A new report from the American Council on Education documents how colleges and universities nationwide are attempting to increase racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity within a legal climate that increasingly is skeptical of any type of racial preference.
The researchers sent questionnaires to 338 colleges and universities. They found that 60 percent of selective colleges that admit fewer than 40 percent of all applicants, continue to consider race in the admissions process. But 27 percent of the selective institutions that participated said that they have placed more emphasis on socioeconomic diversity since the most recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action admissions.
The results found that the most widely used practices to increase diversity are student outreach and recruitment, making an effort to encourage students from targeted groups to apply to the particular college or university.
The report, Race, Class, and College Access: Achieving Diversity in a Shifting Legal Landscape, may be downloaded by clicking here.
