Research

Higher Education, Diversity and Access

The importance of diversity and inclusion to higher education was the focus of intense legal and social scientific analysis in the decisions of the United States Supreme Court concerning affirmative action at the University of Michigan. The leadership of higher education and several other sectors of society offered overwhelming support, and a significant amount of evidence, for the proposition that student diversity - specifically the racial and ethnic diversity there at issue - is a compelling interest in higher education.

In California in 1996, the passage of Proposition 209 brought an end to most voluntary state and local government affirmative action policies in public employment, education, and contracting. At the University of California, the direct effect of Proposition 209 on student body diversity was devastating, and the decrease in the presence of underrepresented minorities continues. Appropriately, the leadership of the University of California has become increasingly attentive to determining the precise scope and boundaries of Proposition 209. Is everything that can be done, within the limits of state and federal law, in fact being done? Three central questions - the parameterization of legal risk, the array of program options, and the information needed for hard choices - are the underpinnings of a strategy for advancing the goals of inclusion and diversity.

The first Warren Institute effort within a broader undertaking concerning the consequences and future of proposition 209 with respect to higher education is a report providing an analytical framework for the evaluation of diversity-related programs at the University of California-Berkeley in light of federal legal principles and applicable state law. To help ensure that these programs effectively advance institutional goals, appropriately balance legal risk, and protect the rights of all persons, the report will examine the important principles and unsettled questions for decision makers in California higher education, will establish a framework to order the vast universe of inclusion-related programs at U.C. Berkeley and comparable institutions, and will offer strategies for institutional research and program evaluation so that U.C. Berkeley and similar institutions will be able to improve their ability to make wise decisions in this realm in the future.

Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: The Past and Future of Proposition 209

On October 27, 2006, we convened a symposium entitled “Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: The Past and Future of Proposition 209,” (click here to see the conference homepage) on the Berkeley campus at the Clark Kerr Center. We had a rich dialogue on the consequences of Prop 209, with commissioned authors presenting their research and various community partners adding their input to various sessions.

The following are links to drafts of the roughly 25 studies from leading scholars and policymakers across the nation that we commissioned for the conference, representing a wide variety of disciplines and institutions. Initially made available on a CD-Rom at the conference, these drafts represent our interests in probing rigorously and creatively into the past, present and future consequences of Proposition 209, as well as in fostering a nonpartisan analysis of how Proposition 209 has affected student and faculty diversity in California higher education.

• Commissioned Research Abstracts
• Agronow, Samuel J. A Comparison of Non-Traditional vs. Traditional Measures of Success for Underrepresented Minority Students
• Brown, Edley et al. - California at a Crossroads:Confronting the Looming Threat to Achievement, Accessand Equity at the University of California and Beyond
• Brown, Stern, et al. - UC “Eligibility”: The Quest for Excellence and Diversity
• Chavez, Lisa - Eligibility in the Local Context and Applications to the University of California
• Goodman, Chris C. - Hurdles in the Minor League: Distinguishing Access from Retention Privileges to Effectuate the Elusive "Voter Intent" on Proposition 209
• Grodsky and Kurlaender - The Demography of Higher Education in the Wake of Affirmative Action
• rodsky, Hom, and Roksa - The Role of Community Colleges in Promoting Student Diversity in California
• Holland and Knight - Advancing Diversity at the University of California, Berkeley Under Proposition 209
• Holland and Knight - Powerpoint
• Kaufman - Satisfying the Constitution and Proposition 209: Lawful Educational Strategies Designed to Teach Racial Literacy to Secondary School Students and to Preference Racially-literate Applicants to Higher Education
• Le, Lee, and Sawyer - Demographic Change, Issue Frames, and Simulating the Vote to Repeal Proposition 209
• Long and Tienda - Winners and Losers: Changes in Texas University Admissions post-Hopwood
• Lytle and Mehan - Creating Urban Field Stations: A Remedy and a Model For Diversity and Access in Higher Education
• MacLachlan, Anne J. - Report on Academic Outreach and Support for Diversity After Proposition 209.
• Mickelson, Roslyn A. - What New Social Science Evidence Suggests about K-12 Diversity and Access to Higher Education for Underrepresented Minority Students
• Miksch, Karen - Widening the River: Challenging Unequal Schools in Order to Contest Prop 209
• Muñiz, Marcela - The Gender Distribution of Underrepresented Minority Undergraduates at UC Berkeley post-Proposition 209
• Oakes, Rogers, et al. - Removing the Roadblocks: Fair College Opportunities for All California Students
• Oakes, Rogers, et al. - Powerpoint
• Oppenheimer, David B. - The Legality of Promoting Inclusiveness: May the University of California use race or ethnicity as factors in applicant outreach?
• Park, Julie - Are You Happy Yet? Examining College Student Satisfaction with Campus Diversity
• Reynoso and Kidder - Tribal Membership and State Law Affirmative Action Bans
• Santos, et al. Access and Eligibility in a Race Neutral Policy Environment
• Studley, Roger E. - Inequality, Student Achievement and College Admissions: A Remedy for Underrepresentation
• Teranishi and Briscoe - Revisiting the College Choice Process for African Americans:
  The Role of Racial Microaggressions
• West-Faulcon, Kimberly - From Race Preferences to Race Discrimination:
  Does Proposition 209 Permit Remedial Affirmative Action?
• Wilbur, Susan A. College Destinations for University of California
  Fall 2005 Freshman Admits