About Higher Education and the Color Line

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision upholding affirmative action, this comprehensive and timely book outlines the agenda for achieving racial justice in higher education in the next generation. Weaving together current research and a discussion of overarching demographic, legal, and political issues, the book focuses on the racial transformation of higher education and the structural barriers that perpetuate racial stratification at the postsecondary level.

Higher Education and the Color Line includes chapters that outline the demographic changes in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary school enrollment; the evolving role of law and policy; the barriers faced by minority college students; and the kinds of programs that best serve them. Topics addressed include financial aid; the role of community colleges; nontraditional paths to postsecondary education; and the role of higher education in social and economic mobility. In addition to providing a thorough and up-to-date assessment of the state of racial integration in higher education, the book goes beyond the usual black-and-white analysis to provide a multiethnic perspective supported by extensive new data.

Taken together, these discussions examine the role of higher education in opening up equal opportunity for mobility in American society--or in reinforcing the segregation between white and nonwhite America. It provides insight for how institutions, states, and the country should be thinking about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s hope that affirmative action will no longer be needed in 25 years.

Gary Orfield is professor of education and social policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His is also cofounder and director of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. Patricia Marin is a higher education research associate at The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. Catherine L. Horn is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Houston.

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Table of Contents for Higher Education and the Color Line

Introduction
Gary Orfield

The Racial Transformation of Higher Education
Michal Kurlaender and Stella M. Flores

Necessary but Not Sufficient: Higher Education as a Strategy of Social Mobility
David Karen and Kevin Dougherty

Equity in Educational Attainment: Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Inequality in the 50 States
Derek V. Price and Jill K. Wohlford

Can Minority Students Afford College in an Era of Skyrocketing Tuition?
Donald E. Heller

Illusions of Opportunity?: From College Access to Job Access at Two-Year Colleges
Regina Deil-Amen, James Rosenbaum, and Ann Person

Diversity on Campus: Exemplary Programs for Retaining and Supporting Students of Color
Dean Whitla, Carolyn Howard, Frank Tuitt, Richard Reddick, and Elizabeth Flanagan

Potential or Peril: The Evolving Relationship between Large-Scale Standardized Assessment and Higher Education
Catherine L. Horn

After Grutter and Gratz: Higher Education, Race, and the Law
Angelo N. Ancheta

A New Vision for Higher Education Policy
Patricia Marin and John T. Yun

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Publishing Information

Higher Education and the Color Line: College Access, Racial Equity, and Social Change
Edited by Gary Orfield, Patricia Marin, and Catherine L. Horn
©2005
ISBN 1-891792-60-1 $59.95 library, ORDER
ISBN 1-891792-59-8 $29.95 paperback, ORDER
300 pages

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