The Future of Affirmative Action AffirmativeAction.indb 1 4/11/14 3:54 PM AffirmativeAction.indb 2 4/11/14 3:54 PM The Future of Affirmative Action New Paths to Higher Education Diversity after Fisher v. University of Texas Richard D. Kahlenberg, editor A Project of Lumina Foundation and The Century Foundation The Century Foundation Press • New York AffirmativeAction.indb 3 4/11/14 3:54 PM About Lumina Foundation Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation committed to increas- ing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Lumina’s outcomes-based approach focuses on helping to design and build an accessible, responsive and accountable higher education system while fostering a national sense of urgency for action to achieve Goal 2025. About The Century Foundation The Century Foundation conducts timely research and analyses of national eco- nomic and social policy and international affairs. Its work today focuses on issues of equity and opportunity in the United States, and how American values can best be sustained and advanced in a world of more diffuse power. With offices in New York City and Washington, D.C., The Century Foundation is nonprofit and nonpartisan and was founded in 1919 by Edward A. Filene. Board of Trustees of The Century Foundation Bradley Abelow, Chairman Melissa Harris-Perry Jonathan Alter Matina S. Horner H. Brandt Ayers Lewis B. Kaden Alan Brinkley Bob Kerrey Joseph A. Califano, Jr. Alicia H. Munnell Alexander Morgan Capron P. Michael Pitfield Hodding Carter III Richard Ravitch Edward E. David, Jr. Alan Sagner Stephen Goldsmith Harvey I. Sloane, M.D. Jacob Hacker Shirley Williams Charles V. Hamilton William Julius Wilson Janice Nittoli, President Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available from the publisher upon request. Manufactured in the United States of America Cover design by Abby Grimshaw Text design by Cynthia Stock Copyright © 2014 by Lumina Foundation and The Century Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of The Century Foundation. AffirmativeAction.indb 4 4/11/14 3:54 PM Foreword I n the twentieth century, the American economy flour- ished in part because we led the world in education. As Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz write in The Race between Education and Technology, by 1900, the United States, unlike most other nations, had “begun to educate its masses at the secondary level not just in pri- mary school” and soon became the richest nation in the world. Although implemented imperfectly, to be sure, we sought to make education inclusive—tapping into the talents of women, racial minorities, and low-income stu- dents as well as white, middle-class males. For a time, the United States also bolstered its eco- nomic position by becoming a world leader in the pro- portion of young people receiving an associate’s degree or higher. But we have now fallen to fourteenth among OECD nations, endangering our competitiveness in a global economy where human capital drives innovation and success. Both Lumina Foundation and The Century Founda- tion want to restore American leadership in higher edu- cation. Lumina Foundation has committed itself to an ambitious goal around which we focus all of our efforts: v AffirmativeAction.indb 5 4/11/14 3:54 PM vi | FOREWORD that 60 percent of Americans will have a high-quality postsecondary degree, certificate, or other credential by 2025. Governors, business lead- ers, and university presidents have all supported the notion of increasing postsecondary attainment. So, too, has the Obama administration, sug- gesting that two-year institutions should play a particularly prominent role by producing 63 percent of the new degrees or credentials necessary. We believe these goals cannot be reached unless American higher educa- tion is both equitable and excellent, and prepares its citizenry to meet current and future global needs. To think through ways to improve community college outcomes, The Century Foundation recently assembled a task force on community col- leges, led by Eduardo Padròn and Anthony Marx. The task force’s report, Bridging the Higher Education Divide: Strengthening Community Col- leges and Restoring the American Dream, suggests that we must address growing stratification among colleges and universities, as separate insti- tutions for rich and poor are rarely equal. With this new volume, The Future of Affirmative Action: New Paths to Higher Education Diversity after Fisher v. University of Texas, Lumina and Century have joined forces to address the issues of college completion and stratification in an important subset of higher education institutions: four-year colleges and universities that employ selective admissions. Research suggests that attending a selective college increases a stu- dent’s chances of attainment and success as an adult, particularly if he or she comes from a low-income or minority household. As the U.S. student population grows increasingly diverse, promoting racial, ethnic, and eco- nomic inclusion at selective colleges is more important than ever. Selective four-year institutions that engage in race-conscious affirma- tive action programs represent a fairly narrow slice of the higher edu- cation pie—about one-fifth of four-year colleges, according to Harvard University’s Thomas Kane. But it matters who goes to these institutions because they offer extraordinary opportunities for success and member- ship in the American leadership class. The June 2013 Supreme Court decision in Fisher v. University of Texas decision poses a significant challenge for selective universities that wish to remain racially and ethnically diverse. As the essays in this volume make clear, universities cannot simply rely on the old ways of achieving diver- sity and must think creatively about new solutions that offer concrete evidence of diversity-related policies and practices designed to achieve institutional equity and excellence. AffirmativeAction.indb 6 4/11/14 3:54 PM FOREWORD | vii We were pleased to have brought together some of the leading minds in American higher education to think through these issues on the heels of the Fisher decision in August 2013. We hope this volume, which grew out of those discussions, will be read closely by university administrators, local, state, and federal policy makers, civil rights advocates, and mem- bers of the philanthropic community. Making higher education more equitable and inclusive, these essays note, is both the right thing to do for individual students, and is the right thing for our democracy. Our country cannot afford to leave any talent behind. Jamie P. Merisotis, President; Holiday Hart McKiernan, Chief of Staff; and Susan Johnson, Director of Equity and Inclusion; Lumina Foundation Janice Nittoli, President, The Century Foundation AffirmativeAction.indb 7 4/11/14 3:54 PM AffirmativeAction.indb 8 4/11/14 3:54 PM Contents Foreword v Jamie P. Merisotis, Holiday Hart McKienrnan, Susan Johnson, and Janice Nittoli 1 Introduction 1 Richard D. Kahlenberg PART I. The Stakes: Why Racial Diversity Matters and Why Socioeconomic Diversity Matters 2 Defining the Stakes Why We Cannot Leave the Nation’s Diverse Talent Pool Behind and Thrive 27 Nancy Cantor and Peter Englot 3 Promoting Economic Diversity for College Affordability 35 Sara Goldrick-Rab PART II. The Legal Challenge: The Meaning of Fisher v. University of Texas 4 Emphasis Added Fisher v. University of Texas and Its Practical Implications for Institutions of Higher Education 43 Arthur L. Coleman and Teresa E. Taylor ix AffirmativeAction.indb 9 4/11/14 3:54 PM x | CONTENTS 5 New Rules for Affirmative Action in Higher Education A Practical Guide to Fisher v. University of Texas for Colleges and Universities 57 Scott Greytak PART III. State Experiences with Race-Neutral Strategies 6 Transitioning to Race-Neutral Admissions An Overview of Experiences in States Where Affirmative Action Has Been Banned 75 Halley Potter 7 Striving for Neutrality Lessons from Texas in the Aftermath of Hopwood and Fisher 91 Marta Tienda 8 The Use of Socioeconomic Affirmative Action at the University of California 99 Richard Sander 9 Converging Perils to College Access for Racial Minorities Examples of Responses that Work from Washington State and New Jersey 110 Richard L. McCormick 10 Ensuring Diversity under Race-Neutral Admissions at the University of Georgia 122 Nancy G. McDuff and Halley Potter PART IV. Research on Promising Race-Neutral Strategies 11 Addressing Undermatch Creating Opportunity and Social Mobility 133 Alexandria Walton Radford and Jessica Howell 12 Talent Is Everywhere Using ZIP Codes and Merit to Enhance Diversity 145 Danielle Allen 13 Reducing Reliance on Testing to Promote Diversity 160 John Brittain and Benjamin Landy AffirmativeAction.indb 10 4/11/14 3:54 PM