Diversity ≠ Inclusion: Promoting Integration in Higher Education

Abstract

The 2003 and 2013 Supreme Court decisions about race-sensitive admissions have commanded enormous research attention over the past several years and deflected attention from the broader issue of integration and strategies to harness the educational benefits of diversity. I too have contributed to the plethora of studies about equity and access to higher education, asking not only who attends and why but also more difficult questions about who should attend and doesn’t. The barriers to higher education are well-documented: the leaky pipeline; the highly unequal k-12 feeder system; the lack of information about college costs; spotty counseling and weak college-going cultures at under-resourced schools; and soaring college costs. The list goes on, and replays like refrains in popular songs.