What would happen if the University of Illinois froze enrollment for everyone except African American students?

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the flagship institution in the state's higher educational system. According to the Division of Management Information (DMI) website (www.dmi.illinois.edu/cp/default.aspx), Illinois has 44,066 students enrolled on and off campus for the 2011-2012 academic year. Of that percentage, DMI indicates that 11.6% of those students are from "underrepresented" groups. What does "underrepresented" groups mean? Who is in reflected in that data set?, why isn't the data stratified based on race? What would happen if it was? On another note, what is interesting is that from 1989-1998, the term "minority students" was used to reflect a portion of the percentage of students enrolled. During the 1998-1999 academic year, there was a total of 36,303 students enrolled. Of that percentage, 11.7% were minority students. Again, who is reflected in that data? Is it safe to assume that minority means racial or ethnic group? These are the things that must be teased out to understand how to hold the university accountable for insuring access for African Americans on all levels in the academy, and the first level is student admittance. Who's responsibility is it to sound the cry for change?

Does America Still Need Affirmative Action, or Does African American's Need to Reaffirm their Actions?

Cecil Brown kicked off a firestorm of commentary during our class discussion. What was teased out of the conversation was his argument becoming more of an exclusive conversation about the plight of black males and their decline on campuses. But he also has begun conversing about the impact that African Diaspora scholars has had on the traditional focus of Black Studies. So what does all of this mean in the aftermath of Proposition 209? Is Black Studies still poised to argue the social issues that impact African American people, or does Black Studies need to reflect the times that we live in? Was Ward Connerly the root cause of the changes that we see or were the times already "a changin."

What does Obama and Dr. King have in common in terms of the common welfare for the less fortunate ?

Black Studies programs have a rich legacy steeped in social movement, movement associated with helping to define an agenda to address issues pertaining to the African American community. Over the past few years African American Studies has begun embarking on a new era of engaging students during the age of Obama, the first African American president. Tonight, we watched a video of then Senator Obama speaking to students in my Black Leadership Development class in 2004. One of the highlights was his beliefs on the responsibility of the well to do to help those that are less well off. In addition to the Obama film, we watched a video on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "The Other America." Was there a common thread between Barack Obama and Dr. King's beliefs? Remember to follow the format for responding that is articulated in your syllabus.