 |
| Mississippi Valley State students protest during 1992 Fordice proceedings. |
This timeline reflects some of the most significant legal and legislative milestones that have influenced higher education over the 25 years that Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, formerly Black Issues In Higher Education, has been in print. The legal battles have primarily involved the settlement of desegregation cases and the use of race and gender in scholarships and university admissions. More recent changes include attacks on affirmative action, with Michigan and Nebraska bringing the number of states banning race- and gender-conscious preferences to four. The election of Barack Obama to the nation’s highest office in the land may prove pivotal in unintended ways with some pundits using Obama’s success to bolster arguments that affirmative action is no longer necessary. What other challenges will the higher education community face 25 years from now? Count on Diverse to share such milestones with you.
1986: Title III in the Higher Education Act is amended to include Part B — the amendment to be known as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Act — substantially increasing Title III funding to HBCUs.
1989: A federal appeals court revives the Adams desegregation case, requiring the U.S. Department of Education to monitor the desegregation of public colleges in all states that had a legally mandated segregation system of higher education. In 1987, a federal judge had dismissed the case, which for nearly 15 years forced the Southern and border states to submit plans to desegregate their colleges.
1990: Michael Williams, head of the U.S. Department of Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, announces that it is illegal for colleges to restrict scholarships based on race or ethnicity. Following protests from colleges, the administration reexams the issue yet later adopts a policy to restrict such scholarships.
