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Seneca Falls
Colleges were first instituted in the American colonies during the 1600s. Up until this time, women had little to no representation at their schools and populations mainly consisted of well to do White American men (Cohen and Kisker, 2010). Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott lead the Women's Rights Convention which took place in Seneca Falls. The Declaration of Sentiments expressed concern for the lack of educational opportunities and rights for women (Thompson, 2017). -
Change from Subject Learning to Personal Growth and Development
During this time, colleges focused less on academic studies and more on student growth and development. This shift happened because of the growth of American cities and mass immigration (Feldmann, 2005). -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal facilities are not constitutional when it comes to public education (Zhang, 2016). This legislation ultimately leads to streamlining the public education system for all races. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act was created to end discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, or national origin in employment and other public facilities. This act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Section 703(a)(1), Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241, 255 (July 2, 1964). -
Affirmative Action
This executive order, signed by President Lyndon Johnson, promoted the hiring of minority employees for government contracts in order to increase opportunities and representation. After this legislation, colleges and universities began using this method to increase the minority student population at their colleges (Hultin, 2014). -
Ethnic Studies
As minority student populations began to grow, colleges began to incorporate departmental programs related to ethnic studies (Zhang, 2016). The first colleges to institute ethnic studies programs were San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkley and Santa Barbra in 1968 (Hu-DeHart, 1993). Other institutions shortly followed suit. -
Title IX
Title IX was presented as a part of The Educational Amendments of 1972. It was proposed because of the lack of specification on gender educational rights in the Civil Rights Act. Title IX is the most popular because it prohibits sexual discrimination on any federally funded program or activity, which includes public schools.
(The United States Department of Justice) -
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Increase of Minority Students in American Higher Education
The percentage of minority students in American higher education increased significantly at this time "e.g., from 4% to 15% for Hispanic/Latino, from 2% to 6% for Asian/Pacific Islander, from 10% to 15% for black, and from 0.7 to 0.9% for Native American/American Indian" (Zhang, 2016). -
Expanding Multicultural Curriculum
By the 1990s, many colleges and universities began to institute diversity studies in their curriculum by requiring students to take courses in history or literature from a multicultural perspective (Cohen and Kisker, 2010). -
Student Affairs Professional Competencies
ACPA (American College Personnel Association) and NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) worked together to create competency areas for all Student Affairs professionals. One of the competencies included is Social Justice. This makes professionals and students who aspire to go into the field responsible for upholding social consciousness and learning ways to improve this process (NASPA, 2015).
