UIC to Host Conference on Affirmative Action in Higher Education

March 22, 1999

Contact:
Jeffron Boynes
(312) 413-8702
[email protected]

UIC TO HOST CONFERENCE ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION
April 8-10 gathering will explore the future of race-sensitive policies in college admissions

The ramifications of affirmative action are far-reaching. Who has really benefited from affirmative action? What are its limitations? What would be the outcome if affirmative action disappeared from American higher education?

With an eye toward bridging the ideological divides on affirmative action, a panel of nationally known researchers and scholars will convene for "The Future of Affirmative Action in Higher Education" conference hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago April 8-10.

"The main objectives of this conference are to explore the issues that currently define the debate on affirmative action," says Lascelles Anderson, conference chairperson and director of UIC's Center for Urban Educational Research and Development.

Anderson, who is also a professor of education at UIC, says the conference is designed to spark a "scholarly, yet accessible discussion of the full range of issues surrounding the affirmative action debate as a way of broadening our own local understanding." He hopes it will pave the way for a wider nationwide discussion concerning this policy, which has been under serious attack in the last two years.

UIC Chancellor David Broski will deliver the conference's opening remarks April 8 at UIC's Student Services Building Atrium, 1200 W. Harrison St. Plenary and breakout sessions on April 9 and 10 will be held at Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren St.

Among those presenting at the conference are: Stanley Fish, UIC; Lani Guinier, Harvard Law School; Mary Frances Berry, University of Pennsylvania; Glenn Loury, Boston University; and Reginald Wilson, American Council on Education. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and a conference co-sponsor, will appear April 10 between 8 and 9 a.m.

For more information, call the Office of Continuing Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 1-800-453-3728 or (312) 996-5225, or visit its Web site at www.uic.edu/depts/oceps/affirm99. For fax-on-demand, call 1-800-499-9102 (document No. 802).

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