On the Basis of Race: How Higher Education Navigates Affirmative Action Policies [Hardcover]

How universities can navigate affirmative action bans to protect diversity in student admissions

Diversity in higher education is under attack as the Supreme Court considers the future of affirmative action, or race-conscious admissions practices, at American colleges and universities. InOn the Basis of Race, Lauren S. Foley sheds light on our current crisis, exploring the past, present, and future of this contentious policy.

FromBrown v. Board of Educationin the mid-twentieth century to the currentStudents for Fair Admissions v. HarvardandUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Foley explores how organizations have resisted and complied with public policies regarding race. She examines how admissions officers, who have played an important role in the long fight to protect racial diversity in higher education, work around the law to maintain diversity after affirmative action is banned. Foley takes us behind the curtain of student admissions, shedding light on how multiple universities, including the University of Michigan, have creatively responded to affirmative action bans.On the Basis of Racetraces the history of a controversial idea and policy, and provides insight into its uncertain future.

Lauren S. Foleyis Assistant Professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University. A prescient new book...On the Basis of Raceoffers a blueprint for institutions in the wake of the Supreme Courts June decision striking down the use of race-conscious admissions. From non-discrimination mandates after Brown to bans on affirmative action half a century later, Lauren S. Foley compellingly shows how colleges and universities have worked to both adhere toand evadethe law governing admissions in higher education. This strikingly original book captures the shift from segregation to civil rights, and from civil rights to diversity, using key examples to develop a new theory of legal conflictló#