Research & Reports

—Page being updated, September 1, 2011.

Many of the world’s leading scholars teach and conduct research at the University of Michigan, and much of their work is focused on diversity of all sorts. Use this site as an entry point to their vast world of knowledge.

Note: To suggest additional U-M research listings, contact: DiversityMatters@umich.edu.

Reports
Research
NCID Exemplary and Emerging Diversity Scholars
NCID Faculty and Center Fellows

Reports

Highlights of the U-M Entering Class of Fall 2011, by Ted Spencer, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, September 1, 2011.
Highlights of the U-M Entering Class of Fall 2010, by Ted Spencer, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, September 2, 2010.
Highlights of the U-M Entering Class of Fall 2009, by Ted Spencer, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, September 3, 2009.
New Student Convocation 2008, Ted Spencer, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions, August 28, 2008.

Research

"Michigan Women and the High-Tech Knowledge Economy" (.pdf*), Susan Kaufmann, August 2007.
RFP: National Center for Institutional Diversity: Call for Proposals.
Rebuttal of CEO Study, October 2006.
The Potential Impact of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative on Employment, Education and Contracting (report and summary available in Spanish).
The Gender Impact of the Proposed Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.

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University of Michigan Faculty Research

The Difference: How The Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Teams, Schools, and Societies, Scott E. Page, University of Michigan. Princeton Press, February 2007.
A Decision-Making Guide to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.
Experiences of racial discrimination harm mental and physical health, September 27, 2006.
"The Association Between Self-Reported Discrimination and Mental Health Status Among African Descendants, Mexican Americans, and Other Latinos in the New Hampshire REACH 2010 Initiative: The Added Dimension of Immigration," Gilbert C. Gee (University of Michigan School of Public Health), Andrew Ryan (Brandeis University, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management), David J. Laflamme (University of New Hampshire, Health Management and Policy), and Jeanie Holt (New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition), American Journal of Public Health, October 2006.
"The Real Impact of Eliminating Affirmative Action in American Law Schools: An Empirical Critique of Richard Sander's Study," by David L. Chambers (University of Michigan Law School), Timothy T. Clydesdale (College of New Jersey), William C. Kidder (Equal Justice Society), and Richard O. Lempert (University of Michigan), Stanford Law Review, May 2005.
"Affirmative Action in American Law Schools: A Critical Response to Richard Sander's 'A Reply to Critics'," by David L. Chambers (University of Michigan Law School), Timothy T. Clydesdale (College of New Jersey), William C. Kidder (Equal Justice Society), and Richard O. Lempert (University of Michigan), February 2006.
Michigan Study, by John Matlock, Gerald Gurin, and Katrina Wade-Golden, University of Michigan, 1990-ongoing.
The Michigan Student Study is a comprehensive multi-method longitudinal research initiative. It tracks over 2,000 students over their four years of college to assess how experiences with racial/ethnic diversity on campus impact their development.
The Benefits of Diversity in Education for Democratic Citizenship. Gurin, P., Nagda, R., Lopez, G. Journal of Social Issues, January 2003.
Diverse Democracy Project, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 1999-2003
One of the primary objectives of this project is to understand the link between diversity and learning on college campuses and to extend the development of promising practices among participating institutions. The project explores how colleges are creating diverse learning environments; the role of the diverse peer group in the acquisition of important cognitive, social, and democratic outcomes both inside and outside of classroom environments; and student outcomes that can be best achieved through specific kinds of initiatives designed to increase student engagement with diverse perspectives.
Diversity and Higher Education: Theory and Impact on Educational Outcomes. Gurin, P., Dey, E.L., Hurtado, S., and Gurin, G. Harvard Educational Review, 72, 3, 332-366, Fall 2002.
The Michigan Student Study: Students' Expectations of and Experiences with Racial/Ethnic Diversity: 1990-1994 (5.1M .pdf*) by John Matlock, Gerald Gurin, and Katrina Wade-Golden. Executive Summary 2002
This 71-page report is a synposis of the original 1990-1994 longitudinal study on the impact of U-M's diversity focus on students during their four years on campus. Data from this study were used in the University's legal defense of its admissions policies.
Doctorate Dissertations from the Michigan Student Study database. Eight Ph.D. dissertations have been done by University of Michigan doctorate students from various academic disciplines. These dissertations have contributed significantly to the body of literature on diversity in the national forum. Additionally, several of these awards won national awards from various higher education association, 1992-2002.
Expert report on the likely racial composition in various social contexts on campus under alternative admissions policies, by Stephen W. Raudenbush (268K .pdf*), July 2000.
"Michigan's Minority Graduates in Practice: The River Runs Through Law School" (13.4M .pdf)* by Richard O. Lempert, David L. Chambers, and Terry K. Adams. Journal of the American Bar Foundation, Volume 25, Number 2, Spring 2000, University of Chicago Press. © 2000 American Bar Foundation. (This file is large and may take a few minutes to load.)
Expert report on the probability of admissions of underrpresented minority applicants if race was not used as a factor in admissions decisions, by Stephen W. Raudenbush (2.2M .pdf*), February 2000.
"Doing Well and Doing Good: The Careers of Minority and White Graduates of the University of Michigan Law School, 1970-1996," by Chambers, D., Lempert, R., Adams, T., July 1999.
Enacting Diverse Learning Environments: Improving the Climate for Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Higher Education, by Sylvia Hurtado, Jeffrey Milem, Alma Clayton-Pedersen & Walter Allen, 1999.
Student Expectations and Experiences: The Michigan Study by John Matlock, University of Michigan. Diversity Digest, Summer 1997.
In this article, Matlock shares some of the findings from the Michigan Study, a longitudinal survey study that examines the impact of campus-wide diversity initiatives on undergraduates. Many of the findings challenge commonly held perceptions of student experience with diversity.
How Diversity Affects Teaching and Learning, by Sylvia Hurtado, University of Michigan, Fall 1996.
In this essay, Hurtado illustrates how a climate of inclusion has a positive effect on learning outcomes, citing examples of how key transformations in the teaching and learning activity of institutions are linked with understanding and serving a diverse student body.
Abstract of The Institutional Climate for Talented Latino Students, Sylvia Hurtado, University of Michigan, May 1993.

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Other Research Links

Research and Trends, Diversity Web, Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Negative Action versus Affirmative Action: Asian Pacific Americans Are Still Caught in the Crossfire (208K .pdf*), by William C. Kidder, Michigan Journal of Law & Race, Spring 2006.
The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences at Elite Universities, by Thomas J. Espenshade and Chang Chung, in Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Blackwell Publishing), June 2005.
How Desegregation Changed Us: The Effects of Racially Mixed Schools on Students and Society. A Study of Desegregated High Schools and Their Class of 1980 Graduates, Teachers College, Columbia University, University of California at Los Angeles, by Amy Stuart Wells, Jennifer Jellison Holme, Anita Tijerina Revilla, and Awo Korantemaa Atanda. (272K .pdf)*
This report is drawn from their forthcoming book, In Search of Brown, to be published by Harvard University Press in 2005.
Standing Our Ground: A Guidebook for STEM Educators in the Post-Michigan Era, October 2004.
Blend It, Don't End It: Affirmative Action and the Texas Ten Percent Plan After Grutter and Gratz, MALDEF (amicus curiae filer), Equal Justice Society, Society of American Law Teachers (amicus curiae filer), Americans for a Fair Chance/LCCREF, June 24, 2004.
Effects of Racial Diversity on Complex Thinking in College Students, by Anthony Lising Antonio, Mitchell J. Chang, Kenji Hakuta, David A. Kenny, Shana Levin, and Jeffrey F. Milem, in Psychology Science, Vol 15, No 8 (Blackwell Publishing), 2004.
Affirmative Action Research Available from The Civil Rights Project at University California, Los Angeles.
Laws applying to Affirmative Action in Educational Institutions
NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Diversity Web: an interactive resource hub for higher education.
Research, Evaluation, and Impact—Research and Trends on the Diversity Web, An Interactive Resource Hub for Higher Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities.
The Reality of Race Neutral Admissions for Minority Students at the University of California: Turning the Tide or Turning Them Away? (6.7M .pdf), Matt A. Barreto and Harry P. Pachon, Ph.D., April 2003.
Appearance and Reality in the Sunshine State: The Talented 20 Program in Florida (February 2003), reviews the admission percent plan to the state university system in Florida. The Civil Rights Project at University California, Los Angeles. March 2003.
Percent Plans in College Admissions: A Comparative Analysis of Three States' Experiences (February 2003), compares the experiences of California, Texas, and Florida, three states with percent plans. The Civil Rights Project at University California, Los Angeles, February 2003.
The Effects of Racial Diversity on Cognitive Complexity in College Students, by Anthony Lising Antonio and Kenji Hakuta, 2003.
This study is also available as a .pdf * (212K) download.
Making the case for Affirmative Action in Higher Education, Legal Developments Related to Affirmative Action in Higher Education: An Update for College and University Presidents, Trustees, and Administrators, American Council on Education. 2003
This report was created to help campus officials understand the current law concerning diversity-based race- and ethnicity-conscious programs. It discusses admissions, student aid, faculty and staff employment, state initiatives, and pending cases. The paper also provides background information on the development of affirmative action policies and legal issues related to race.
What Leaders are Saying about Affirmative Action and Diversity. 2003
Includes the results of the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education survey ofthe presidents of the nation's 25 highest-ranked universities and the 25 highest-ranked liberal arts colleges.
Overview of Constitutional Requirements in Race-Conscious Affirmative Action Policies in Education, September 2002/July 2003.
The Causation Fallacy: Bakke and the Basic Arithmetic of Selective Admissions
(516 KB .pdf)* by Goodwin Liu, July 2002.
Beyond Percentage Plans: The Challenge of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (2.4M .pdf*),
U.S. Civil Rights Commission report on the effectiveness of percentage plans, 2002.
"Who Should We Help? The Negative Social Consequences of Merit Scholarships", published in 2002 by The Civil Rights Project. This report studies four of the country's publicly funded merit scholarship programs, including three of the nation's four largest programs to assess the impact of these programs on their states. It focuses primarily on the question of whether these programs promote college access and attainment in each state, and how well the programs serve the needs of students from different income and racial and ethnic groups. The Civil Rights Project at California University, Los Angeles
Diversity and Legal Education: Student Experiences in Leading Law Schools By Gary Orfield and Dean Whitla (Harvard Education Publishing Group, © 2001).
You can access the pdf * download of the entire study at the end of the study summary, which can be found athttp://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/lawmichigan/lawsurvey.php
Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality, July 2001.
The study reported here explored the relationship between black-white differences in educational achievement and black-white differences in a variety of educational and economic outcomes.
Diversity and the Influence of Friendship Groups in College, by Anthony Lising Antonio, 2001.
Susan Sturm and Lani Guinier, "The Future of Affirmative Action"
Promoting Diversity in Education and Employment Requires Us to Rethink Testing and "Meritocracy" (Boston Review December 2000/January 2001).
AAC&U National Survey on Diversity Requirements, 2000.
This survey of 546 colleges and universities across the country found that 62 percent of respondents report that they either have in place a diversity requirement or they are in the process of developing one. The survey was administered by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and supported by the James Irvine Foundation. Watch for upcoming case studies of individual diversity requirement models.
Does Diversity Make a Difference? Three Research Studies on Diversity in College Classrooms, American Council on Education, Washington, D.C., 2000.
- "University Faculty Views About the Value of Diversity on Campus and in the Classroom" by Geoffrey Maruyama, Ph.D. and José F. Moreno
- "College Missions, Faculty Teaching, and Student Outcomes in a Context of Low Diversity" by Roxane Harvey Gudeman, Ph.D.
- "The Educational Possibility of Multi-Racial/Multi-Ethnic College Classrooms" by Patricia Marin, Ph.D.
Diversity and Legal Education: Student Experiences in Leading Law Schools, Gary Orfield and Dean Whitla. August 1999
This study reports on the experiences of students captured in a high response-rate survey administered by the Gallup Poll at two of the nation's most competitive law schools, Harvard Law School and the University of Michigan Law School, as well as through data collected through an email/internet survey at five other law schools. The data indicate that the Supreme Court was correct in its conclusions about the impact of diversity in Bakke and earlier higher education decisions.
The Dynamics of Race in Higher Education: An Examination of the Evidence, May 1999, Executive Summary.
Findings from this research-based report inform current debates about racial diversity in higher education. The review reports the following conclusions: (1) there is clear evidence of continuing inequities in educational opportunity along racial categories; (2) test-based definitions of merit are incomplete; (3) race is a major social psychological factor in the American consciousness and behaviors; and (4) racially diversified environments, when properly utilized, lead to improvements in educational outcomes for all parties.
A Sweeping New Defense of Affirmative Action by Ben Gose, September 1998.
In this piece from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Gose reports on the findings from The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions (Princeton University Press), by William G. Bowen and Derek Bok, former presidents of Princeton and Harvard Universities. Based on longitudinal analysis of student data, this study documents the far-reaching benefits of affirmative action programs.
Student Interaction Across Race and Outcomes in College (126K .pdf)*, by Anthony Lising Antonio, April 1998.
Focus on Law Studies, Spring 1998, Volume XIII Number 2, Affirmative Action: A Dialogue on Race, Gender, Equality and Law in America
Chilling Admissions: The Affirmative Action Crisis and the Search for Alternatives, published in 1998 by Harvard Education Publishing Group.
The book focuses on the interrelated questions of what the consequences for student body diversity would be if race and ethnicity are eliminated as factors in university admissions and whether non-racial criteria exist that might be used in admissions and still do reasonably well at achieving desired levels of both diversity and academic preparedness.
Diversity Challenged: Evidence on the Impact of Affirmative Action, published in 1998 by Harvard Education Publishing Group.
In the courts and in referenda campaigns, affirmative action in college admissions is under full-scale attack. Though it was designed to help resolve a variety of serious racial problems, affirmative action's survival may turn on just one question--whether or not the educational value of diversity is sufficiently compelling to justify consideration of race as a factor in deciding whom to admit to colleges and universities.
The Impact of Diversity on College Students: The Latest Research, by Debra Humphreys, AAC&U, for the Ford Foundation Campus Diversity Initiative, 1998.
Who Benefits from Racial Diversity in Higher Education? , by Mitchell J. Chang, Loyola Marymount University, and Alexander W. Astin, University of California, Los Angeles. Diversity Digest, Winter 1997
Citing a series of recent empirical studies, this article details how white students, as well as students of color, benefit from racial diversity. Such findings "suggest that there is a sound educational justification for institutional attempts to create a racially diverse student body."
Diversity Works: The Emerging Picture of How Students Benefit, by Daryl Smith, Claremont Graduate University. 1997
This executive summary is from a report that analysizes the emerging research on the effects of campus diversity on students. Locating 300 separate studies on diversity in higher education, the report Diversity Works makes a strong case for the success and importance of diveristy iniatives in suporting educational excellence throughout the campus. This summary includes fifteen statements about "what works" in campus diversity efforts.
Contact information and summary for The Impact of Diversity on Students: A Preliminary Review of the Research Literature, by Morgan Appel, David Cartwright, Daryl G. Smith, and Lisa E. Wolf. Diversity Digest, Fall 1996.
General Counsel, United States Department Of Education, July 1996 Reaffirmation of the Department of Education's position that, under the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is permissible in appropriate circumstances for colleges and universities to consider race in making admissions decisions and granting financial aid.
Research Shows Positive Student Response to Diversity Initiatives
Researchers of a 1996 report that used interpretive analysis of both quantitative and qualitative research on the impact of diversity on student learning found that, for the most part, diversity initiatives have a positive impact on both minority and majority students.
Building Community Through Diversity, University of Colorado at Boulder
In fall 1994, Student Affairs Research Services (SARS) surveyed CU-Boulder undergraduates about the campus climate for students of color. Comments and ratings collected from 329 undergraduate students of color and from 101 white students, along with information from official University student records, painted a conflicting picture of the situation for undergraduate students of color at the university. Based on these findings and record results, plus conversations with student, staff, and faculty reviewers, the researchers suggest ten themes and issues for administrators who are seeking to improve campus climate. In addition, these data were used to inform recommendations made by the CU-Boulder chancellor and vice-chancellors.
Choosing Higher Education: Educationally Ambitious Chicanos and the Path to Social Mobility by Patricia Gandara, University of California-Davis. May 1994
This research study examines contributing factors to academic achievement for students who come from backgrounds and environments that contribute to high drop-out levels (e.g. low income families with little formal education).
Resource Guide for Assessing Campus Climate, California Postsecondary Education Commission Report 92-24:
Summary with link to Full Report, August 1992.
Toward an Understanding of Campus Climate: A Report to the Legislature in Response to Assembly Bill 4071 (Chapter 690, Statutes of 1988), California Postsecondary Education Commission Report 90-19:
Summary with link to Full Report, June 1990.

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Reports Prepared For U-M Admissions Lawsuits

"The Compelling Need for Diversity in Higher Education"
Expert reports prepared for Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger, et al. No. 97-75231 (E.D. Mich.) and Grutter, et al. v. Bollinger, et al. No. 97-75928 (E.D. Mich.), January 1999.

Foreword
Introduction
Thomas Sugrue, regarding the consequences of persistent racial separation in the United States, with special attention to Michigan and metropolitan Detroit
Eric Foner, regarding the history of African Americans and race relations in the United States
Albert Camarillo, regarding the history and contemporary status of Hispanics in the United States
Patricia Gurin, regarding the educational benefits of a diverse university student body for all students, non-minorities and minorities alike
William Bowen, regarding the importance to society of diversity in higher education
Claude Steele, regarding the limited value of standardized admissions tests in evaluating "merit" or determining admissions qualification
Derek Bok, regarding the importance of diversity in higher education, the consequences of abandoning race as a factor in law school admissions, and the importance of diversity in legal education
Kent Syverud, regarding the importance of diversity in legal education
Robert B. Webster, regarding the importance of diversity in legal education

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