A National Investigation of Bans on Affirmative Action and Racial Differences in College Destination

• In Event: 409 - Regular Session. Affirmative Action

Abstract

We use data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 to conduct a national investigation of the effects of state-adopted bans on race-sensitive admissions on group differences in college destinations. Unlike most studies that focus exclusively on enrollments, we model racial and ethnic differences in college applications and condition enrollment on application to respective college types. This alternative modeling strategy places emphasis on the opportunity structure by distinguishing between prospective students’ application decisions and the admissions decisions of postsecondary institutions. The strategy allows us to evaluate whether bans on affirmative action influence racial gaps in destinations through prospective students’ applications decisions or chances of enrollment given that they apply. State bans are associated with increased chances that Latino high school graduates apply to non-selective colleges and raised odds that they attend such institutions, among those who apply. Bans appear to have the opposite effect for whites, as they are associated with lower odds that whites apply to non-selective colleges and higher odds that they apply to selective institutions. However, bans on race-conscious admissions are not associated with enrollments among white college applicants. Thus, bans on affirmative action do not appear to affect the opportunity structure for whites. Rather, once whites determine the kinds of colleges to which they will apply and then do so, their chances of enrolling in those kinds of college appear unrelated to state policies on affirmative action, as are the chances of blacks and Latinos, groups that affirmative action policies are intended to benefit.

Authors

• Pamela R. Bennett, City University of New York-Queens College

• Amy Lutz, Syracuse University