Review: The Gilded Years (2016)

The Gilded Years (2016), by Karin Tanabe, is a historical fiction novel. It is based on the true story of Anita Florence Hemmings, the first African American woman to attend Vassar College, a prestigious women's college, in the 1890s. As the descendants of slaves, Hemmings passed as white so that she could enter Vassar and finds herself in the elite world of aristocrats and capitalists. She is treated as an wealthy, highly-educated white woman until she got attached to the wrong person--who could unravel everything she risked to accomplish for a better life. Passing meets House of Mirth in this best-selling historical novel on how race, gender and class intersected to influence social mobility and access to higher education during America's Gilded Age.

From the book cover:

Since childhood, Anita Hemmings has longed to attend the country’s most exclusive school for women, Vassar College. Now, a bright, beautiful senior in the class of 1897, she is hiding a secret that would have banned her from admission: Anita is the only African-American student ever to attend Vassar. With her olive complexion and dark hair, this daughter of a janitor and descendant of slaves has successfully passed as white, but now finds herself rooming with Louise “Lottie” Taylor, the scion of one of New York’s most prominent families.

Though Anita has kept herself at a distance from her classmates, Lottie’s sphere of influence is inescapable, her energy irresistible, and the two become fast friends. Pulled into her elite world, Anita learns what it’s like to be treated as a wealthy, educated white woman—the person everyone believes her to be—and even finds herself in a heady romance with a moneyed Harvard student. It’s only when Lottie becomes infatuated with Anita’s brother, Frederick, whose skin is almost as light as his sister’s, that the situation becomes particularly perilous. And as Anita’s college graduation looms, those closest to her will be the ones to dangerously threaten her secret.

I read this historical novel for a graduate-level course on the history of higher education. I had no idea that this novel would bring back memories of my own undergraduate courses on African American Literature. The early 20th century was considered the "nadir era" where both legal segregation (Jim Crow laws) and increasing racial violence were common occurrences against African Americans. For example, Harlem Renaissance writers such as Nella Larsen ("Passing", "Quicksand") and James Weldon Johnson ("The Autobiography of the Ex-Colored Man") knew about the dangers of passing for American Americans of mixed-race ancestry. Some made this choice to achieve upward social mobility and to escape the racial terror that limited educational and employment opportunities for African Americans. Those who did pass successfully had to completely detach themselves from their former lives, including their relatives and acquaintances who might expose their hidden secrets. Tanabe adds to this literary tradition to portray the danger and loss that occurs when one decides to pass and never look back.

I was so thrilled to read Gilded Years because I could apply my background on race and educational inequality in a historical novel that intrigued me. Tanabe, who is also a Vassar alumna, does an excellent job of creating the setting for the Gilded Age. Anita's story takes her from her working-class neighborhood of Roxbury, Boston to the wealthy parts of Boston and New York City. The Gilded Age was a period of industrialization, the rise of modern capitalism, and imperialism abroad. It was also a dark, racist period in American history where African Americans were largely excluded from attending elite colleges. It is remarkable then that the real Anita Florence Hemmings (Class of 1897) (see picture on the right) represented one of the very few black women who was able to pursue an elite college education. Although she was a descendant of slaves, her light complexion was often mistaken for a Mediterranean look. Had she marked down "colored" on her application, her admittance surely would have been rejected. Despite this physical advantage, as the book reveals, her college peers start to question her ancestry weeks before graduation and her true racial identity is discovered in a tragic way. The real lesson then is, despite her academic accomplishments, not even Anita could escape America's obsession with race and the toll it would have on her family.

I highly recommend this novel. Meanwhile, I heard great news that Tanabe's novel may soon hit the big screens. Sony’s TriStar Pictures has won the worldwide rights to the psychological thriller “A White Lie,” produced by Reese Witherspoon and staring Zendaya as the first African-American woman to graduate from Vassar College. Stay tuned for further updates!

2018: A Year of Commemorating Civil Rights

Happy New Year! 2018 was an incredibly busy year for me. It marked a major comeback for me in education. I am looking forward to spending more time building up this blog. I have exciting things planned for 2019. Expect more updates and posts on this blog. Before we start the new year, I want to reflect on an incredible year. 2018 was also a year to commemorate important events in civil rights history in America. More importantly, they were related to my research interests. Check them out below!

1. 50th Anniversary of the Kerner Commission Report: Formally known as the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the Kerner Commission, named after its chair, Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member Presidential Commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in Executive Order 11365 to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States and to provide recommendations for the future. This report was significant because Detroit was one of the cities that influenced the establishment of this government study.
   
   
   
   
2. 50th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act: Known as the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination by direct providers of housing whose discriminatory practices make housing unavailable to persons because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.
   
   
3. 50th anniversary of the Poor People's Campaign: The Poor People's March on Washington was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King's assassination.
   
   

In 2018, my alma mater, Northwestern University, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Bursar's Office Takeover. I visited the campus last summer to learn more about the legacy and impact of the student sit-in on the university. In 1968, more than 100 Northwestern students peacefully occupied the Bursar’s Office to protest the black student experience. It led to increasing black student enrollment and financial aid, to revised housing policies, to the expansion of “studies of black history and black culture,” among others. I would argue that this event inspired me to learn more about civil rights and social justice in college and beyond.

To learn more about the history of the black student experience at Northwestern University, please check out this recent book release, Voices and Visions: The Evolution of the Black Experience at Northwestern University (2018).

This volume shares the experiences of African American students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni who studied, worked, struggled and triumphed at Northwestern University from the late 19th century to the present. Through over fifty first person accounts, the stories of individuals and groups critical to the progression of the Black experience at Northwestern are used to reveal that evolution."

Michigan, Harvard partner to solve poverty in Detroit

This is fantastic news for my hometown, Detroit. and Harvard University have formed new partnerships to bring actionable change through research and community engagement. With Harvard's new president, Lawrence Bacow, a native Michigander, supporting the effort, this project will bring immense opportunities for researchers to study and propose effective interventions that help the residents of Detroit.

From the alumni magazine, Michigan Today:

The University of Michigan and Harvard University are forming two new partnerships designed to spur economic mobility and reduce poverty in Detroit, as well as combine resources and expertise in response to the national opioid crisis.

The Equality of Opportunity Project — led by Harvard faculty members Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren and Brown University’s John Friedman — will work with U-M’s Poverty Solutions initiative, led by Luke Shaefer, U-M faculty member and Poverty Solutions director.

The universities will collaborate with the city of Detroit and local partners on an action plan to identify promising, results-based interventions for improving the livelihoods of low-income Detroit residents.

University of Michigan Bicentennial: 1817-2017

In 2017, the University of Michigan (U-M) will celebrate its bicentennial--200 years of teaching, scholarship, and service. Established in 1817 in Detroit as the Catholepistemiad or University of Michigania, U-M is the state's oldest university. In 1837, the school moved from Detroit to its present-day location, Ann Arbor. Since its founding, U-M has become one of the premier research universities in the world and boasts the largest living alumni in the world (over 500,000). As of 2016, the university has 19 schools and colleges, 260 degree programs, and 103 of its graduate programs ranked in the top 10. Its official colors are maize and blue, and its motto is "Go Blue!".

The university is historically known for its student activism, popular stop for U.S. presidents and important figures, and its role in defending affirmative action at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 (though Michigan voters in 2006 approved restrictions on the use of race in college admissions in Proposal 2). As a proud U-M alumna, U-M also boasts the best graduate programs in my fields: higher education administration and social work. To my delight, the current U-M president, Mark S. Schlissel, has picked diversity, equity and inclusion as well as poverty solutions as two of his five areas of focus in his administration.

Browse the links below for more information about the U-M Bicentennial:

• PSA kicks off U-M bicentennial with a historic look back
• Welcome to the University of Michigan's Bicentennial (Office of the President)
• Office of the President's Message on the U-M Bicentennial
• Official Planned Celebrations in 2017 (University Record)
• News Coverage regarding the U-M Bicentennial (University Record)
• 200 Years and Counting (Michigan Today)
• U-M Bicentennial YouTube Channel
• The University of Michigan, 1817-2017 (Millennium Project)
• The University of Michigan Teach-Out Series

Five Bicentennial Symposia

• 1817: Nation Building in the Old Northwest and the Making of the University of Michigan
• 1877: Reconstructing the University of Michigan
• 1917: Michigan's Great War and Its Aftermath
• World War II: Consequences of Mobilization
• 1967: Shock Waves — The Detroit Rebellion and its Reverberations

October is Careers in Student Affairs Month

October is Careers in Student Affairs Month. Are you considering a career in students affairs in higher education? Don't know what a student affairs professional entails? There are many pathways within student affairs, ranging from Greek life to multicultural affairs to student housing.

There are endless possibilities within the student affairs field. Furthermore, attend a conference (ACPA, NASPA, NACA), participate in an internship (NODA, ACUI, ACUHO-I, NUFP) or seek out mentors who work in this inspiring career. The links below provide a snapshot:

• NASPA: Careers in Student Affairs
• Interviews with student affairs professionals at UT-Brownsville
• Student Affairs.com
• ACPA Career Center Blog
• 100 Professionals Answer “Why They Choose Student Affairs” As A Career #CSAM14

Don't forget to view my 2012 post that provides information on careers in student affairs.

Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Professionals

• ACPA and NASPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Practitioners
• ACPA Statement of Ethical Principles and Standards

Schlissel: University of Michigan needs plan to increase campus diversity

Good news for black students and advocates who demand transformative change in the compositional diversity of the student body. For too long, the black student population at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the flagship public university, has hovered dangerously around 4 percent, which is below the state's black population at 14 percent. From The Detroit News:

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel says he will ask his 19 deans to come up with plans to diversify their departments as part of a measurable effort to make the campus more diverse.

And that diversity goes beyond race and ethnicity, he said.

"The reason why it's so darn important — beyond the question of being fair to all the citizens that we serve here as a public university — is we cannot be academically excellent without being diverse," Schlissel told The Detroit News in an interview Friday. "So much of the learning that goes on here comes with engaging one another."

Schlissel said he plans to develop a strategy aimed at re-energizing the university's efforts to diversify the student body, faculty and the staff.

Part of that strategy will include asking the university's deans next month to come up with diversity plans. A baseline will be established to measure the current state of each college.

Michigan Today: The Negro-Caucasian Club

The Michigan Today, a newsletter for U-M alumni, published a special article about the history of black-white relations at the University of Michigan. While U-M today sees itself as a champion for diversity and inclusion, it wasn't always the case in the early twentieth century. Rather, it perpetuated a racist campus climate.

The first two African-American students had been admitted to U-M in 1868. But only a handful followed, and by the 1920s, blacks still comprised just a tiny fragment of the student body. By University practice and informal understandings, they lived in a segregated sphere, joining white students only in classrooms.

In that era only women lived in University dormitories – but not the six or seven black women enrolled at U-M. They lived in a boarding house arranged by the University. African-American men lived in either of two black fraternity houses, Kappa Alpha Psi or Omega Psi Phi, or boarded with black families. They were not served at the Michigan Union, nor were they allowed into University swimming pools or University-sponsored dances.

...

The faculty senate’s Committee on Student Affairs recognized the group as an official student organization for only one year, and only on two conditions: It must drop its stated purpose of working “for the abolition of discrimination against Negroes,” and “the name of the University of Michigan shall not be used in connection with the activities of the Club.”

ThinkProgress: Getting A College Degree Won’t Protect Black Workers From The Economy’s Racial Barriers

Blacks on average face higher underemployment and unemployment rates than their White counterparts. Racial and gender discrimination in hiring is partly to blame. Read the rest of the article on ThinkProgress.

"The economy is heavily tilted against black people. In a study of entry-level job openings, equally qualified black job applicants were half as likely as white ones to get a call back or an offer. Jobs that drug test are more likely to hire black workers because without the tests, they assume black applicants use drugs. While black workers make up 32 percent of the workforce, they make up 42 percent of minimum wage workers.

Black women have been particularly dogged in recent years in graduating college: they made up two-thirds of all black students who finished a Bachelor’s Degree in 2010 and 71 percent with a Master’s. But they still struggle in other ways: when they’re working full-time, year-round, they make 64 percent of what white men make and less than both white women and black men."

In another study, researchers found that in online sales Americans would rather do business with Whites than Blacks.

Check out more ThinkProgress articles below!

• How Retailers Could Narrow The Gender Pay Gap And Lift Women Out Of Poverty
• The Economic Inequality Lurking Among The 99 Percent
• College Graduates Can’t Buy Houses Because They’re Buried In Debt
• The Neediest Americans Are Getting The Least Government Assistance

InsideHigherEd: Finding a Job in Student Affairs

Sonja Ardoin wrote an excellent article about how recent graduates and career changers can find a job in higher education and student affairs. Since student affairs does not follow a standard procedure such as law or teaching, the job searching process can be ambiguous and frustrating. She also wrote an article about the interview process in student affairs. Follow these tips, and your chances of landing that dream job will increase!

Although the process of lifelong learning is vital, if you are anything like me, you know there is also practical value in being able to put that learning into practice to assist others in their growth and development (and pay back your student loans and afford to support yourself). The job search process in student affairs can be a time-consuming endeavor full of self-assessment, anxiety, excitement, and a host of other emotional and logistical complexities. It is also a numbers game. For example, in my last job search after my Ph.D. program, I applied for 46 jobs, participated in 12 phone interviews, visited 5 campuses for in-person interviews, and received 3 job offers. I like to think I am a solid candidate; the numbers also show you that I did not receive interviews with half of the places to which I applied. In fact, if you do the math, I was asked to interview with only 23 percent of the institutions to which I applied.

Here are two related articles about finding a job in admissions: Hiring in Admissions (August 7, 2009) - InsideHigherEd AND Getting Into the Admission Office (April 8, 2013) -InsideHigherEd.

NYTimes: "Class, Cost, and College" and "Who Gets to College?"

Columnists at The New York Times published two well-regarded articles on social class and postsecondary transitions. Both articles examine the barriers to degree completion for low-income students and students of color. Here is the trailer for the documentary, Ivory Tower.

From "Class, Cost, and College" (May 17, 2014):

THE word “crisis” pops up frequently in “Ivory Tower,” a compelling new documentary about the state of higher education in America.

It pops up in regard to the mountains of student debt. It pops up in regard to the steep drop in government funding for public universities, which have been forced to charge higher and higher tuition in response. That price increase is also a “crisis” in the estimation of one of many alarmed educators and experts on camera.

And “crisis” isn’t even their direst appellation. Andrew Delbanco, a Columbia University professor of American studies who functions as the movie’s conscience, notes an “apocalyptic dimension” to today’s discussion of college’s failings. The movie is set on verdant campuses. It’s rife with lecterns, books and graduation gowns. And yet it’s a kind of horror story.

Scheduled for theatrical release next month, “Ivory Tower” does an astonishingly thorough tour of the university landscape in a brisk 90 minutes, touching on the major changes and challenges, each of which could sustain its own documentary.

From "Who Gets to College?" (May 15, 2014):

There are thousands of students like Vanessa at the University of Texas, and millions like her throughout the country — high-achieving students from low-income families who want desperately to earn a four-year degree but who run into trouble along the way. Many are derailed before they ever set foot on a campus, tripped up by complicated financial-aid forms or held back by the powerful tug of family obligations. Some don’t know how to choose the right college, so they drift into a mediocre school that produces more dropouts than graduates. Many are overwhelmed by expenses or take on too many loans. And some do what Vanessa was on the verge of doing: They get to a good college and encounter what should be a minor obstacle, and they freak out. They don’t want to ask for help, or they don’t know how. Things spiral, and before they know it, they’re back at home, resentful, demoralized and in debt.

When you look at the national statistics on college graduation rates, there are two big trends that stand out right away. The first is that there are a whole lot of students who make it to college — who show up on campus and enroll in classes — but never get their degrees. More than 40 percent of American students who start at four-year colleges haven’t earned a degree after six years. If you include community-college students in the tabulation, the dropout rate is more than half, worse than any other country except Hungary.

Watch Obama's Speech on Raising the Minimum Wage at the University of Michigan

President Obama arrived today at the University of Michigan to promote his plan to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and to criticize the Republican's opposition to the minimum wage issue. Watch the full speech below:



Related Articles:

• Obama's visit to Ann Arbor to discuss minimum wage is brief but memorable (The Ann Arbor News)
• Obama: No full-time worker should raise a family in poverty (The Detroit News)
• Obama calls GOP's budget a 'stinkburger' (Washington Post)

U-M: Over 1,000 Attend the United Coalition for Racial Justice Speak Out! Event

I provide below links of local and national coverage of the United Coalition for Racial Justice's SPEAK OUT! sit-in at the University of Michigan. Over 1,000 faculty, students, staff, alumni, and guests attended the event to hear the keynote speaker (Dr. Barbara Ransby, former U-M graduate student and organizer of the Black Action Movement in 1987), share their minority experiences and protest the lack of racial diversity on campus. You can also access the UCRJ's viewpoint (February 24, 2014) of campus climate here.

• All-night sit-in at the Ugli addresses the campus racial climate (Michigan Daily)
• U-M students hold all-night protest of racial climate (Detroit Free Press)
• U. of Michigan students to protest what they say is low minority enrollment, poor racial climate (WDIV Detroit)
• U-M students hold all-night protest for racial diversity (Fox News Detroit)
• 1,000-plus flock to University of Michigan 'Speak Out' to share minority experience, support activism (Ann Arbor News)
• How A Twitter Hashtag Sparked A Push For Diversity At The University Of Michigan (Huffington Post)
• The University of Michigan wants more black students (Michigan Radio)
• Black students 'feel silenced' as U-M president publicly reaffirms commitment to diversity (Ann Arbor News)
• Colorblind Notion Aside, Colleges Grapple With Racial Tension (The New York Times)
• Share Your Experience with Racism on Campus (The New York Times Blog: The Lede)
• In Diversity Gap at Michigan Flagship, 
Signs of a Lost Public Mission (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Being Black at Michigan (Michigan Today)

Sign the petition: University of Michigan -- Support Your Black Students

Today, a black alumnus from the University of Michigan launched an online petition to support the Being Black at Michigan (#BBUM) campaign and the Black Student Union's list of demands to improve African American enrollment at the University of Michigan. In November, the BBUM campaign received national attention regarding their personal experiences (positive but mostly negative) at the University of Michigan. The low black enrollment (4.1% as of Fall 2013!) has sparked disappointment and fueled protest. Black students expressed feelings of alienation, marginalization, invisibility, and the need to prove that they deserve to be at U-M even though Proposition 2 (2006) banned the use of race and gender in college admissions and state hiring. IF U-M truly wants to sustain its commitment to diversity, then it must take appropriate actions within the law to address the claims of Michigan's black student population. Sign the petition and share it with your friends and allies! #moveblueforward

My name is Lester Spence. I am an Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1991, and my PhD from the University of Michigan in 2001.

I worked hard for both of those degrees. But contrary to stories of “individual initiative,” I know my degrees didn’t come from my hard work alone. Student protest created the Comprehensive Studies Program that accepted me in 1987. Student protest created the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies where I took many of my classes, where I wrote the undergraduate paper in 1989 that led to my first book 22 years later. Student protest led to the hires of every single letter writer I had for grad school. Black students (and their allies) risked their academic careers. Risked their academic careers so years later people like me could find themselves and their purpose. Risked their careers to force the university to live up to its highest principles and values.

When I saw that black students at Michigan were forced to protest again, forced to issue demands protesters issued almost thirty years ago, I couldn’t stand by silently. We know what they’re risking. We know what they’re fighting for.

Our petition accomplishes two goals: First, the petition tells students they aren’t alone. They have received hate mail and threats. This in addition to the stress they’re already undergoing as students. Second, the university recently named Dr. Mark Schlissel (current Brown University provost) its next President. This petition tells incoming President Schlissel and other university officials that the issue of racial and economic equity are critical concerns they should not ignore.

The University of Michigan, like all prestigious institutions, is sensitive to public pressure. Adding your name will turn up the heat on university leadership and further enable students organizing for a Michigan that truly represents the leaders and best.

Tell the University of Michigan that it’s time they stand up and support student demands for more racial diversity and more economic support for poorer students.

Related Links

• Black Student Union at U-M: Change needs to happen
• U-M to boost racial diversity following social media outpouring
• Online petition urges University of Michigan to act on black students' demands
• Black Student Union, U-M officials meet to talk solutions to students' diversity concerns
• Being Black at Michigan (Michigan Today)

Inside Higher Ed: A Semester of Racial Tensions

In this semseter alone, racial tensions on college campuses have hit the news media as specific incidents (racial harassment at San Jose State University; graduate students of color sit-in at UCLA; blackface and ghetto fraternity parties at public institutions; and Being Black at Michigan Twitter campaign at the University of Michigan) sadly revealed that we do not live in a post-racial society. While these incidents may be shocking to some Americans, it is not surprising to African American faculty and students, who often feel isolated, alienated, ostralized, and discriminated against on college campuses. Inside Higher Ed interviewed Spelman College president and race relations expert, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. Here were some of the interview questions in the article:

Q: When authorities charged white San Jose State University students with tormenting a black student for months, many were shocked that this could have gone on for so long with no one noticing or intervening -- even when the students allegedly hung up photos of Hitler and the Confederate flag. Were you shocked that this could happen on a college campus?

Q: Also this fall, we have seen black students at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Michigan use social media to voice frustrations with their relatively low numbers and the way they are perceived. What does it say to you that these students feel the need to use social media to draw attention to their concerns -- and that they have been so successful in in fact getting attention in this way?

Q: We have also seen this fall -- as we seem to every fall -- a series of parties with offensive racially charged themes, followed by apologies in which party organizers appear surprised the the use of blackface or "ghetto" themes is offensive. Why is it possible for college students today to be unaware that such actions will offend?

Books about Diversity and Civic Engagement in Higher Education

One of my specialties is diversity and social justice in higher education. My research fall within two areas: (a) access and equity and (b) civic learning and democratic engagement. In honor of Careers in Student Affairs Month (October), I list my favorite books on these topics below.

This list will be continuously updated every year.

October is Careers in Student Affairs Month

Student Affairs. Student Life. Co-curriculum. Student Services.

What do these terms have in common? They focus on teaching and learning outside the classroom. This can be residence housing, campus dining halls, recreational activities, student organizations, service-learning, the list goes on. They support the academic mission of the higher education institution. Student affairs complement academic affairs. They educate the whole student (identity, cognitive, moral, affective, experiential, etc.) so that students can make meaning out of their experiences. Student affairs educators apply developmental theories that guide their work in providing services and inclusive spaces for college students.

Are you interested in pursuing a career in student affairs? Are you interested in applying to graduate programs in higher education and student affairs? Don't forget to browse my other links on student affairs:

Considering a Career in Student Affairs?

Functional Areas in Higher Education and Student Affairs

Careers in Student Affairs (courtesy of NASPA)

Detroit News: Minority enrollment mixed at Michigan universities under affirmative action ban

The news isn't good for racial minorities in Michigan. From The Detroit News:

Since Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in higher education and government was passed in 2006, there are more students of color at the state’s smaller universities but fewer at the larger universities and in the three largest medical schools, according to a report unveiled Friday.

The study also showed state hiring of women and people of color has been reduced in the wake of the 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment, which is being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments next month. Commissioned by the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, the report is the first to set a baseline and measure the impact of the law, which also is in place in five other states.

Review: Multicultural Student Services on Campus (2011)

Multicultural Student Services on Campus (2011), edited by Dafina Lazarus Stewart, is a comprehensive resource for graduate students and new professionals in multicultural student services in higher education. It explores contemporary issues of multicultural student services and its historical development. It focuses on the three most common aspects of multicultural student services in higher education: race/ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, and religious/spiritual identity. It examines how institutional context (liberal arts colleges, public universities, community colleges, and minority-serving institutions) influences the design and practice of multicutural student services. Lastly, it discusses ways in which practitioners in other units and divisions within colleges and universities can collaborate and advocate for stronger multicultural student services.

Published by ACPA: College Student Educators International, this book is an important reference for student affairs professionals who need to understand the history, breadth, depth, and future of multicultural student services. Senior-level administrators, who have a desire to make socially-responsible decisions that transform college campuses into democratic and multicultural communities, should also consider this reference as a starting point for ideas and solutions. Since I study diversity and social justice in higher education, this book has become an invaluable resource for enhancing my awareness and knowledge of pertinent issues in multicultural affairs. Dafina Lazarus Stewart is an associate professor of higher education and student affairs at Bowling Green State University.

The book is divided into four sections with 19 chapters:

1. History and Evolution of Multicultural Student Services
2. Multicultural Student Services Affirming and Integrating Diversity
3. Diverse Contexts, Similar Goals (Academic and Student Affairs)
4. Building Bridges (Collaborations and Multicultural Competence)

U.S. Supreme Court to Revisit Ban on Affirmative Action in Michigan

Breaking News! The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will revisit the ban on affirmative action in Michigan. The Court will determine whether whether state voter ballot initiatives that barred affirmative action in state colleges and universities, such as Proposition 209 in California and Proposal 2 in Michigan, violate the rights of minority groups to fully participate in the political process. Court proceedings will begin this fall.

From Inside HigherEd:

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a second case involving affirmative action in higher education -- even before it has issued a ruling on the other case that it has considered this term. The justices agreed to consider whether Michigan voters in 2006 had the legal right to bar the state's public colleges and universities from considering race or ethnicity in admissions. Should the Supreme Court invalidate that vote, bans on the consideration of race by public colleges in other states -- most notably in California -- could also be thrown out.

From University of Michigan:

The nation's high court will hear an appeal filed by state Attorney General Bill Schuette after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Proposal 2, the ballot initiative approved by voters in 2006, was unconstitutional. The court said it would take up the case, known as Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, in the term that begins in October. Proposal 2 amended the Michigan Constitution by adding a provision prohibiting discrimination and preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, sex, or national origin in public education, public employment, and public contracting. U-M remains in full compliance with Proposal 2. The 6th Circuit concluded that Proposal 2 violated the federal Equal Protection Clause by making it more difficult for minority groups to participate fully and equally in the state's political processes, particularly with respect to the ability to seek changes in university admissions policies. 

Initially, I was shocked by this announcement because the U.S. Supreme Court will therefore hear two consecutive cases on affirmative action (Fisher v. University of Texas) and now state voter initiatives that ban affirmative action. Research has shown that these bans have negatively impacted the enrollment of African American students in flagship state universities. Race-neutral approaches (percentage plans, socioeconomic review, etc.) are not a viable substitute to race. Once these bans are enacted, it is nearly impossible for minority civil rights groups to gather the funding and resources to overturn these laws. This is an unprecedented move, but I have hope that the Court will make the right decision(s).

NASW: Social Workers in Colleges and Universities

In 2011, the NASW Center for Workforce Studies and Social Work Practice released the occupational profile, Social Workers in Colleges and Universities.

Social workers play critical roles in higher education settings. Many colleges and universities across the country employ social workers in their counseling centers or as part of their faculty. Social workers employed in colleges or universities tend to focus on the psychosocial functioning of individual students (Gibelman, 2005). Issues that social workers address can be related to academic challenges, adjustments to a new environment, or behavioral issues (Gibelman, 2005). Other issues might include campus drinking, relationships or domestic violence. Social workers in these settings can also work as faculty, preparing social work students to address individual and social problems and to bring about social change. Social work professors may also conduct research on a variety of topics

The list of functions that social workers employ in higher education settings in the occupational profile is very good. However, my biggest complaint with this document is that it overlooks social workers in student affairs positions. A growing number of social workers are obtaining positions as advisers, coordinators, managers, and directors in student affairs areas, including admissions, academic advising, counseling and psychological services, health education, multicultural affairs, community service-learning, and social justice education. While a social worker does not need a license to pursue a career in student affairs, those who are licensed provide field education opportunities for social work students who want to work directly with college students. Greater awareness of social workers pursuing careers in academic and student affairs is vital to ensure that our voices are heard in NASW.