An Overlooked Oasis?
Education advocates say two-year institutions should not be considered an afterthought, but rather belong at the centerpiece of the nation's higher education agenda
By Kendra Hamilton

While the decision reached by the U.S. Supreme Court in June regarding the University of Michigan's admissions policies is being rightly hailed by defenders of affirmative action and civil rights as a major victory, a rising chorus of higher education observers is pointing out that obsessing over what goes on at elite institutions is almost beside the point in terms of college access.

And that's because "the numbers, especially of African Americans affected (by the decision), are very small," says Dr. Brenda Simmons, president of the National Council on Black American Affairs (NCBAA), a leadership and policy arm of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Indeed, "the masses of Blacks who are in higher education are in the community colleges," explains Dr. Castell Bryant, president of the medical center campus of Miami-Dade College. With 160,000 students enrolled for credit, it's the nation's largest community college and the No. 1 producer of minority associate's degrees.

Bryant adds, "When it comes to access, we don't need to be setting the standards or even measuring them by what happens at the university level."

Dr. Carolyn Williams, president of Bronx Community College (BCC), emphatically agrees. "Community colleges are and have always been the port of entry," says Williams, explaining that BCC has 8,000 credit and 25,000 continuing education students. "And it's been that not just for minority students but also for the less-prepared students, for the adult students, for all those who are not traditional, right-out-of-high-school students."

Numbers Versus Perceptions

Statistics bear those assertions out. According to U.S. Department of Education figures, nearly 1.5 million African Americans were enrolled in higher education at all levels in 2001. Fully 40 percent, or more than 604,000, were enrolled at the associate's level.