bill burton: The 2024 University of Louisville Graumeyer Award in Education was awarded to Laura Hamilton and Kelly Nielsen for their book “Broke: The Racial Impact of Underfunded Public Universities.” Laura Hamilton is professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Merced. And she joins us to discuss the book and the award. Laura, it's nice to talk to you.
Laura Hamilton: Good to be here, Bill. Thank you for inviting me.
BB: The book focuses on how state funding for higher education continues to be cut at the same time as universities become more racially diverse. You focused on UC Merced and Kelly Nielsen's schools. [University of California] This is because both Riverside schools are majority-Latino and majority-low-income. what did you find?
left: So Broke uses the University of California system as a case study of race and resource allocation. However, the UC system is kind of a best- or better-case scenario. It is widely recognized as a mobility machine. All nine undergraduate campuses are research universities. And the state is making a historic commitment to serving racially and economically marginalized students. But even at the University of California, institutional resources are tied to student race and class composition. Therefore, relative to their size, our focus schools in this book, UC Merced and UC Riverside, have the greatest impact on systemically marginalized student populations. Masu.Both are majority Latino [and] The majority are low income. However, it does not have the same access to resources as other UC schools within the UC system and does so primarily through access to private resources. As funding for public education is defunded in the United States, public universities increasingly rely on income from donors, out-of-state tuition, and corporate partnerships. And this kind of revenue is more readily available to schools with wealthier and generally white populations.
BB: Schools like the one you just mentioned are called “new universities.” Is that the future of post-secondary education?
left: I think so. The demographics of the college-going population in the United States have changed significantly from around 1960 to the present. At that time, white was the mainstream color. I think about 84% of the people who went to college were white. He now has almost 50% white students and 50% students from various other racial categories. As such, we have students from a variety of backgrounds, reflecting the changing population of the United States. And those students are attending college. Yes, our new university reflects the changes we are seeing.
BB: What does winning the Grohmeier Prize mean to you and your work?
left: Kelly and I are really excited to receive the Graumeyer Award. One of the reasons we're excited about this is because she's demonstrating public willingness and interest in tackling this topic. We are strong supporters of public higher education and strongly support resources and funding for public higher education. Because we believe it is important that today's students, who increasingly come from diverse backgrounds, have access to a low-quality education. – Paid or free public education system. The Grohmeier Prize therefore brings great attention to an issue of great importance to many of today's young people and families.
BB: Laura Hamilton is the co-author of Broke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities and, along with co-author Kelly Nielsen, the recipient of the 2024 Grawmeyer Award in Education. Professor Hamilton, thank you very much for your time.
left: thank you very much.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.