AUSTIN, Texas–The study of race-neutral and race-based educational policies that could be used to increase the number of Latino college graduates will be a new course offering next fall semester at The University of Texas at Austin.
The policy research project, titled “Increasing the Minority College Graduation Rate,” will examine the education “pipeline” from kindergarten through college to identify the areas most amenable to policy intervention. The course will be taught by Dr. Jorge Chapa and participating faculty member Dr. Jaime Chahin. Chapa is UT Austin’s associate dean of graduate studies and director of the University’s Graduate Outreach Program, as well as associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Chahin is the associate vice president for human resources and university affairs at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.
Chapa said the issues to be studied stem from recent court decisions involving affirmative action and admission policies.
“The current rate of minority college graduation is far less than that of the general population. The Hopwood decision and its aftermath have led to the reasonable conclusion that this already low rate will decrease even more,” said Chapa. “Since half of the Latinos in the United States live in states that are currently barred from using race as a consideration in educational access, we will formulate both race-neutral and race-based policies.”
The project is co-sponsored by the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Inter-University Program for Latino Research.
