Higher education institutions’ historically racist admission policies have led to underrepresentation of Black and Latino students and the only way colleges and universities can remedy that is through race-conscious policies, says a report published Wednesday by The Education Trust.
By design, race-conscious policies will increase higher education access and provide much-needed support to students of color, the report adds.
The report, “Hard Truths: Why Only Race-Conscious Policies Can Fix Racism in Higher Education,” urges education equity advocates to proactively work for change. It also provides guidelines and tools to empower minority students in an atmosphere where racial inequalities have grown due to the elimination of race-conscious policies.
The report offers race-conscious policy recommendations for higher education institutions.
Among them are strengthening K–12, renewing commitment to affirmative action, making data on college opportunity and outcomes public and having states design race-conscious attainment goals and strategies. The report also suggests accreditors make campus racial climate a consideration when evaluating institutions.
“Hard Truths” also recommends increased federal and state investment in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs) and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) in order to close achievement gaps.
“[The] first step in some places is removing barriers so that institutional leaders are motivated and interested in enacting race-conscious policies and feel safe to do so,” says Dr. Tiffany Jones, co-author of the report and senior director of higher education policy at The Education Trust.
