Poll: Public Supports Diversity

Despite apparent gains by the political movement against affirmative action, groups and individuals committed to diversity in education have some cause for cheer.

The latest good news: 71 percent of American voters polled recently say that diversity education in colleges and universities helps bring the country together.

Similarly, an exhaustive study of affirmative action by two former Ivy League college presidents finds ample positive results from the use of race-sensitive policies in college admissions.

The poll of voters, conducted for the Ford Foundation's Campus Diversity Initiative, shows, according to Ford Foundation Vice President Alison R. Bernstein, "that, despite the heated public debate over diversity, Americans are very clear in their views. They support diversity in higher education."

The reasons Americans give for supporting diversity education are overwhelmingly pragmatic. Ninety-four percent say colleges and universities need to prepare people to function in a more diverse work force. The pollsters also note that 51 percent of the respondents identify themselves as either "very conservative" politically or "more conservative than liberal."

You can view the complete poll results at: www.inform.umd.edu/diversityweb.

The affirmative action study appears in a recently published book, The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions, co-authored by Derek Bok and William G. Bowen, the former presidents of Harvard and Princeton.

The Bowen-Bok study examines the performance and attitudes of 45,000 students who attended selective colleges and universities over the past 20 years.

Respondents who were freshmen in 1951, 1976, and 1989, regardless of race, believe that their education benefited from studying within a diverse student body. Only 21 percent of those interviewed favor weaker diversity policies.

Among the findings: African-American students admitted under affirmative action procedures earned advanced degrees at the same rate as their white peers, but were slightly more likely to gain degrees in law or medicine than their white classmates and became more active than white graduates in civic and community activities.