Talk addresses higher education affirmative action policies
Jan. 23, 2004
KALAMAZOO--An expert on affirmative action policies for higher education institutions will be the guest speaker for an upcoming Brown Bag Lunch Talk sponsored by the Western Michigan University Institute for Government and Politics.
Dr. Daniel Lipson, assistant professor of political science at Kalamazoo College, will present, "Affirmative Action as We Don't Know It: The Evolution of Undergraduate Admissions Policy at UC-Berkeley, UT-Austin, and UW-Madison," at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, in Room 3301 of Friedmann Hall.
"My talk will provide an unconventional and provocative analysis of the new politics of affirmative action in the United States that will push the audience to rethink the terrain of the affirmative action debate," says Lipson.
One of Lipson's arguments will be that the civil rights movement is currently in a "Catch-22" situation in having to defend affirmative action policies like the case this past summer involving the University of Michigan.
"Affirmative action policies in higher education are arguably very important for the very small sliver of beneficiaries in a small number of elite institutions," says Lipson. "By expending resources on defending these policies, civil rights organizations are draining attention from a broader Poor People's Movement that Martin Luther King initiated half a century ago."
For more information on other upcoming events sponsored by the WMU's Political Science Department's Institute for Government and Politics visit <www.wmich.edu/igp>.
Media contact: Matt Gerard, 269 387-8400, matthew.gerard@wmich.edu