Background
In the two years that the first Trump Administration was in power, there was a multi-faceted, paradigm shift in educational policy that widened the racial gap in access to and completion of college.
The Civil Rights Project commissioned leading experts to address the most pressing issues and present five new studies on Capitol Hill. Those interested in the future of higher education and racial equity received vital new information. The briefing took place on Tuesday, September 25th from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm at the Dirksen Senate Building, Room G11.
Several leading researchers and academics unveiled data demonstrating the probable impacts of recent policy changes on college students of color. Amid all of the other changes in those first two years, these received too little attention but, put together, were likely to have damaging consequences for racial justice and minority opportunity.
From targeted actions that have redefined affirmative action policies as discrimination against Asian Americans and whites, the impact of the revival of federal funding for for-profit colleges, budget changes that threaten HCBUs, cuts to programs for incarcerated students, and to federal risk-sharing proposals around student loans that will force colleges to screen out the students who most need support, the door to college for students of color was closing.
Watch the event video.
AGENDA
10:30-10:34 Welcome & Introduction
Gary Orfield, Professor/Co-Director, UCLA Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles
10:35-11:14 Major findings from new research (7 mins. each)
OiYan Poon, Asst. Professor/Director, Center for Racial Justice in Education and Research, Colorado State University (Co-author Liliana Garces, University of Texas at Austin) presentation summary
Andrés Castro Samayoa, Asst. Professor, Boston College presentation summary
Brian Pusser, Assoc. Professor, University of Virginia (Co-author Matt Ericson, UVA) presentation summary
Paper: The Impact of the PROSPER Act on Underrepresented Students in For-profit Colleges
Erin Corbett, Senior Analyst, Institute for Higher Education Policy (Co-author Julie Ajinkya, IHEP) presentation summary
Paper: In Consideration of Reinstating Pell for Incarcerated Students
Nick Hillman, Assoc. Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison presentation summary
Paper: How Accountability Can Increase Racial Inequality: The Case of Federal Risk-Sharing
11:15-11:22 Commentator on new research
11:23-11:57 Q&A
11:58-12:00 Summary: Gary Orfield