Who You Calling “Minority”?—The Imperative to Improve Educational Opportunity for the Nation’s Emerging Majority
Historic and persistent gaps in educational opportunity for all of our Nation’s citizens are no longer a matter of debate, analysis, and political posturing. Racialized barriers to opportunity in educational attainment have placed millions of American children at risk. These students are disproportionately Black and Brown. Without a strong educational foundation, these children—our children—cannot emerge [...]
STEM Award Winner by The National Guard via Flickr There is a STEM crisis in the United States. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. The U.S. ranks 25th in math and 17th in science among the 65 countries participating in PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment. The STEM crisis is exacerbated by the [...]
Continue reading …Fisher Case Justices, Will You Reinforce the False Promises of the Past or Help Expand Opportunity for All?
November 1, 2012 Comments Off
In the Nation that we so desperately want to invent, it would be impossible to predict with any reasonable degree of accuracy the life chances of two new born babies—one of European ancestry; one of African ancestry. In that country, every citizen has an equal opportunity to strive, to achieve, and to grow. There are [...]
Continue reading …The challenge in the Fisher v. University of Texas case is about more than whether the University of Texas (and others like it) should be permitted to factor race along with numerous other aspects of an applicant’s biography when attempting to create a diverse learning environment. It is an attack on diversity and inclusion as [...]
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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in the case of Fisher v. Texas, which deals with the University of Texas’ undergraduate admissions policy. The policy, which some call “the Texas affirmative action plan,” is designed to promote diversity in the student body. However, it is not the only ‘affirmative action plan’ being used [...]
Continue reading …Fisher v. University of Texas is perhaps the most consequential case on the Supreme Court’s docket this year, and will determine whether the University of Texas’ efforts to promote diversity and increase educational opportunity by considering an applicant’s race in the admissions process will be permitted to continue. The Court’s decision could have wide-ranging [...]
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From our friends at Breakthrough.tv posted on the Huffington Post By Mallika Dutt, President and CEO, Breakthrough, With about a month left until Election Day, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are running out of time to share their vision for a fair, common sense immigration process. And really, haven’t we been waiting long enough? Both candidates [...]
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From our friends at Center for American Progress, Improving the lives of black boys and men is not an impossible task. When groups of concerned people gather to discuss black boys and men, the conversation all too often degrades into a hopeless discussion of problems and pathologies. Yawn. There’s nothing new to add to that [...]
Continue reading …The Weight of Fisher: Oral Argument in Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action v. Regents of the Univ. of Michigan
March 9, 2012 Comments Off
With the Supreme Court having recently announced that it would review the University of Texas’ affirmative action plan in Fisher v. Texas, this week the 6th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals reviewed the constitutionality of the Ward Connerly-inspired anti-affirmative action ballot initiative amending the Michigan Constitution. In a wide ranging oral argument which I attended Wednesday, [...]
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The United States Supreme Court recently agreed to take up the case of Fisher v. University of Texas. The case will once more put the issue of affirmative action squarely into national focus just eight years after the Court upheld the use of race in the University of Michigan’s admissions decisions in Grutter v. [...]
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