The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions(The William G. Bowen Series)

About the Book

Across the United States, in courts, classrooms and the media, Americans are divided over the use of race in admitting students to universities. This book is intended to change that. It brings a wealth of empirical evidence to bear on how race-sensitive admissions policies actually work and what effects they have had on students of different races. The heart of the book is an analysis of the academic, employment and personal histories of more than 60,000 white and African-American students who attended academically selective universities between the 1970s and the early 1990s. The authors argue that only by examining the college careers and the subsequent lives of these students - or, to use a metaphor they take from Mark Twain, by learning the shape of the entire river - can we pass an informed judgement on the wisdom of university admissions policies. They begin by examining the historical context for race-sensitive admissions and how race affects the chances of being admitted to selective colleges. They analyze students' academic records and whether black students overachieved or underachieved in relation to their precollegiate records. The authors follow students to graduate and professional schools and into the marketplace. They explore students' community and family lives after university and the students' reflections on their university experience. In the final chapters, they show how their findings affect the arguments commonly used to attack or defend the use of race in admitting students to the most competitive colleges and universities.

About the Author :
William G. Bowen (1933-2016) was president emeritus of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Princeton University and founding chairman of ITHAKA.. His many books included The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions (with Derek Bok) (Princeton). Derek Bok is the 300th Anniversary University Research Professor at Harvard University, where he served as president from 1971 to 1991, and again as interim president from 2006 to 2007.

Review :
"Winner of the 2001 Grawemeyer Award in Education" "Winner of the 1999 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Government and Political Science, Association of American Publishers" "The most ambitious and authoritative study to date of the effects of affirmative action in higher education, . . . a serious (though accessible) work of research, . . . an important corrective to conservative propaganda masquerading as social science."---Ellis Cose, Newsweek "A compelling new book . . . demonstrates why affirmative action programs can be good for the country. . . . The authors prove with facts, not anecdotes, that affirmative action works. . . . With the presidential commission having fallen flat in trying to advance the national discussion on race, it may be the smaller-scale efforts, like the Bowen and Bok book, that better lay the groundwork for long-term change." "No study of this magnitude has been attempted before. Its findings provide a strong rationale for opposing current efforts to demolish race-sensitive policies in colleges across the country. . . . The evidence collected flatly refutes many of the misimpressions of affirmative-action opponents." "The Shape of the River is the most comprehensive study ever done of affirmative action in higher education, and it demands the attention of anyone who cares about American universities."---David Gergen, U.S. News and World Report "The Shape of the River . . . offers much more comprehensive statistics and much more sophisticated analysis than has been available before. Impressionistic and anecdotal evidence will no longer suffice: any respectable discussion of the consequences of affirmative action in universities must now either acknowledge its findings or challenge them, and any challenge must match the standards of breadth and statistical professionalism that Bowen, Bok, and their colleagues have achieved."---Ronald Dworkin, New York Review of Books "What is good for business in this case is good for society too--good for us all. This report may, at last, make that fact evident even to the most obtuse."---Garry Wills, The Plain Dealer "On the strength of [the authors'] credentials the reader can expect much, and much is delivered.... The Shape of the River is a monumental achievement. Its foundation is so solidly anchored to a bedrock of data that it will be relied upon as a navigational beacon for years to come."---Robert E. Thatch, Science