Inequities in Higher Education: Issues and Promising Practices in a World Ambivalent about Affirmative Action

Abstract

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the legality of race‐based affirmative action at universities in 2003. Although the decisions affirmed the legality of considering race in college admissions decisions, their long‐term effects are not entirely clear. They neither resolved conflicts nor solved problems affirmative action was intended to address, namely, disparities in educational outcomes between Whites and ethnic/racial minorities. Although disparities have diminished since 1965, policies and practices to sustain and further increase diversity in higher education without affirmative action are needed. This article provides historical and conceptual grounding for this JSI issue, which examines approaches for attaining campus diversity. Collectively, the issue provides approaches for increasing diversity as well as strategies for managing and benefiting from diversity in postsecondary environments.