The Racial Crisis in American Higher Education

Across the country our universities and colleges continue to be beset by incidences of racial turmoil on campus. The first contemporary serious collection of articles on this topic, this book goes beyond rhetoric to examine the causes and impact of campus racial tensions both by examining some key university case studies and by investigating some of the underlying elements of the crisis. In order to raise the consciousness of the entire university community to the import of these concerns the authors focus both on current research and on the flashpoints of controversy. The first part of the volume deals with broader issues relating to the academic community and to the curriculum. The overarching issues including debates about affirmative action, and admissions policies are considered as well as the difficulties of recruitment, retention, and campus life for Afro-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American faculty. Studies of some of the campuses which have recently experienced a heightening of racial tension including Columbia, Stanford, Arizona State, and Cornell are provided.Philip G. Altbach is Professor and Director of the Comparative Education Center at State University of New York at Buffalo, and author of The Knowledge Context: Comparative Perspectives on the Distribution of Knowledge, also published by SUNY Press. Kofi Lomotey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Organization, Administration and Policy at State University of New York at Buffalo, editor of Going to School: The African-American Experience, also published by SUNY Press, and author of African-American Principals: School Leadership and Success.