From Bakke to Fisher: African American Students in U.S. Higher Education over Forty Years (original) (raw)

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

of higher education. Particularly, we extend the analysis by Walter Allen and his colleagues (2005) to examine how higher education enrollment and degree completion among African American students is affected by several court decisions. We conclude that antiblack sentiments are major drivers of inequality in enrollment and degree completion in higher education. Between 1965 and 1972, African American college students across the nation confronted From Bakke to Fisher: African American Students in U.S. Higher Education over Forty Years wa lter r. a llen, ch a n nel mclew Is, ch a n ta l Jones, a nd da nIel h a r r Is We consider how antiblack legal precedents constrain African American access and success in higher education. We employ critical race theory to assess status and trends for African American college, graduate, and professional students. Our forty-year analysis traces national patterns of African American student enrollment and degree completion at public, four-year institutions. Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, we find that higher education remains a site of intense racial struggle for African American students. Across institutions we see various trends: the number of African American students at flagships has declined, more students enroll and complete degrees at black-serving institutions, and historically black colleges and universities are more racially diverse.