Hiding the Politically Obvious: A Critical Race Theory Preview of Diversity as Racial Neutrality in Higher Education

Authors

Otoniel Jimenez Morfin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Victor Pérez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Laurence Parker, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow
Marvin Lynn, Portland State UniversityFollow
John Arrona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Published In

Educational Policy

Document Type

Citation

Publication Date

2006

Abstract

What have colleges and universities done to increase student of color enrollment since the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger? This article provides a critical race theory (CRT) snapshot of selective data and institutions since these landmark decisions. We find that even though Grutter gives the go-ahead to use affirmative action, higher education has failed politically to take on this challenge. When taken together, the Gratz and Grutter decisions allow higher education institutions to engage in symbolic affirmative action measures that appear as diversity measures but are operationalized as race neutral when one examines the data of continuing overall declines of students of color at many institutions. The authors conclude with a CRT call for a more expansive affirmative action with higher education administrators doing more to justify affirmative action through Grutter.

Rights

Copyright (2006) Sage.

Description

*At the time of publication, Marvin Lynn was affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904805285785

DOI

10.1177/0895904805285785

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/23753

Citation Details

Morfin, O. J., Perez, V. H., Parker, L., Lynn, M., & Arrona, J. (2006). Hiding the politically obvious: A critical race theory preview of diversity as racial neutrality in higher education. Educational Policy, 20(1), 249-270.