In a speech in June at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Simmons explained the importance of diversity in a learning environment: "Diversity is not only essential to how we educate our students and our leaders; its absence is inimical to learning.... As compelling as our need is to have our national interest protected by students interacting with people of different perspectives and backgrounds, it is even more important to our national interests that education prepare an informed populace for a democratic society."

School: Smith College, private Location: Northhampton, Massachusetts Undergraduate Enrollment: 2,670 Men: 0% Women: 100% African American: 4% Hispanic: 4% Native American: 1% Asian or Pacific Islander: 11% Cost: $27,458 (tuition plus room and board)

Looking for Individual Strengths

It might be in the heart of Prop. 200 country, but Stanford's commitment to diversity is part of a tradition that has emanated - and continues to emanate - from the top.

Dr. Gerhard Casper, the university's president, reminded faculty and staff of Stanford's tradition and commitment by emphasizing his own commitment to equal opportunity. [n a speech to the faculty senate in 1995 - prior to the vote on Proposition 209 - he noted that when Leland and Jane Stanford began the institution in the late nineteenth century, the university sought to create opportunities for those who might otherwise have been shut out. That concern spawned such things as the implementation of the institution's initial policy of not charging tuition, and the admission of women when many other colleges would not even have considered the possibility.

With the appointment of Dr. Condaleezza Rice as provost, Stanford became one of the few top-tier institutions to have an African American chief academic officer. Rice, who served in both the Reagan and Bush White Houses as a top advisor on Soviet a(fairs, is keeping the commitment to diversity alive. "We have tried hard to reach out to students who we think are prepared and who can take advantage of the Stanford education," she says. "We have an advantage in that we are relatively small, so our admissions process can look at the individual student."