Unwelcome Guests: A History of Access to American Higher Education

Harold S. Wechsler and Steven J. Diner's book "Unwelcome Guests" explores the history of discrimination in college admissions in the United States, tracing how institutions have sought to restrict enrollment of students they considered undesirable. It also looks at how underrepresented students coped with this discrimination and how they fared after graduation, particularly Black women and men. The book addresses policy debates about affirmative action and racial/ethnic diversity in colleges today and helps readers recognize the central role of race in the history of American higher education.

Format: Hardback
Length: 225 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2022
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

A comprehensive history of the barriers faced by students from marginalized racial,ethnic,and religious groups to gain access to predominantly white colleges and universities—and how these students responded to these barriers.

Affirmative action in college admission is one of the most contested initiatives in contemporary federal policy,from its beginnings in the 1960s through the 2014 lawsuit alleging that Harvard discriminates against Asian American applicants. Supporters point out that using race and ethnicity as a criterion for admission helps remediate some of the effects of racist practices on minorities,including restrictions on college admissions. Opponents insist that the practice violates civil rights laws that prohibit racial discrimination and that it reenacts the historic racial bias of colleges.

In Unwelcome Guests,Harold S. Wechsler and Steven J. Diner argue that discrimination in college admissions has a long and troubling history in the United States. Institutions of higher learning have vigorously sought to shape their mission and the experiences of their undergraduate students by paying careful attention to race and religion in admissions decisions. Post–World War I institutions devised exclusionary mechanisms that disadvantaged African Americans and other minority students for much of the century. Wechsler and Diner explore how American colleges and universities sought to restrict enrollment of students they considered undesirable. How,they ask,did these practices change over time? And how did underrepresented students cope with this discrimination—and with the indifference,bare tolerance,or outright hostility of some of their professors and peers?

Tracing the efforts of people from underrepresented racial,ethnic,and religious groups to gain admission to colleges and universities, Unwelcome Guests provides a powerful account of the struggles and successes of these students. The book also sheds light on the complex and often conflicting attitudes of faculty and administrators toward affirmative action and diversity in higher education. By examining the history of discrimination in college admissions, Unwelcome Guests helps us to understand the ongoing challenges faced by students from marginalized backgrounds and to develop strategies for promoting greater equity and inclusion in higher education.

Weight: 431g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781421441313