Leading Towards a Segregated Higher Education System

New America continued its Affirmative Action Listening Tour Talk Series with Dr. David Mickey-Pabello, Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University and University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Mickey-Pabello has extensively researched issues of race in higher education, primarily focusing on the disparate impact of states that have already banned race-conscious admission practices. His work has been published in the American Journal of Education and the Journal of Higher Education and featured by The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and National Public Radio.

As you may know, Michigan is one of nine states that has banned affirmative action. Coincidentally, Dr. Mickey-Pabello happened to attend the University of Michigan at the height of the state’s affirmative action ban. Seeing firsthand how banning affirmative action can impact an institution, Dr. Mickey-Pabello recalls how his undergraduate experience motivated him to pursue higher education research focused on finding solutions to increase college pathways for underrepresented and minority students.

Deep into the interview, the conversation shifts to a discussion on representation in higher education and how it's essential for students of color to achieve postsecondary success. Dr. Mickey-Pabello further explains how such a ban would also impact faculty and staff diversity at institutions of higher education. The ripple effect of banning affirmative action could disrupt other facets of where representation and diversity matter in our lives, such as healthcare, employment, and housing.

Dr. Mickey-Pabello concludes the interview by offering sound federal policy measures to help maintain and improve higher education access for students of color. He mentions the importance of holding institutions accountable for predatory practices. He believes for-profits would seize this opportunity to prey on more underrepresented minority and low-income students to attend their institutions. He also mentions the federal government to increase funding opportunities to better support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) so that students of color, especially Black and Latinx, are encouraged to apply and attend institutions that embrace their identity holistically. We should also not lose sight that HBCUs and MSIs matter just as much as predominantly white institutions (PWIs) caught up in the affirmative action decision.

Here are some additional highlights from our Listening Tour Talk with Dr. Mickey-Pabello:

• “Graduation rates and student retention rates are going to go down [if affirmative action is overturned]. For the few underrepresented minority students that are still admitted they will struggle when they get to college because they're not going to have people there that look like them. Representation matters.”
• “I fear that there will be an increase of underrepresented minority students at for-profit colleges and universities. But luckily, we have policies in place to help regulate and hold these institutions accountable.”
• “We already have a healthcare system that lacks physicians of color. We saw this in COVID, where many Black and Hispanic people were contracting the virus but didn't want to be in hospitals because they had some cynicism towards the healthcare industry that did not look like them. We will have a less diverse workforce, which will introduce many societal-level problems for this country that will be very difficult to address.”

Make sure to check out Dr. David Mickey-Pabello's latest and upcoming research publications:

• Mickey-Pabello D. (Coming Soon) “Underrepresented Student STEM and non-STEM degree Attainment in the Wake of Affirmative Action Bans” Research in Higher Education

• Mickey-Pabello. D. Forthcoming. “The Anti-Affirmative Action Avalanche: Where Students Enroll After Affirmative Action Bans.” Sociology of Education.

• Mickey-Pabello D., and Garces L.M.. (2018). “Addressing Racial Health Inequities: Understanding the Impact of Affirmative Action Bans on Applications and Admissions in Medical Schools.” American Journal of Education

• Garces, L.M., and Mickey-Pabello, D. (2015). “Racial Diversity in the Medical Profession: The Impact of Affirmative Action Bans on Student of Color Enrollment in Medical Schools,” The Journal of Higher Education

To learn more, check out the entire conversation here.

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