Southern (In)hospitality
New research examines the racial inequities that still plague higher education institutions in the South.
By Kendra Hamilton
If you believed that race-conscious admissions and other redress policies had been given a boost, especially in the South, by the University of Michigan’s high court decision in 2003, you wouldn’t be alone. But a massive new study — which includes exhaustive quantitative analyses, case studies of select flagship schools and a detailed overview of government policy environments — shines a harsh light on the limits of that belief.
“There’s wide agreement that progress has been made as a result of the Michigan cases,” says Dr. John Williams, professor of practice at the University of Maryland’s College of Education. But “we want people to understand that despite the progress that’s been made and the expected progress that might happen because of the Michigan victory, there are still many problems.
“There are many, many institutions that are not interested in using race for admissions or for any reason whatsoever, that are not particularly interested in the problems of equity and that are not doing very much to remedy the inequities. This too needs to be part of the discourse.”
Indeed, this is the key message of “The Status of Race Equity and Diversity in Public Higher Education in the South,” an analysis of trends in admissions, enrollment and completion at public colleges and universities in the 19 Southern and border states that maintained segregated systems of higher education in 1954.
