Report From Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA Praises Kentucky’s Success in Diversifying its Colleges

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September 29, 2008

Report From Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA Praises
Kentucky’s Success in Diversifying its Colleges

Findings Outlines Challenges Ahead

LOS ANGELES ¬– The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, one ofthe nation's leading research centers on issues of civil rights and racial inequality, yesterday presented its report, "Building on Success," to theKentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) in Lexington. Thiscomprehensive study of equity in the entire Kentucky system not only assessesthe state’s progress under plans developed to comply with federal civilrights law over the past 26 years, but also recommends strategies for the nextgeneration. The Council, which governs the state’s higher education system,discussed the report and directed its Committee for Educational Opportunity toprepare a new plan by early 2009.This independent assessment of Kentucky’s public colleges and universities by scholars from across the country concluded that the state had made majorprogress. The 168-page report, "Building on Success," documented the state’s progress in providing growing access for black students to its historicallywhite institutions at all levels -- an historic accomplishment -- from community college to doctoral studies. Analysis of survey data from the state’s campuses showed that, in general, African American students feel comfortable and welcome on their campuses. The survey respondents indicated,however, that rich discussion of diversity, much more likely to occur on multiracial campuses, was lagging. The study found that more work was needed assome commitments had not yet been realized. In particular, the state needs totake a broader view in its future diversity planning, one that would build onthe momentum for African American access, and include the state’s rapidlygrowing Hispanic community, as well as, perhaps, whites from highlyimpoverished areas. Two years ago the CPE commissioned the assessment and granted the Civil RightsProject, when it was still at Harvard, full access to data from the Kentuckycampuses and to the system’s leaders. Professor Gary Orfield, who directedthe team of researchers, comments: “The state’s leaders took a bold andunusual risk in giving us unrestricted access to the system without any controlof the final report. We think they have created a positive example for higher education systems across the country and we hope that this report will help carry their accomplishments to the next level in order to realize the state’svery ambitious goal of doubling its number of college graduates. This is something that can only be done if they fully develop the talents of studentsfrom groups that were once excluded or neglected.” Orfield then challengedother states to follow Kentucky’s steps and prepare for the next generation.Recommendations for Improvement:The recommendations for improvement focus on severe leakages in the pipeline ofopportunity in the state: a high dropout rate from high school; a relativelylow rate of enrollment in college coming out of high school; a weak transferrate from community college to four-year campuses; students who take longer tograduate, and graduate at lower numbers from the four year campuses, comparedto national averages. All of these transition points tend to pose risksparticularly for minority students. The study also finds that the state’s commitments to transform it’shistorically black campus, Kentucky State University, have not been yet beenfulfilled after more than 25 years of plans. KSU is still very small comparedto the other campuses, attracts mostly undergraduates with weak academicbackgrounds in need of serious remediation, and has far to go in producing astrong graduation rate for the students it enrolls. In fact, 87 percent ofKentucky’s black college graduates hail from historically white institutions. The report goes on to say that in spite of its status as a vital resource, KSUhas not been upgraded sufficiently to become genuinely competitive."Building on Success" concludes that the state monitoring has been criticallyimportant to the success of the effort to date and recommends ways in which theprocess could be improved -- by more collaboration between state officials andcampus leaders and by encouraging researchers on campuses to carefully evaluatetheir programs to support diversity and make recommendations for improvingthem. The report also advocates that the Kentucky Council on Higher Educationcontinue to oversee statewide progress and monitor the performance of variousinstitutions, though in a more collaborative manner. Engaging researchers atthe eight public universities not only will develop knowledge through studiesof their campus approaches and plans, but also will produce strong and credibleresearch for better policy in Kentucky. The full text of the report will be available at:www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu

About the Civil Rights Project at UCLA

Founded in 1996 by former Harvard professors Gary Orfield and Christopher EdleyJr., the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles is now co-directed byOrfield and Patricia Gándara, professors at UCLA. Its mission is to create anew generation of research in social science and law on the critical issues ofcivil rights and equal opportunity for racial and ethnic groups in the UnitedStates. It has commissioned more than 400 studies, published 14 books andissued numerous reports from authors at universities and research centersacross the country. The Supreme Court, in its 2003 Grutter v. Bollingerdecision, cited the Civil Rights Project's research.###