Determinants of state higher education board responsiveness: Affirmative action in state university admissions
Open Access
Author:
Wu, Alexander
Area of Honors:
Political Science
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Christopher Zorn, Thesis Supervisor Matthew Richard Golder, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
political science public policy education policy public opinion affirmative action
Abstract:
Affirmative action in public university admission processes has been a hotly contested
issue since the Supreme Court ruling of Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke in
1978. Though much research has already been completed on the effects of affirmative action
policies themselves and how they impact higher education results as a whole, there is a
significant gap in literature for affirmative action at the public policy level and whether state
residential demographics have a direct or indirect relationship with how state higher education
board affirmative action policies are authored. Given that legislators adjust public policy
according to public opinion and that higher education board voting members are appointed by
state executives accountable to their residential constituency, to what extent is the strength
between affirmative action policy and public opinion moderated by residential demographics?
This study explores state residential demographics and assesses their impact on the relationship
between higher ed affirmative action policies and state level public opinion on race-based
preferential treatment in admissions. More specifically, by using a multiplicative interaction
model, I will examine the strength of the association between a state’s public opinion on
affirmative action and its coded affirmative action policy with consideration given to the
presence or absence of state demographic variables including ethnic make-up, gender, and party
affiliation.