The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with participation by the Association of American Universities (AAU), published the Handbook On Diversity And The Law: Navigating A Complex Landscape To Foster Greater Faculty and Student Diversity In Higher Education (hereafter Handbook) in April 2010, following two, two-day related workshops in April and October 2009. The Handbook provides extensive legal and policy resources for academic and legal leaders of institutions of higher education, to help them collaborate to improve access and broaden the diversity of their faculties and student bodies, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (but also in other fields).
The Handbook is downloadable for free and is also available at cost from AAAS in hard copy. Click here for more details.
The Handbook provides a detailed analysis of the many complex legal regimes that govern access and diversity efforts for both faculty and students, reflecting the challenges associated with that legal context. The Handbook provides in?depth, pragmatic legal analysis, with onpoint resources, tied to specific types of diversity-enhancing program models that are both effective in enhancing diversity and legally sustainable. Appendix A to this document provides a concise guide for designing effective and legally sustainable access and diversity programs.
A revised Appendix A is available in full text, as published on 05/31/2014.
Appendix B provides the Table of Contents and resources provided in the Handbook. Neither the Handbook nor this supplement is intended to provide a legal opinion or to substitute for legal counsel.
This document distills the key legal and policy principles as they relate to many of the program examples provided in the Handbook (with cross-references)—all of which are designed to support institutional efforts to expand access and improve diversity, particularly in STEM disciplines. In addition, it provides new information and resources to assist institutional efforts, all of which have been produced during the 2010?2011 second phase of the project. Additional project resources, intended to be used with this document and as stand-alone resources, are listed in Appendix C and are available on the AAAS website for free.
