A new study offers guidance to university administrators and legal counsels, as well as educators to help them enhance diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Standing Our Ground: A Guidebook for STEM Educators in the Post-Michigan Era clarifies legally defensible options for protecting diversity in science and engineering programs. The study comes more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court issued rulings on two Michigan cases that affirmed the importance of a diverse learning environment, but rejected the use of race as a quantitative “plus factor” in undergraduate admissions decisions, according to the report’s authors. Standing Our Ground is a joint effort of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), Inc.

“Without specific intent and legal guidance, minority recruitment, enrollment, and support is inhibited,” observed Shirley Ann Jackson, AAAS president and co-author of the report. “The need to promote educational and workforce diversity is critical to America’s future competitiveness on the global stage. Without a strong science and engineering workforce our economic and national security interests are at risk.”

Standing Our Ground proposes eight guidelines for developing legally defensible programs that focus on the preparation of minorities, women, and disabled persons for careers in STEM fields. The guidelines urge university leaders, for example, “to take on a strong leadership role that unambiguously states a commitment to diversity in their mission statements.” Campus leaders should specify program goals and target populations; define a program’s character so any consideration of race is “not mechanical, but flexible;” pursue diverse faculty recruitment and retention efforts, and conduct research and evaluation of outcomes. They also must be “willing to take risks in order to realize the rewards inherent in a more diverse campus or organization,” according to the report.

This is not a “cookie-cutter set of methodologies,” John Brooks Slaughter, NACME’s president and chief executive officer, said of the guidelines. He noted that the guidelines “provide a roadmap” for faculty and administrators who want to enhance diversity in science and engineering programs. “We propose that universities take a program-by-program approach, and be mindful that ‘race-neutral alternatives’ are not required; they simply must be considered,” added Daryl E. Chubin, co-author of the report and director of AAAS’ Center for Advancing Science & Engineering Capacity.

Although the report is aimed at university leaders and legal counsels, Jackson noted K–12 science educators should read the study, because it can help them educate and counsel their students. “Science teachers play a critical role in guiding young people into careers,” Jackson said.

For more information or to access a full copy of the report, refer to www.aaas.org/standingourground.