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![handle is hein.civil/usccaaan0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
The U.S. Department of Education?s Race-Neutral Alternatives in Postsecondary
Education: Innovative Approaches to Diversity?Are They Viable Substitutes for
Affirmative Action?
May 2003
Equal opportunity in higher education is a right protected by federal laws. Throughout most of the 20th
century, however, long-established discriminatory admissions policies at the nation?s universities
seriously hampered minority access to higher education. Since a college degree opens doors to
professional employment opportunities and graduate education, many of the nation?s schools began
establishing policies so that people of color could benefit from higher education to the same extent as
their white counterparts. For example, in the 1970s, affirmative action found its place in college
admissions policies, and substantively redressed the entrenched discrimination against racial and ethnic
minorities and women. Still, by the 1980s, it was evident that minorities and women were more
commonly admitted to less prestigious institutions. As America?s population becomes more diverse,
policies intended to provide minorities equal access to higher education, as the law requires, must be
sustained.
On March 28, 2003, the U.S. Department of Education (DOEd) issued a report titled Race-Neutral
Alternatives in Postsecondary Education: Innovative Approaches to Diversity.f11 According to DOEd,
the purpose of the report is to ?describe a number of race-neutral approaches that postsecondary
institutions across the country are using.? Accordingly, as part of the Commission?s responsibility to
monitor and report on civil rights issues, including the appraisal of federal laws and policies, this staff
assessment examines Race-NeutralAlternatives in light of the Commission?s prior analyses, findings,
and conclusions.[21
In Race-NeutralAlternatives, DOEd states that its intention is not to ?assess these [non-affirmative
action] programs,? and cautions that the document should not be read as a ?best practices guide.? Race-
Neutral Alternatives ?merely describes these programs, relying on the literature published about these
programs [and] provides nothing more than a catalog of options that are available.?[31 DOEd?s own
description testifies to the report?s weaknesses and limitations. The DOEd report provides no criteria on
which the programs it lists are judged ?notable? race-neutral efforts. Furthermore, because DOEd does
not conduct independent assessments of the programs, but rather accepts uncritically declarations of
program success, it cannot recommend useful approaches.J4j The most it can do is list programs that
might work and not provide the alternatives that the title promises. Unsupported by research, the list
cannot offer real solutions. Perhaps the report?s most significant flaw is that it ignores the growing body
of research that challenges assertions that some of the programs are viable substitutes for affirmative
action. Taken together, these weaknesses seriously compromise the document?s credibility and value to
education policymakers. This is highly unfortunate since Race-Neutral Alternatives is specifically
directed to institutions to assist in diversifying their student populations.
Race-NeutralAlternatives separates its catalog into two parts, admissions approaches and developmental
approaches. This review will assess Race-NeutralAlternatives in the same manner, beginning with
class-rank or percentage plans.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.civil/usccaaan0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)