve racial diversity have not worked. In Fisher II, for which I served as a counsel of record, <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/14-981_amicus_resp_823Social-Scientists.authcheckdam.pdf">over 800 social scientists</a> gathered evidence for a friend of the court brief. </p>
<p>For example, evidence from Texas, California and Florida shows that percent plans have not <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/flores_white_paper.pdf">proven to be reliable alternatives</a>.</p>
<p>And class-based approaches, such as replacing the consideration of race with socioeconomic background in admissions, are not an effective path toward racial diversity. </p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/reardon_white_paper.pdf">most rigorous studies</a> show that it is the combination of both class and race in admissions that generates the most robust student body diversity. For these reasons, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/27/should-affirmative-action-be-based-on-income/class-based-affirmative-action-works">arguments that seek to replace the consideration of race with socioeconomic class</a> merely fabricate a false choice.</p>
<p>Over the last two decades <a href="http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/kidder_paper.pdf">California has tried</a> to bring racial diversity through race-neutral approaches. These include extensive outreach and support programs with very high investment of financial resources. </p>
<p>However, at UC Berkeley and UCLA, the proportion of California resident African-American students offered admission in 2011 was still 46 percent lower than 1995, the year before Proposition 209, the ban on race-conscious admissions in that state, was in place.</p>
<h2>How race-neutral approaches can hurt diversity efforts</h2>
<p>Race-neutral approaches can also have consequences for supporting inclusive campus environments for all students. The negative consequences can extend beyond the decline in the number of students of color who are admitted and undermine other efforts that are needed to improve racial climate on college campuses.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/52/5/828">study</a> that I conducted with a colleague, we found that laws like Proposal 2 – which banned race-conscious admissions in Michigan in 2006 – limited the actions administrators could take to address existing racism. </p>
<p>Administrators discussed how after the law, they felt they had to make their efforts around racial diversity less visible and felt less empowered to advocate for racial diversity. They were concerned that the law contributed to negative perceptions about the university’s commitment to racial diversity, which could discourage students of color to apply.</p>
<p>In contrast, other <a href="https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/mei/milem_et_al.pdf">research</a> has shown that diversity efforts needed to be visible. It also found that higher education professionals needed to feel empowered to do the work that is necessary to support students of color. </p>
<h2>How not discussing race worsens inequities</h2>
<p>Efforts to enact so called race-neutral approaches can also lead to what scholars have termed color-mute language or actions undertaken in a colorblind framework. Such an approach also has negative implications for racial equity on campus.</p>
<p>Scholar <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7773.html">Mika Pollock has studied this phenomenon extensively in the K-12 context</a>. She shows that actively deleting race from conversations can increase the role race plays in creating inequities. Color-mute language keeps us from discussing ways in which opportunities are not racially equal. They allow racial biases to go unchecked.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/01/18/how-so-called-colorblind-admissions-reviews-create-barriers-people-color-essay">recent major study</a> documents similar risks of a race-neutral approach in higher education. Over 60 interviews of professors at 10 highly ranked doctoral programs revealed that when faculty and decision-makers undertake ostensible race-neutral approaches in admissions – despite good intentions to increase diversity – it silences discussions around actions that can systematically exclude underrepresented students of color, such as assessment tests.</p>
<p>This evidence shows that diversity efforts under the mantle of race-neutral strategies can actively perpetuate the very racial inequities that educators want to address and dismantle.</p>
<h2>The need to maintain an ongoing focus on race</h2>
<p>All of this means that as institutions chart their next steps and responses to Fisher II, it will be important to maintain an active focus on race, such as understanding how admissions decisions can account for the ongoing racial inequities in K-12 schooling.</p>
<p>It will be important for administrators to develop a more complex understanding of how race and class intersect so both factors can be meaningfully considered in admissions. Faculty and administrators should also be supported to help counter racial biases that can play out in programmatic decisions for the university.</p>
<p>In following the court’s ruling in Fisher II, post-secondary institutions will need to become more active and nuanced in how they address race and racial inequality in their policies and practices, and they will be able to turn to a large body of evidence to guide their efforts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liliana M Garces receives funding from the William T. Grant Foundation for work on another research project. </span></em></p>In the Fisher case judgment, the Supreme Court has reminded institutions to assess race-neutral policies. But evidence shows race-neutral policies could worsen racial inequalities.Liliana M. Garces, Associate Professor of Education, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.