A note to the reader: In this new year, diversifying the STEM fields has perhaps never been more important—for economic health, innovation, and for the health and well-being of America’s diverse communities. As the higher education community is firmly focused on college preparation and completion, we must push to keep equity at the center of all that we do. For my part—and for this blog—I will be pushing the STEM diversity agenda in the most timely way possible. I encourage readers to follow suit by advocating for sound policy and celebrating and replicating those policies and practices that successfully widen the STEM pipeline with new and diverse talent.
Early last month, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released two briefing reports examining undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with an emphasis on where minority students attend college.
The two reports—The Educational Effectiveness of Historically Black Colleges and Universities [HBCUs] and Encouraging Minority Students in Science Careers—are rich with expert testimony, from a 2006 and 2008 hearing, respectively. The reports further draw on comparative research examining the success of Black students who attended HBCUs versus those enrolled at predominantly White institutions, including the nation’s most selective universities.
It is from this research—and the way in which it is presented within the two reports—that the commission takes a dangerous leap in its findings and subsequent recommendations.
Both reports support the so-called “mismatch hypothesis,” which asserts that underrepresented minority students with lower than average academic credentials at the nation’s selective colleges and universities, and thus admitted through affirmative action, are at an academic disadvantage relative to their peer group and thus prone to failure.
Not only has the notion of mismatch been repeatedly discounted by numerous empirical studies undertaken by leading researchers and educators, it provides a deeply flawed rationale for keeping underrepresented populations from accessing elite education and advancing their respective communities—both in socioeconomic terms and through ensuring inquiry that advances science, technology, health care, and other pressing concerns for our nation’s whole population.
This type of deficit-minded thinking further impedes institutional accountability by discouraging those universities with the most robust academic resources and equipped laboratories to actively outreach, enroll, and educate this country’s next generation of diverse scientists and engineers.
