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University administrators have made difficult choices in response to the changing policy context for the use of affirmative action in admissions. This paper synthesizes the empirical literature on affirmative action and evaluates the efficacy of alternative strategies, including top-percent programs, class-based affirmative action, and targeted recruiting. The analyses offer several findings of interest to officials who direct such programs: (1) Affirmative action preferences given by top-tier universities have been large; (2) affirmative action leads minorities to enroll in higher-quality institutions; and (3) affirmative action has mostly positive effects on minority students later in life. The evidence shows a decline in minorities' relative share of enrollment at flagship public universities after affirmative action was eliminated in several states, and the alternative strategies used by these universities have not offset these declines.
During the past decade, as a result of challenges to affirmative action, public universities' recruitment, admissions, and financial aid policies have undergone tremendous changes. In response to court decisions, voter referenda, and administrative judgments, the public university systems in Texas, California, Washington, Florida, and Georgia have been forced to change their policies. This paper finds that despite the many alternative strategies implemented at public universities in these states, schools have not been able to maintain minority enrollments absent affirmative action. Apparent rebounds in minority enrollment have instead resulted from increased shares of minorities in high school student bodies. Thus, although many officials have made valiant efforts to implement alternative programs, they have discovered no true substitutes for affirmative action. These findings have broader implications for public administrators who work in arenas that deal with racial inequality and may seek to use correlates of race (rather than an individual's race) in targeting program benefits. The U.S. Supreme Court's rulings in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz õ. Bollinger, which upheld the constitutionality of the limited use of race in admissions, have provided a fresh opportunity for states and universities to reconsider their policies.
Context and Brief History of Affirmative Action in Admissions
The courts have been a prime source of change in education policy. In the 1950 Sweattv. Painter case, the Supreme Court ruled that a law school established by the state of Texas for black students was not equal to the white-only University of Texas...