Anti-Discrimination regulations and Higher EducatioN

Anti-Discrimination Laws and Higher Education

Anti-Discrimination Laws and Higher Education

Colleges and universities play an important role in advancing equity through its efforts to recruit and retain students, faculty and staff of color. Despite the great improvement in educational equity since the 1950's, racial discrimination in higher education institutions still exists in the XXI century. To overcome barriers to progress in higher education for racialized people, institutions of higher education must take a real commitment to racial equity on campus. These commitments come in the form of proclamations, but in the form of bodies, time and monetary resources and the community. Educational institutions should closely examine the racial climate at school and work toward the ideological changes that remove barriers for racial / ethnic groups. commitments may result in the kind of institutional transformation that is needed to see a significant reduction in racial discrimination in schools and universities. There are a number of basic ideas that institutions can implement to address both the issues of discrimination and attempt to retain the right color.

Colleges and universities traditionally have not provided equal educational opportunities to students of color, and in the decade of 2000, students of color are not represented in higher education at rates that reflect their numbers in the population as a whole. Table 1 illustrates this point by examining the number of students earning doctorates in 2002.

This indicates that the number of PhDs is far below the reasonable expectations of any racial group, except for whites and Asian Americans. According to the 2000 census, 12.5 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, 12.3 percent identify themselves as African Americans, 3.7 percent identify themselves as Asian Americans, 0.9 percent identify themselves as American Indian / Alaska Native, 0.1 percent identified as Pacific Islander, and 69.1 percent identify themselves as white. One can reasonably expect that the population of students receiving doctoral degrees that are more in line with these numbers. This does not mean that relationships should be exactly the same, but the discrepancies indicate a lack of access and retention in institutions of higher education. Clearly there are some racial barriers to higher education institutions.

Once students are on campus racial climate of the institution is crucial to determine whether students persist in their studies and graduate. Campus climate is an important issue because even if higher education institutions are able to recruit more diverse student bodies, students are less likely to persist and graduate if they experience a hostile environment on campus. The assessment of campus racial climate has been the subject of much research since the 1980's. A 1991 survey by the American Council on Education, 36 percent of all institutions (and 74 percent of research institutions) reported incidents of intolerance based on race, gender or sexual orientation. Furthermore, despite current efforts, many students, including many minority students, white women, gay and lesbian students, and students with disabilities still find the campus climate does not respond to their needs, past experiences and educational ...