The Future of Affirmative Action

This report addresses the issues of college completion and stratification in an important subset of higher education institutions: four-year colleges and universities that employ selective admissions. Research suggests that attending a selective college increases a student’s chances of attainment and success as an adult, particularly if he or she comes from a low-income or minority household. As the U.S. student population grows increasingly diverse, promoting racial, ethnic, and economic inclusion at selective colleges is more important than ever. The June 2013 Supreme Court decision in Fisher v. University of Texas decision poses a significant challenge for selective universities that wish to remain racially and ethnically diverse. As the essays in this volume make clear, universities cannot simply rely on the old ways of achieving diversity and must think creatively about new solutions that offer concrete evidence of diversity-related policies and practices designed to achieve institutional equity and excellence. This volume brings together some of the leading minds in American higher education to think through these issues on the heels of the Fisher decision in August 2013. The essays in this volume make clear, universities cannot simply rely on the old ways of achieving diversity and must think creatively about new solutions that offer concrete evidence of diversity-related policies and practices designed to achieve institutional equity and excellence.