Issues in Interdisciplinarity 2019-20/Power in the Ivy League

Power in the Ivy League

Tentative Disciplines and Keywords:

Philosophy: Equality of opportunity, level-playing field, distributive justice, fairness, John Rawls

Economics: income disparity, first-generation, high tuition fee, (lack of) financial aid, bribery, funding, private donation, higher education as investment, mobility

Resources

Chetty, R., Friedman, J., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017). Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility.doi:10.3386/w23618 (available at https://www.nber.org/papers/w23618.pdf and http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/assets/documents/coll_mrc_slides.pdf)

"children whose parents are in the top 1% of the income distribution are 77 times more likely to attend an Ivy League college than those whose parents are in the bottom income quintile” - meaning the entry into ivy league schools are very difficult for low-income applicants

“children from low- and high-income families have similar earnings outcomes conditional on the college they attend, indicating that low-income students are not mismatched at selective colleges” - meaning that once a low-income student get into an ivy league school, they will have an equal chance to advance their income, just like their high-income counterparts. Rich and poor students benefit equally from an ivy league education.

“Rates of upper-tail (bottom quintile to top 1%) mobility are highest at elite colleges, such as Ivy League universities.”- In other words, ivy league schools are the ‘best chance’ where students can move up the social ladder BUT the schools that can best help low-income students become high-income graduates are accepting fewer and fewer students from poor families. since there is almost no growth in the students from families that are in the bottom 20%.

Admission scandal in the United States in 2019: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admissions-cheating-scandal.html

The percentage of legacy admits doubles that of the African Americans at Princeton: http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2019/04/the-problem-with-college-admissions-a-system-that-perpetuates-economic-inequality https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/admission-statistics

Statistics on the Ivies:https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/princeton-university

Psychology: reputation, public and employer perception, job application, pressure, burn-out culture

Politics: soft power, divestment, protests, dynamics among players (students, faculty, higher administration, government)

Sociology: Legacy, racism, decolonization, under-representation, discrimination, K-12 schooling, inequality, alumni networks