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Connections
The
Quarterly Newsletter of the
Access
& Diversity Collaborative
______________________________________________________
January -
March 2018
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Each
quarter, the College Board’s Access and Diversity Collaborative
(ADC) will publish a newsletter to inform ADC sponsors on federal
policy updates and national news. The newsletter will also
feature insights and reflections on a topic of interest from a
selected sponsor, and updates on ADC publications and events. We
invite sponsors to submit their own updates for inclusion.
In this edition:
Section 1: The Federal Frontlines provides
updates on recent federal government developments on
enrollment-related topics, as well as on issues of student
inclusion and expression.
Section 2: National News shares
brief summaries and links to relevant articles. This quarter's
newsletter includes articles on the value of higher
education, admissions practices, free speech on campus, and
Title IX.
Section 3: Quarterly Insight features
a brief discussion of the shifting student engagement
landscape on college campuses. This month’s insight is from Art
Coleman and Jamie Lewis Keith who discuss the impact of these
changes on the role of higher education enrollment leaders.
Section 4: Sponsor Spotlight highlights
ADC member practices that exemplify active engagement in the work
of the ADC. This quarter features the work of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, the SEA Change Initiative; and
the Association of American Colleges &
Universities' upcoming webinar and report on A Vision for Equity.
Section 5: ADC in Action includes
recent and upcoming ADC events and publications.
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Section 1:
The Federal Frontlines
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U.S.
Department of Education
New Report
on First-Generation Student Postsecondary Outcomes.
On February 8, the National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES) published “First-Generation Students: College Access,
Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes.”
U.S.
Department of Justice
Free
Speech-Campus Speakers. On January 25, the
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Statement of Interest in Young America’s Foundation
and Berkeley College Republicans v. Janet Napolitano,
a free speech case in California in which the plaintiffs allege
that UC Berkeley limited their free speech. On the same day, DOJ
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand published an op-ed on free
speech on college campuses.
Federal
Courts
Admissions. Litigation
over race as a factor in holistic review continues. Students
for Fair Admissions, representing Asian students with high grades
and test scores who were denied admission to Harvard University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(UNC), are suing the universities in separate suits in
their federal district (trial) courts. Complaints in both
cases claim racial discrimination against more qualified Asian
applicants in order to admit black, Hispanic, and white students,
in violation of federal law. On April 4, the New York Times
published an article with updates in the
Harvard University case, including a demand from the plaintiffs
that Harvard’s admissions data be released publicly.
Hateful
Speech. Hate crimes are reported to be on the rise, and
hate speech can be protected as speech. Against this
backdrop, campuses are striving to harmonize two fundamental
principles of excellence in higher education: (1) free
speech inherent in academic freedom policies (which are protected
by the First Amendment at public institutions); and (2) a
welcoming and inclusive, robustly diverse community. First
Amendment developments in the Supreme Court under Chief Justice
Roberts’ term are highlighted in this article. Notable
recent U.S. Supreme Court First Amendment cases include the
following:
- Masterpiece
Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission No. 16-111, asks the court
to decide whether a bakery can be compelled by
nondiscrimination law to make a wedding cake for a gay
couple when its proprietor asserts protection of First
Amendment expressive rights against compelled speech because
the cake is his artistic expression and his religious
beliefs oppose gay marriage. This article discusses the
oral arguments heard in December 2017 and the potential
impact of possible outcomes.
- Matal v. Tam No. 15-1293 (June 19,
2017), in which the Court used the First Amendment to
invalidate the Lanham Act’s “disparagement clause” and
reject the U.S. trademark office’s denial of registration of
a rock group’s name, “the Slants,” as a derogatory, highly
offensive name for Asians. The clause had allowed
denial of trademark registration if a mark would
“disparage…or bring…into contemp[t] or disrepute [any]
persons, living or dead.”
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Value of
Higher Education. On March 19, Morning Consult
and The New York Times released results from a survey of parents
with children under 18 focusing on perceptions and value of
higher education.
Admissions—Practices.
In response to a January 31 the Wall Street Journal article
titled “Some Elite Colleges Review an Application
in 8 Minutes (or Less)”the Chronicle of Higher Education
published an article titled “Reading an Application in Under 10 Minutes?
Way Too Fast, One Admissions Dean Says.” Jonathan
Burdick, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at the University
of Rochester raises concerns and shares some of the University of
Rochester’s application review practices.
Admissions—Legacies.
The Atlantic article,
“A New Call to End Legacy Admissions,”
discusses the actions taken on February 14 by student groups at
13 colleges to protest privileges given to applicants who have
relatives who are alumni of the institution. The article also
highlights student concerns about the lack of transparency in the
admissions process and the tenuous relationship between
scholarship donations from wealthy alumni that support low-income
students and legacy admissions.
Admissions—Transgender
Students. In a March 16 article titled “‘What It Means to Be a Woman Is Not
Static’: How Women’s Colleges Are Handling Transgender Applicants,”
the Chronicle of
Higher Education discusses the ways that some women’s
colleges are changing their admissions policies to include transgender
students who self-identify as women. The article also discusses
how institutions are considering transgender applicants who
self-identify as men.
Admissions—Yield.
In a February 18 article titled “You Can Help Make Sure Freshmen Show Up.
Here’s How.” the
Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the challenge
of summer melt and features Georgia State University’s new
chatbot that aims to mitigate the causes of summer melt.
Admissions—#NeverAgain
Colleges. Following the tragic Parkland, FL high
school shooting the ongoing student-led protests, a number of
higher education institutions publicly assured students who
participate that disciplinary action resulting from non-violent
protest will not negatively impact admissions decisions. This
group of schools has become known as the #NeverAgain Colleges.
Free Speech
Poll. On March 12, a New York Times
article titled “What Students Really Think About Free
Speech features the results of a poll on students’ perceptions of
free expression on college campuses conducted by the Gallup
Knight Foundation, the American Council on Education, the Charles
Koch Institute, and the Stanton Foundation. (At its recent annual convening, ACE also held
a series of panels that focused on several facets of expression
and inclusion on college campus.)
Title
IX—Campus Sexual Assault. On January 17, The Atlantic featured
the article “How Colleges Foretold the #MeToo Movement.”
This piece discusses the rising number of Title IX sexual assault
complaints on college campuses, how campus responses have changed
since the 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter Title IX
established campus sexual assault guidelines, and the impact
of Secretary DeVos’ decision to withdraw these guidelines.
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Section
3:
Quarterly Insight
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Toward
Better Understanding—and More Informed Action
Art Coleman
Jamie Lewis Keith
In our quest to ensure that the promise of higher
education is real for all students and society, education and
policy leaders have worked for decades to understand issues of
access, opportunity, and inclusion affecting students and to
appropriately act on them. While our aims are shared, they
continue to be touchpoints of controversy. Whether a debate
on funding or policy design (or both), we continue to hear
familiar refrains around the value of education, affordability,
access, student diversity and success, free speech and
inclusion. But that resonance should not mask the moment of
profound change that we in higher education are
experiencing. And it must not lull us into a sense of
complacency where “more of the same” defines the day.
Context matters. Many consequential, intersecting shifts in the
relevant national and global landscape—and at our
institutions—reflect a new state of affairs that has implications
for all involved in enrollment policy and practice.
Our historical exclusive focus in admission on numbers and yields
(perceived or real) has given way to a more substantive and
nuanced focus on issues surrounding the student experience and
the learning, civic, and workforce outcomes associated with that
experience.
One facet of that landscape is the centrality of student
voice—increasingly recognized as an essential element in policy
development and institutional action. The protest movements
we’ve witnessed over the past several years have students
engaging in political action to drive social justice (Black Lives
Matter; #MeToo; March for Our Lives). These movements and the
students behind them are not only teaching the older generations
a thing or two about the power of the internet as an organizing
and amplifying tool, but, and when most effective, importantly
raise awareness and ignite much-needed meaningful debate on
complex issues and actions.
Indeed, in this shifting landscape, we must not ignore the
transformation that is broadly underway due to the world wide
web. As college leaders addressing issues of controversy
know too well, complex issues that were largely self-contained in
the past, are now subject to immediate interpretation and public
comment, sometimes at a global scale. In short, the college
campus community is no longer just local. It reaches all
corners of the globe—in an instant.
Taken together, what does all of this mean? Perhaps, most
obviously, the job of higher education leaders is infinitely
harder than in the past. Enrollment leaders and officials
in fact are often “ground zero” on matters of consequence
as issues of equity—access, opportunity, inclusion—and success
define the life trajectories of students in an information age
that requires education beyond high school.
Thus, we must constantly assess our roles and how we connect with
colleagues, students, and the public to advance the goals that
brought us to this work in the first place. That means
stepping back (and evaluating), just as it means stepping forward
(with action). Indeed, if we’re going to get it right, we
can’t just rely on a strong admissions policy, or even a
strategic relationship among all in enrollment capacities, to
carry the day. In the end, our students’ success depends on
a team of institutional leaders who regularly come together with
students to chart directions, discuss challenges, and learn from
each other—and who engage stakeholders to build relationships,
raise awareness and understanding, and perpetuate intelligent
evidence-based consideration of issues before they give rise to
crises. In short, we must tirelessly focus on making the right
connections within our institutions, and with others in this sea
of change. Only by understanding and valuing each other in
very challenging times, can we hope to fulfill the promise that higher
education holds for all students and society.
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Section
4:
Sponsor Spotlight
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Metrics
Drive Diversity and Inclusion. In
January, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) announced the STEM Equity Achievement (SEA) Change
initiative. SEA Change—a LEED-like certification program,
now in a “bronze certification” pilot—provides high level
principles and performance standards to remove systemic,
structural barriers at the institutional and departmental levels
for women, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people with
disabilities to pursue, and to persist and succeed in, STEM and
Medical (STEMM) higher education and academic careers. It is
designed to be easily adaptable institution-wide, to support good
and efficient policy-making and legal compliance, and to foster
transformative advances in diversity, equity and excellence.
Equity for
Excellence. Upcoming: On April 19, the Association
of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) will hold a
webinar titled “A Vision for Equity: Campus-Based
Strategies for Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence.”
The webinar will share findings from a joint project between
AAC&U and the Center for Urban Education at the University of
Southern California focusing on equity and inclusion, and from
AAC&U’s report titled A
Vision for Equity which draws on the experiences of
thirteen participating institutions of higher education as they
worked to address equity gaps on their campuses.
If you would like your institution/organization to
be considered for future Sponsor Spotlights, please send a brief
description of your initiative or practice to Emily Webb ([email protected]).
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