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The "Sixteenth
Annual Status Report on Minorities in Higher Education"22
summarizes the most recent data available on key indicators
of progress in American higher education. The report analyzes
high school completion and dropout rates and trends in college
participation, educational attainment, college enrollment, degrees
conferred, and higher education employment by race and ethnicity.
Although the report does not indicate specific subject areas and
disciplines in which minorities major or are employed, it does
offer national data beneficial as indicators of access to and
progress within higher education for African Americans, Hispanics,
Asian Americans, and American Indians.
Recent legal challenges to affirmative
action in higher education have already resulted in reduced enrollment
of minority students in both California and Texas. Efforts to
promote a diverse student body are under attack in other states,
including Washington, Georgia, and Michigan. "Lessening degree
attainment among underrepresented groups in America also undermines
the nation's ability to remain a globally competitive democracy
in the twenty-first century," writes Stanley 0. Ikenberry,
president of the American Council on Education. He further states,
"The challenge for higher education to expand access to opportunity
must remain high on our collective agenda. The very future of
our nation—the health of our economy, the strength of our
democracy, our quality of life as a people—depends on broad
access to high quality higher education."23
The Status Report shows that more
African Americans and Hispanics are enrolling in the nation's
colleges and universities and that, as a group, these students
(including Asian Americans and American Indians) are earning more
undergraduate and graduate degrees. Although the enrollment and
graduation rates of these students continue to rise, the rate
of growth has slowed compared to previous years. Minority students
continue to lag behind Whites in educational attainment at all
levels, and on too many of our campuses the make-up of the faculty
and staff members does not yet reflect the diverse society we
serve now or that is projected in the very near future.
The report presents a vast amount
of data. What follows are samples from that report:24
College participation rates among
all high school graduates aged 18 to 24 continued increasing to
43.5% in 1996. From 1995 to 1996, Hispanics achieved the greatest
progress of the four major ethnic minority groups with an increase
of 5%. All of those groups posted enrollment increases at two-year
and four-year institutions from 1995 to 1996. Minority students
achieved their greatest gains in enrollment at the graduate level,
where enrollment rose by 5.7% from 1995 to 1996. They recorded
the smallest gains at the professional school level, where enrollment
increased by only 2.9%.
African Americans' total enrollment
has increased each year during the 1990s, with a cumulative gain
of 12.3% from 1991 to 1996. Hispanic enrollment in higher education
increased by 33% from 1991 to 1996, the largest gain among the
four major ethnic minority groups. College enrollment among Asian
Americans increased by 3.4% from 1991 to 1996, continuing an upward
trend. From 1991 to 1996, African American college enrollment
increased by 29.3%. American Indian and Alaska Natives recorded
some gains in higher education in enrollment in 1996, particularly
at four-year institutions and graduate schools. However, their
numbers remain small. In 1996, only 133,972 American Indians were
enrolled in higher education.
Minorities achieved progress in
all four major degree categories from 1994 to 1995, led by a 9.3%
increase at the master's degree level. Women were awarded more
bachelor's and master's degrees than men, and they also outgained
men in their rate of increase from 1994 to 1995. Minorities earned
18% of all bachelor's degrees in 1995, up by about 1% from 1994
and by nearly 5% since 1990. Nonetheless, minority students were
underrepresented in degrees awarded compared to their enrollment
levels. American Indians in 1996 had the lowest graduation rate
of the four major ethnic groups at Division I colleges and universities.
Hispanics lost ground as well. Asian Americans had the highest
Division I graduation rates of the four ethnic minority groups;
their 1996 rate of 64% was 5% higher when compared to all others,
including Whites.
The number of doctoral degrees earned
by these minority students remained steady from 1995 to 1996 following
moderate growth during the past decade. Overall, minority students
have achieved gains of 74.1 % in the number of doctoral degrees
earned during the most recent decade.
The number of full-time minority
faculty increased by 6.9% from 1993 to 1995. Among full professors,
the number of faculty rose by 6.7%, while the rate of Whites remained
largely unchanged. All four major ethnic minority groups achieved
moderate gains in terms of the number of full professors from
1993 to 1995, although minority faculty made the greatest progress
at the associate and assistant professor levels. Tenure rates
of minority faculty did not change from 1993 to 1995, while the
rate of Whites increased slightly. In 1995, 74% of White faculty
and 62% of minority faculty held tenured positions. A 9.1 % increase
in the number of Asian-American full-time faculty was the largest
1993 to 1995 gain among the four ethnic minority groups. A 15.2%
gain by Asian-American women accounted for much of this progress.
African Americans continue to have the lowest tenure rate among
the four major ethnic minority groups. In 1995, African Americans
trailed Whites in tenure rate by 5%. The tenure rates for American
Indians, though small, was unchanged. Faculty rank data for Hispanics
showed wide differences by gender. The number of Hispanic fulltime
faculty increased by 7.2% from 1993 to 1995, with women achieving
a 10% gain compared to men at 5.4%. Nationwide in 1997, African
Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and American Indians accounted
for 11.3% of all college and university chief executive officers
where racial and ethnic identity was verified.
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