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We are committed to generating and synthesizing
research on key civil rights and equal opportunity policies that
have been neglected or overlooked.
The Civil Rights Project believes that access and
equity are two of the greatest issues facing higher education today
and that continued scholarly research needs to be done to better
understand the importance of affirmative action as it relates to
them. To that end, our work related to higher education has concentrated
on three particular goals. First, The CRP believes that it has been
particularly important to continue building a critical body of scholarly
research demonstrating the benefits of diversity to higher education.
Additionally, in places that have lost affirmative action, we have
examined the success of potential alternatives and how to improve
them. Finally, we have studied issues besides admissions (e.g.,
merit aid scholarships) that are also major obstacles to underrepresented
students attending college.
Our current research interests related to social justice
and higher education include:
- Affirmative action and admissions policies
- Financing
- Community and open-access 4 year colleges
- Access to post-secondary education
Our most recent work related to higher education includes:
- Higher
Education and the Color Line
published in 2005, Higher Education and the Color Line outlines
the agenda for achieving racial justice in higher education in
the next generation.
- The
Access Crisis in American Higher Education
In October 2003, CRP and UC Davis joinded forces to host a conference
on the cisis in higher education. The conference yielded a major
set of papers which was published in the May issue of the Educational
Policy journal.
- "State Merit Scholarship
Programs and Racial Inequality", published in 2004 by
The Civil Rights Project, with funding from the Nellie Mae Education
Foundation. This report examines a proposed merit scholarship
program in Massachusetts, as well as existing programs in eight
other states (Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan,
New Mexico, and Washington). The studies that comprise the report
assess the impact of these merit aid programs on their states,
focusing primarily on the outcomes for underrepresented and low-income
students.
- "Who Should We Help?
The Negative Social Consequences of Merit Scholarships",
published in 2002 by The Civil Rights Project. This report studies
four of the country's publicly funded merit scholarship programs,
including three of the nation's four largest programs to assess
the impact of these programs on their states. It focuses primarily
on the question of whether these programs promote college access
and attainment in each state, and how well the programs serve
the needs of students from different income and racial and ethnic
groups.
- Chilling Admissions: The Affirmative
Action Crisis and the Search for Alternatives, published
in 1998 by Harvard Education Publishing Group. The book focuses
on the interrelated questions of what the consequences for student
body diversity would be if race and ethnicity are eliminated as
factors in university admissions and whether non-racial criteria
exist that might be used in admissions and still do reasonably
well at achieving desired levels of both diversity and academic
preparedness.
- Diversity Challenged: Evidence
on the Impact of Affirmative Action, published in 2001
by The Civil Rights Project. The book contains several studies
on affirmative action's educational impacts, including a study
of students at the University of Michigan Law School and Harvard
Law School.
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