College Life
Campus diversity is becoming difficult to measure as students keep their race and ethnicity hidden on college applications
When the Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions at American colleges and universities just over a year ago, many predicted U.S. campuses would become much less diverse. But in part due to students who decide not to disclose their race or ethnicity, coupled with universities’ selective use of statistics, it is not clear how much the decision has affected diversity on campus.
As higher education institutions begin reporting the racial makeup of the class of 2028 – the first to be affected by the 2023 decision – the data is hard to interpret, confusing and inconclusive.
As a sociologist who has studied how institutions of higher education collect and report data on race and ethnicity, I have identified some factors that contribute to this lack of clarity.
Students don’t identify with choices given
Some students may not select a racial or ethnic category because they don’t believe any of the categories really fit. For example, before multiracial students could select “one or more,” an option that became widely available in 2010, they were more likely to decline to identify their race or ethnicity. Some even boycotted checkboxes entirely.
Other students don’t view their race as important: 67% of the students who choose “race and ethnicity unknown” are white. Of these students, 33% say race and ethnicity are not a relevant part of their identity, a researcher found in 2008.
The number of students who don’t respond to questions about race or ethnicity – and are listed in the “race unknown” category – is increasing. At Harvard University, for example, the percentage of “race-unknown” undergrad students doubled from 2023 to 2024.
As the number of “race unknown” students grows, it not only becomes harder to determine a student body’s ethnic and racial diversity but also the impact of the ban on race-conscious admissions.
Fearing discrimination, students don’t disclose race
Some students believe their race or ethnicity will harm their chances of admission.
This is particularly true at many selective institutions, which have higher nonresponse rates than less selective institutions, about 4% compared with 1% to 2%.
My research shows that students are even more likely to pass on identifying race or ethnicity at selective law schools, where race and ethnicity could be used among a variety of criteria for admissions before the Supreme Court ruled against that practice. An average of 8% of students at those schools chose not to identify, compared with 4% at less selective law schools.
‘We’re very diverse’: University decisions distort statistics
What a university chooses to report will also affect the student body demographic data the public sees. Harvard, for example, does not report its proportion of white students.
Some institutions use statistics strategically to appear more diverse than they are. These strategies include counting multiracial students multiple times – once for each race selected – or including international students as a separate category in demographic pie charts. The greater the number of different-colored slices on the chart, the more demographically “diverse” an institution appears to be.
Impact of Supreme Court ruling: Clearer picture coming soon
While universities may not all report their student demographics the same way in their own materials, they all have to report it the same way to the federal government – namely, to its Integrated Post Secondary Education Data System, better known as IPEDS. The next IPEDS report on characteristics for the 2024 enrollment class is expected to be released in spring 2025. Once that data is available, a better picture of how the Supreme Court’s decision has affected diversity in college enrollment should emerge.
That clearer picture might not last long. In 2027, the federal government will require colleges and universities to make changes to how they report student race and ethnicity. Among the changes is the addition of a Middle Eastern and North African category. Under the current standard, Middle Eastern and North African students are counted as white. As a result, white enrollment at some colleges and universities will appear to decline after 2027.
The new standards will also change the way universities treat Hispanic or Latino ethnicity on enrollment forms. Today, if students self-identify as Hispanic and white, they will be categorized as Hispanic. If students select Hispanic and white in 2027, they will be categorized as multiracial. The revised categories will muddy the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision. A drop in the number of Hispanic students reported could be due to the court’s ruling. Or it may result from the new way students will be counted.
Until universities and colleges adjust to the new guidelines about collecting and reporting race – and as long as students decline to provide their racial identities – the full effect of banning consideration of race in college admissions will remain a cloudy picture at best.
Karly Sarita Ford, Associate Professor of Education and Sociology, Penn State
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Lifestyle
A college course that’s a history of the future
The course “Science Fiction as Intellectual History” explores how sci-fi reflects cultural thoughts and anxieties, using stories to analyze technology, future predictions, and evolving societal ideas.
Adam Jortner, Auburn University
Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.
Title of course:
Science Fiction as Intellectual History
What prompted the idea for the course?
For most of its history, science fiction was a disreputable, throwaway genre. But sources of culture and thought aren’t just found in classic literature or in the writings of the great thinkers. They’re also in popular entertainment: movies, comics, pulp magazines, TV.
Big thoughts often come in chunks with labels like “The Future” or “Technology” or “Freedom.” And most ideas about these things are shaped by science fiction.
So in this class, my students explore how the theories of Charles Darwin, for example, are reflected in science fiction like “Jurassic Park,” “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” “X-Men” and “The Wrath of Khan.”
I’m lucky to be the third generation of professors teaching this course at Auburn. It’s an old staple here that I inherited.
What does the course explore?
I usually pick three big plot ideas from sci-fi: alien encounters, time travel and superhuman abilities. Then we trace the development of those ideas, primarily through American fiction.
Students might read H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine,” which was written in the 1890s and tells the story of the Eloi and Morlocks, post-human races from 800,000 years in the future; C.L. Moore’s secret visitors from the future in the 1953 novella “Vintage Season”; and Steven Spielberg’s 1985 escape to an idealized 1950s in “Back to the Future.”
These works all include mind-bending theories about what time travel might look like. But students also see how each of them tells a different story about the anxieties and obsessions of the times in which they were created.
For example, Wells’ novel is a vision of how thousands of years of Victorian class divisions lead to the evolution of a group of cannibalistic underground humans. In “Back to the Future,” Marty McFly leaves the dingy, broken-down 1980s for a clean and shiny version of the 1950s, one that looks much more promising than 1985. The film taps into the 1980s political and cultural nostalgia for so-called “simpler” times. (Of course, in their version of 1955, Biff and Marty never deal with segregation or Cold War nuclear panic.)
Science fiction offers a kind of film negative of history – a back door into what made people worried or scared rather than what was heroic. Sci-fi captures that fear and anxiety.
Rod Serling’s 1960 “Twilight Zone” episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” is the story of how neighbors turn on each other when they suspect an alien invasion is taking place. It parallels the American crisis over desegregation and communist subversion.
As Serling concluded, “For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout of its own – for the children, and the children unborn. And the pity of it is that such things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.”
Why is this course relevant now?
New technology, along with endless predictions and prophecies about the future, bombard students.
It’s important to take a moment to step back. How is the way we talk about and use technology influenced by the way we’re trained to think about technology and the future? And how much do past visions of the future dictate the choices of the present?
What’s a critical lesson from the course?
Students often think technology has rules and it will follow those rules. But technology doesn’t work like that.
That’s both terrifying and uplifting, because it means that we can still create and imagine our future as we see fit.
What materials does the course feature?
I anchor the course with a series of novels; the list changes, but it always includes “The Time Machine” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1971 novel “The Lathe of Heaven.”
Beyond that, I try to pepper in a mix of pulp stories, TV shows, radio dramas, comic books and films. I assign the 1970s avant-garde sci-fi stories of Brian Aldiss and Joanna Russ, and underground literature from the 1980s, such as the graphic novel “Ed the Happy Clown.”
I shape the course like a traditional “great books” course – those that feature the works of intellectual and literary giants – by assigning a different work every week. I just have a different idea about what makes a great book.
We also spend a delightful week examining the economic and cultural history of “so-bad-its-good” B movies and late-night features, where I have them watch an episode of the Canadian sci-fi show “The Starlost,” considered one of the worst shows in television history. Sometimes you have to learn what not to do.
What will the course prepare students to do?
They learn to read and think. They learn that all stories have ideas and philosophies, whether simple or complex, wise or foolish.
I hope they learn to watch for nonsense in public debates about technology and the future – like how some people assume computer modeling for human language is the same thing as language – and keep an eye out for ideologies masquerading as action films.
I hope they learn to love an author they’ve never read before – and learn to appreciate how much reading and stories make life worth living.
Adam Jortner, Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion, Auburn University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.
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Top computing options for a new school year
(Family Features) Preparing your student for a new year of education takes on many forms. From trusting them with heightened responsibilities and finding the right gear for their new hobbies to equipping them with the top tech for a successful school year, the back-to-school season is a critical time.
Simplify your shopping list with trustworthy tech that helps students make the grade with these recommendations from the experts at Qualcomm. Laptop performance is reborn with the Snapdragon X Elite platform, a powerful, intelligent and efficient processor that’s built for AI. With cutting-edge responsiveness, students can navigate demanding multitasking workloads across productivity, creativity and immersive entertainment – while getting up to multiple days of battery life on a single charge.
Find more education solutions at qualcomm.com/snapdragon.
Harness the Capabilities of AI
Level up your productivity and get creative with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, powered by Snapdragon X Elite. With incredible on-device AI performance and speedy Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, the possibilities are endless so you can create on the fly, anywhere you go. It’s not just smart – it’s your creative sidekick that knows what you need before you do. Built for AI, it streamlines your creative tasks with leading on-device intelligence capabilities.
Power Your Productivity
Built to work on the go thanks to its powerful performance and groundbreaking on-device AI travel assistant, the HP OmniBook X AI PC can help you unlock unparalleled productivity. Powered by Snapdragon X Elite and its intelligent, efficient processing capabilities, it features up to 26 hours of battery life to tackle notetaking, homework and beyond. Fuel your creative potential with super-charged performance that’s equipped with Wi-Fi 7 for seamlessly quick connectivity and a collection of AI tools and solutions to keep you running at your best.
Discover an All-New PC Experience
In the classroom and beyond, you can unleash power-packed performance and advanced AI with the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge. Powered by the Snapdragon X Elite processor and built for Galaxy AI, the thin and lightweight laptop, which is available with a 14- or 16-inch screen, offers 16 gigabytes of RAM to transform how you create, communicate and play by providing powerful computing, AI performance and power efficiency.
Navigate Complex Workloads with Ease
With cutting-edge responsiveness and unmatched speed for navigating the multitasking required in today’s digital-first age, the Dell XPS 13 – featuring powerful, on-device Copilot+ AI – lets students effortlessly tackle complex workloads. Powered by Snapdragon X Elite and featuring premium audio and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, the strong, lightweight laptop is crafted with machined aluminum for an elegant, minimalistic design.
Combine Outstanding Performance with Ultimate Flexibility
Effortlessly shift from tablet to sketchbook to multiple monitors – whatever the school day requires – with the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 and its unique detachable kickstand design. A laptop reimagined, this flexible, powerful 2-in-1 provides AI-accelerated power, multi-day battery life and lightning-fast speed via the Snapdragon X Elite processor to keep up with students all day long, no matter where their studies take them.
SOURCE:
Qualcomm
Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.
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(Family Features) Whether this semester’s class load calls for a computing upgrade or a career’s worth of tech demands is on the horizon, equipping yourself with the latest innovations can help you take on the challenge.
College and Career Prep
Surveying the latest laptops to hit the market might be daunting, but whittling your list to a few recommendations from the experts at Qualcomm can start you down the right path for your own needs. Consider which features are most important to your education or work, whether it’s a 2-in-1 laptop and tablet, a powerful PC with groundbreaking AI capabilities or a lightning-fast connection to help tackle heavy workloads.
These high-performance solutions are powered by the Snapdragon X Elite platform. Built for AI, it’s a powerful, intelligent and efficient laptop processor that boasts cutting-edge responsiveness, allowing you to navigate demanding multitasking workloads across productivity, creativity, immersive entertainment and beyond – while getting up to multiple days of battery life on a single charge.
Visit qualcomm.com/snapdragon to discover more solutions for education and careers.
Harness the Capabilities of AI
Level up your productivity and get creative with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, powered by Snapdragon X Elite. With powerful on-device AI performance and speedy Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, the possibilities are endless so you can create on the fly, anywhere you go. It’s not just smart – it’s your creative sidekick that knows what you need before you do. Built for AI, it streamlines your creative tasks with leading on-device intelligence capabilities.
Power Your Productivity
Built to work on the go thanks to its powerful performance and groundbreaking on-device AI travel assistant, the HP OmniBook X AI PC can help you unlock unparalleled productivity. Powered by Snapdragon X Elite and its intelligent, efficient processing capabilities, it features up to 26 hours of battery life to tackle demanding workloads. Fuel your creative potential with super-charged performance that’s equipped with Wi-Fi 7 for seamlessly quick connectivity and a collection of AI tools and solutions to keep you running at your best.
Discover an All-New PC Experience
In the classroom and beyond, you can unleash power-packed performance and advanced AI with the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge. Powered by the Snapdragon X Elite processor and built for Galaxy AI, the thin and lightweight laptop, which is available with a 14- or 16-inch screen, offers 16 gigabytes of RAM to transform how you create, communicate and play by providing powerful computing, AI performance and power efficiency.
Navigate Complex Workloads with Ease
With cutting-edge responsiveness and unmatched speed for navigating the multitasking required in today’s digital-first age, the Dell XPS 13 – featuring powerful, on-device Copilot+ AI – lets you effortlessly tackle complex workloads. Powered by Snapdragon X Elite and featuring premium audio and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, the strong, lightweight laptop is crafted with machined aluminum for an elegant, minimalistic design.
Combine Outstanding Performance with Ultimate Flexibility
Effortlessly shift from tablet to sketchbook to multiple monitors – whatever the school or work day requires – with the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 and its unique detachable kickstand design. A laptop reimagined, this flexible, powerful 2-in-1 provides AI-accelerated power, multi-day battery life and lightning-fast speed via the Snapdragon X Elite processor to keep up all day long, no matter where your studies or career take you.
SOURCE:
Qualcomm
Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.
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