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Fifty years after the celebrated Brown v. Board of Education decision, only a small percentage of minority students currently attend thoroughly integrated institutions. Higher education experts say that while minority students will enjoy more and more higher education access in future years, this increase will happen slowly if it follows the model set in the past 50 years. The legacy of the Brown decision, which said the doctrine of “separate but equal” institutions is inherently not equal, is uncertain. Enrollment change among some minority groups is still very slow in coming, with current research indicating that nationally, only 6 to 8 percent of black students attend predominantly white institutions, and over 28 percent attend all-black colleges. Mary Beth Gasman, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, said while Brown v. Board is an extraordinarily important case, it was never meant to have a rapid effect. “People are under the impression that everybody was optimistic after the Brown decision, but members of the black education community knew change would take a long time to come,” Gasman said. While improvement in access is expected, it is also expected to happen slowly. “My expectation is that access opportunities for minorities will continue to improve, (but) at a slower pace than we would like,” said Edgar Beckham, a senior fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, a nonprofit organization which researches the quality and vitality of undergraduate higher education.

Political solutions With education statistics showing stagnant or declining numbers of admitted minority students, the future of higher education access is becoming a hot issue in the political arena. In 2002, President Bush introduced the “No Child Left Behind Act,” which required states to implement strict accountability systems aimed at ensuring all students are at the same level upon graduating from high school. The president has said he believes this act would create a more equal primary and secondary education system, especially for low-income and minority students. This early equalization, the Bush administration says, might allow for a greater number of minority students to attend the higher education institutions of their choice. While the bill’s aims are lauded, critics of the proposal, led by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, say that in practice, the act has translated into a heavy fiscal burden for the states because the federal government is not fully funding the bill. “The basic message behind it is good, though; no child should be left behind,” Beckham said. He added that both high schools and higher education institutions need to do their share to make sure the 75th Brown anniversary will be one celebrating full educational equality. “The K-12 system is a very important one; at the same time, we need to improve our strategies for recruitment of students to all levels of higher education,” Beckham said. He added that both high schools and colleges need to work on raising levels of academic performance, and also work on finding a way to get students more engaged in their studies. This seems to be a persistent theme among education advocates. Barbara McKenna, spokeswoman for the Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, a group dedicated to promoting effective education practices for ethnic and racial minority students, said just throwing people together will not cause full integration. “Physical proximity is necessary between the races, yes, but it is not enough,” McKenna said. “We need the different races to be working together on projects of mutual interest,” she added.

Affirmative action In tandem with changes in high schools, experts are saying higher education institutions should also adopt policies to increase their share of minority students. Some states, such as Texas are following those prescripts already, with the adoption of a 10 percent plan, which guarantees admission to state universities for all high school seniors in the top 10 percent of their class. This 10 percent plan was conceived as an alternative to considering race in admissions, which was outlawed in California and Washington. Factoring race into admissions criteria still has its share of supporters, with some saying this system would be very beneficial in promoting a reduction in education inequalities. “I can understand the idealism of pushing a society in which color or ethnicity do not matter, but we do not live in such a society,” Beckham said. “The best way to make progress is to recognize that race and ethnicity are factors that do have an impact,” he added. A study by the National Center on Education Statistics found that 59 percent of black and 63 percent of Latino students do not attend any higher education institutions, and that only 2 percent of each group attend graduate schools.

Problems ahead With politicians planning different programs aimed at integration, Beckham said a more thorough integration may present an additional set of problems. “This progress will result in what I call a structural deficit,” Beckham said. He explained that while more minorities will get access to higher education, those left behind will be left further behind than ever, leading to a very serious concern. “This is an ironic situation in which we are making progress in higher numbers, but at the same time the gap between those pursuing higher education and those not is greater,” Beckham said. This gap will eventually lead to societal problems and dysfunction, with an entire class of citizens missing out on more and more opportunities, Beckham said. An adequate solution, some say, should be one not targeting only the top 10 percent of students, but the lowest 30 percent, making sure they successfully continue their education, he said. The future of higher education access in this nation still remains a debated topic, with a myriad of contested solutions being offered. In this unclear climate, Harvey said all he can do is remain optimistic. “I would hope that we would make more progress in the next 25 years, than in the past 50,” Harvey said. “After all, there were absolutely no students of color in predominately white institutions 50 years ago, so something positive has occurred,” he added.