The Biggest Barrier to College Isn't Race

The Biggest Barrier to College Isn't Race

The legal challenges to affirmative action now before the Supreme Court have received unprecedented public attention and taken on enormous symbolic importance for colleges. Yet what is rarely, if ever, acknowledged is the whiff of elitism that pervades the current debate. ... For more than a century, land-grant colleges like mine, Utah State University, and other institutions defined by open and broad-based admissions processes have provided access and opportunity to the sons and daughters of farmers, ranchers, salespersons, laborers, bankers, lawyers, and car mechanics -- some of whom have been American Indian, Asian-American, African-American, and Hispanic people. And often in our state, those students have begun their educational journey in one of Utah's highly accessible two-year colleges. (The Chronicle of Higher Education, Kermit L. Hall, 06/20/03) (read the entire commentary here)