Converging Complexities

Higher Education and the Color Line:
College Access, Racial Equity and Social Change
By Gary Orfield, Patricia Marin and Catherine L. Horn, eds.
Harvard Education Press, 2005
300 pp., $59.95 cloth, ISBN: 1-891792-60-1; $29.95 paper, ISBN: 1-891792-59-8

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Grutter v. Bollinger decision upholding affirmative action, this book outlines the agenda for achieving racial justice in higher education in the next generation. Through an examination of current research and overarching social issues, the book explores the racial transformation of higher education and the structural barriers that perpetuate racial stratification at the postsecondary level.

Higher Education and the Color Line includes chapters that outline the demographic changes in elementary, secondary and postsecondary school enrollment; the evolving role of law and policy; the barriers faced by minority college students; and the kinds of programs that best serve them. In addition to providing a well-researched assessment of the state of racial integration in higher education, the book goes beyond the usual Black-and-White analysis to provide a multiethnic perspective.
This book effectively discusses the role of higher education in opening up opportunities for mobility in American society — or in reinforcing the segregation between White and non-White America. It provides insight for how the country can ensure that affirmative action will be unnecessary in the next generation.

Dr. Gary Orfield is professor of education and social policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is also co-founder and director of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. Dr. Patricia Marin is a higher education research associate at The Civil Rights Project. Dr. Catherine L. Horn is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Houston.