Race on Campus
Debunking Myths with Data
Julie J. Park
paper, 208 Pages
Pub. Date: October 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1-68253-232-4
Price: $33.00
Add to Cart
E-book
Pub. Date: October 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1-68253-234-8
Price:
Add to Cart
2020 Critics' Choice Book Award, American Educational Studies Association (AESA)
In Race on Campus, Julie J. Park argues that there are surprisingly pervasive and stubborn myths about diversity on college and university campuses, and that these myths obscure the notable significance and admirable effects that diversity has had on campus life.
Based on her analysis of extensive research and data about contemporary students and campuses, Park counters these myths and explores their problematic origins. Among the major myths that she addresses are charges of pervasive self-segregation, arguments that affirmative action in college admissions has run its course and become counterproductive, related arguments that Asian Americans are poorly served by affirmative action policies, and suggestions that programs and policies meant to promote diversity have failed to address class-based disadvantages. In the course of responding to these myths, Park presents a far more positive and nuanced portrait of diversity and its place on American college campuses.
At a time when diversity has become a central theme and goal of colleges and universities throughout the United States, Race on Campus offers a contemporary, research-based exploration of racial dynamics on today’s college campuses.
Praise
In Race on Campus, Julie Park does just what the title promises—investigates with empirical rigor persistent questions surrounding diversity in college admissions and campus life and makes research-based recommendations for public policy and institutional practice. Authoritative in content yet accessible in tone, it should be mandatory reading for every college administrator!
— Beverly Daniel Tatum, author, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, and president emerita, Spelman College
Park cuts through the many false narratives around affirmative action, presenting accessible, evidence-based arguments for why race still matters in higher education. A must-read for anyone interested in better understanding how race does, and more importantly does not, play out before and after students arrive to selective college campuses.
— Lorelle Espinosa, assistant vice president, American Council on Education
This cohesive, superbly argued text will reward readers interested in critical race theory or equity in education.
— Publishers Weekly
In Race on Campus: Debunking Myths with Data, author Julie Park methodically presents and dispels prevailing myths surrounding race, race-conscious admissions practices, and segregation in higher education. Throughout this text, Park uses research and data to tackle what are often controversial and divisive discussions in postsecondary education.
— Georgianna L. Martin, Teachers College Record
Race on Campus should be promptly read, cited, and expanded upon by any faculty, student affairs practitioners, and students interested and invested in diversity work in education.
— Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education
[Julie J. Park's] book is an important contribution to the literature on race in higher education and furthers the conversation on how higher education can optimize success for all students.
— Journal of College Student Development
Park addresses the looming myths and symbols that are central to debates about race in education by highlighting relevant studies on race in an accessible manner. Race on Campus provides an important foundation for grounding higher education scholarship and praxis in data to dispel racist myths. Using Park’s work as a springboard, we call on scholars, including ourselves, to expand their thinking from “how should we think” to “what should we do” using a power-conscious analysis that exposes the anti-Blackness and white supremacy within the academy.
— Journal of Student Affairs and Practice
More
Less
About the Author
Julie J. Park, an associate professor of education at the University of Maryland, College Park, studies race, religion, and social class in higher education, including the diverse experiences of Asian American students. Her first book, When Diversity Drops: Race, Religion, and Affirmative Action in Higher Education (Rutgers University Press, 2013), addresses how bans on race-conscious admissions affect the everyday lives of students. Her work has also appeared in outlets like the Washington Post, Huffington Post, and Chronicle of Higher Education. She earned her PhD in education from UCLA and BA from Vanderbilt University. Raised in the Midwest, she now calls the Washington, DC, metro region home.