Racial Inequality Across Higher Education

Charlie McGill
IHSS
Mr. Roddy
5.8.19

Racial Inequality Across Higher Education

One major civil rights issue that has emerged in the past five years is the issue of racial inequality in higher education. As of 2017, there were 10,510,800 white students in higher education, and only 2,545,900 black students. There were slightly more latino students (3,540,600), but less asian students (1,329,700). This being said, there are more white students in American universities than black, latino, and asian combined (“Undergraduate Enrollment Numbers in the U.S., by Ethnicity 1976-2017 | Statistic”). That shows a major issue that higher education has: inequality. Now, these figures are getting better. Every year that gap lessens, and universities are generally known as very progressive places. That being said, there are still major issues to do with racism and civil rights happening in school.


The website GoodCall, who wrote an article on these issues, mentions that 2015 was a big turning point. The year saw a large increase in student protests, along with student activism. There was a sit-in at Princeton university to protest racial injustice. This strategy of protest is very similar to strategies used during the civil rights movement. Issues with racism in university life also came up during the Million Student March, which was originally a protest of student debt. Although these protests were small, just enough to make their voice heard, some were very publicized. There was a huge incident at the University of Missouri, where swastikas were drawn on the walls in human feces, and threats were made to black students on social media. The poor handling by administration led to fury and mayhem, there were protests, a hunger strike, the football team threatened a boycott, the president of UM was forced to resign, and the chancellor of the main campus resigned. 2015 also called affirmative action into question. The supreme court held Fisher v. University of Texas for a second time, and ruled in favor of universities taking race into account when accepting applicants, stating that using race as a factor in accepting students is alright because it’s in the interest of educational diversity. Finally, the article highlighted the issue of minority graduation rates, and undocumented students in university. The bad is that although more minority students are attending university, their graduation rates are still far behind those of white students. However, many universities took steps in allowing undocumented students the same resources, and the same financial aid as legal citizens, which is definitely a plus (Harvin, “Racism, Civil Rights and the Struggle for Equality Still Issues in Higher Education Today | GoodCall News”)


I think that this article did a great job in showing the positive direction we are moving in, in terms of eliminating racial inequality in higher education, along with showing the steps we still need to take. The fact that graduation rates aren’t increasing on par with enrollment rates is not a good sign, and universities need to make sure that their minority students, who are largely first generation college students, are getting the proper care they need to make it through college. However, the fact that students feel empowered to protest and speak up against these issues speaks volumes; this country is heading in the right direction, and we must continue to strive for equality across higher education.

Harvin, Monica. “Racism, Civil Rights and the Struggle for Equality Still Issues in Higher Education Today | GoodCall News” Good Call, 18 Jan. 2016, www.goodcall.com/news/racism-civil-rights-and-the-struggle-for-equality-still-issues-in-higher-education-today-04039.

“Undergraduate Enrollment Numbers in the U.S., by Ethnicity 1976-2017 | Statistic” Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/236489/undergraduate-enrollment-by-ethnicity-in-the-us/.