Is campus racial diversity correlated with educational benefits?

Academic Questions

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 72-88

  Wood, Thomas E ^a   Sherman, Malcolm J ^b  

^a STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^b Academic Questions   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 77950522524     PISSN: 08954852     EISSN: 19364709     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s12129-001-1011-x     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. "That more-diverse campuses better educate their students 'is yet to be convincingly demonstrated,' [Astin] acknowledges. 'The research still needs to be done that would demonstrate the link.'" Peter Schmidt, "Debating the Benefits of Affirmative Action, " Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 May 2001, A-25.
2. Alexander W. Astin, Assessment for Excellence: The Philosophy and Practice of Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education (Phoenix, AZ: American Council on Education/Oryx Press, 1993), 64.
3. The distinction between student involvement and final outcome variables becomes an issue.
4. Alexander W. Astin, What Matters In College?: Four Critical Years Revisited (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1993), 362. The hardbound edition was published in 1991 by the American Council on Education/Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.
5. Alexander W. Astin, What Matters In College?: Four Critical Years Revisited (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1993), 362. The hardbound edition was published in 1991 by the American Council on Education/Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.
6. Mitchell J. Chang, Racial Diversity in Higher Education: Does a Racially Mixed Student Population Affect Educational Outcomes? Unpublished doctoral dissertation (Los Angeles: University of California, 1996). University Microforms International (UMI), Ann Arbor, MI: Order Number 9626812.
7. The exact wording of the "Socialization" and "Discussion" variables can be found in the 1989 Follow-Up Survey, T. L. Wingard, J. G. Trevifio, E. L. Dey, and W. S. Korn, 1991. The American College Student, 1989--National Norms for 1985 and 1987 College Freshmen (Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, University of California), 206.
8. Chang, Racial Diversity in Higher Education, 149-155.
9. Henceforth we shall refer to this paper by its running head: "Diversity & Viewpoints. " The paper is available on the Web as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document at: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/chang/Diversity_Viewpoints.pdf.
10. "Diversity & Viewpoints, " 35.
11. "Diversity & Viewpoints, " 35.
12. Patricia Y. Gurin, Expert witness report of Patricia Y Gurin, in Gratz, et al. v. Bollinge'6, et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.) (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998). An unpaginated online version available at http://www.umich.edu/-urel/admissions/legal/expert/gurintoc.html). Our references are to the hard copy version submitted to the court.
13. These figures are for the four-year study. The part of Gurin's report that is based on the CIRP data also includes a nine-year follow-up study, which involved different outcome variables.
14. Deposition of Patricia Gurin, February 12, 1999 in the matter of" Barbara C, rutter v. Lee Bolling et al. Esquire Deposition Services, Ann Arbor, MI. Original File 021299PG. ASC, 90 pages, Min-U-Script{pipe} File ID: 1373710982.
15. Patricia Y. Gurin, Expert witness report of Patricia Y Gurin, in Gratz, et al. v. Bollinge'6, et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.) (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998).
16. Patricia Y. Gurin, Expert witness report of Patricia Y Gurin, in Gratz, et al. v. Bollinge'6, et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.) (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998).
17. Patricia Y. Gurin, Expert witness report of Patricia Y Gurin, in Gratz, et al. v. Bollinge'6, et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.) (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998).
18. Patricia Y. Gurin, Expert witness report of Patricia Y Gurin, in Gratz, et al. v. Bollinge'6, et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.) (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998).
19. Expert witness report ofPatricia Y Gurin (1998): Table D.2, page 2 of 12.
20. There were no instances where all campus experience variables and the structural diversity variable were significant and positive for any four-year outcome variable.
21. Many would question whether Gurin's "democracy outcomes" are genuine academic outcomes. Even among the self-reported cognitive outcomes, only one--self-reported GPA--asks the student to report on the university's, rather than the student's, assessment of his or her academic skills.
22. Gurin is actually at two removes from the policies she claims to be defending. As we have seen, the variables she considers (diversity experiences) are not relevant to the issue before the courts. But even a showing that racial diversity per se is correlated with educational benefits would not settle the matter, for it matters how racial diversity is achievecL It also has to be demonstrated that racial preferences, which are designed to increase diversity artificially, do not themselves have a negative impact on student outcomes. This is exactly the kind of finding that researchers should be able to explore with the HERI-CIRP database itself. Unfortunately, the HERI-CIRP database has not been released to any researchers who do not themselves favor racial preferences. The fact that the HERI-CIRP database has not been made widely available to other researchers is a radical and disturbing departure from normal research practice. It is particularly disturbing now that the CIRP database is at the very center of controversies over racially preferential admissions policies in what is potentially landmark constitutional litigation.
23. Brief of National Association of Scholars as amicus curiae in support of plaintiffs' motion for partial summaryjudgrnent. Gratz, et al., v. Bolling et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.). (Princeton, NJ: National Association of Scholars, 14July 2000).
24. The Hon. PatrickJ. Duggan, United States District Judge, United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, Case No.: 97-CV-75231-DT; (13 December 2000).
25. Patricia Y. Gurin,Supplemental Expert Report of Patricia
26. Patricia Y. Gurin, "Supplemental Expert Report of Patricia