This timely book examines issues pertaining to equal opportunity--affirmative action, challenges to it, and alternatives for improving opportunities for underrepresented groups--in higher education today. Its starting point is California's Proposition 209, which ended race-based affirmative action in public education and the workplace in 1996. The book carefully considers how Proposition 209 reflects national trends that have changed higher education policy and practice, from admissions to student diversity to standards. With a roster of leading scholars and administrators--including Chancellor Robert Birgeneau of the University of California, Berkeley, and President Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan--"Equal Opportunity in Higher Education" is a crucial assessment of one of the most important issues facing higher education. Following a foreword (Robert J. Birgeneau), this book is divided into eleven sections: (1) Introduction--Proposition 209 and the National Debate on Affirmative Action (Christopher Edley Jr., with Ana Henderson, Michal Kurlaender, and Eric Grodsky); (2) Interpreting Proposition 209 and California's Developing Case Law on Affirmative Action (Jeffrey L. Bleich and Mark R. Conrad); (3) The Demography of Higher Education in the Wake of Affirmative Action (Eric Grodsky and Michal Kurlaender) and Policy Comment (Fabian Nunez); (4) Investigating the College Destinations of University of California Freshman Admits (Susan A. Wilbur); (5) A Portrait of Underrepresented Minorities at the University of California, 1994-2008 (Tongshan Chang and Heather Rose); (6) The Role of Community Colleges in Promoting Student Diversity in California (Josipa Roksa, Eric Grodsky, and Willard C. Hom) and Policy Comment (Mary Sue Coleman); (7) The Quest for Excellence and Diversity in UC Freshman Admissions (Michael T. Brown, Mark Rashid, and David Stern); (8) The Effectiveness of California Standards Tests as Alternatives to the SAT in Predicting Freshman Grades (Samuel J. Agronow and Catherine Horn); (9) Building Educational Field Stations to Promote Diversity and Access in Higher Education (Hugh Mehan, Gail Kaufman, Cecil Lytle, Karen Hunter Quartz, and Rhona S. Weinstein); (10) Lessons about College Admissions from the Texas Top 10 Percent Law (Marta Tienda) and Policy Comment (Peter Schmidt); and (11) Toward Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (Michal Kurlaender and Eric Grodsky).