College Doors Slamming Shut On Black Students

Summary

---

Race matters. The attacks on race-conscious programs undermine the ability and authority of educational institutions to eliminate the vestiges of this nation's history of racial apartheid and to. guarantee equality of educational opportunity. It is inconsistent, at best, for the federal government to preach to aie nation about closing the achievement gap between Blacks and Whites and then threaten to cut off the federal funds of educational institutions that are trying to make sure qualified African American children receive a college education.

Race matters in the distribution of opportunity irrespective of other actors such as socioeconomic status and school environment Studies conclude (Carnevale and Rose) that if universities limit their recruitment to students with low socioeconomic status, the proportion of minority students in higher education would decrease. A study by Princeton sociologists concludes "eliminating affirmative action would reduce acceptance rates for African American and Latino applications by as much as one-half to two-thirds and have an equivalent impact on the proportion of underrepresented minority students in the admitted class." In his book, William Bowen notes that class-based affirmative action cannot replace "race-sensitive policies," since "the elimination of race-sensitive admissions would cause the share of undergraduate students who are underrepresented minorities to fall by half."

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

College Doors Slamming Shut On Black Students

"In order to go beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. "

HARRY BLACKMUN, Associate Justice U.S. Supreme Court.

UCLA'S enrolling only ninety- six Black freshmen this year should be a wake up call for any one concerned abo...

See the full content of this document

---