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This chapter is an examination of the recent history of access for marginalized racial and socioeconomic groups to the United States’ most selective institutions of higher education, including Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). Utilizing WUSTL as a case study, we review the university’s place in this narrative from the Black Manifesto and the 1968 sit-in in Brookings Hall to the school’s current effort to shed its status as the nation’s least socioeconomically diverse institution as determined by the fraction of undergraduates receiving Pell grants. Through this exploration of the trend toward the diversification of admissions pools in elite higher education, the chapter concludes with the acknowledgment that selective universities in the United States have the opportunity to significantly impact the country’s racial and socioeconomic disparities.

Amidst changing national racial demographics, multiracial college students have begun reframing how postsecondary institutions define diverse campus environments. Interest in how multiracial students self-identify has grown; yet, their identity development remains a complex and largely undefined process. This chapter examines how multiracial students navigated their identity development at a predominantly White institution (PWI). In particular, we connect Renn’s (2004) multiracial identity patterns with the philosophical idea of recognition desires. Findings indicated that White peers’ recognition (or misrecognition) of racial categories moderated multiracial students’ situational identities, particularly their agency with respect to self-identifying their race.

For one merit-based undergraduate scholarship program at Washington University in St. Louis (the University), discovery and dialogue have been essential to the program’s nearly 30-year existence. Named for Dr. John B. Ervin, the first African American Dean at Washington University in St. Louis, the John B. Ervin Scholars Program has attracted, recruited, retained, and graduated over 600 students deemed to exemplify extraordinary commitments to four pillars – scholarship, leadership, service, and diversity. Because the Program’s administrators have cultivated a community grounded in discovery and dialogue, the Ervin Scholars’ resolve to foster a more just and equitable society has deepened over time, perhaps preparing them for this time in which universities, this nation, and our world face crises over race. This resolve has manifested the last few years as Ervin Scholars have responded quickly to racial issues at Washington University in St. Louis and throughout the nation.

With its 30-year foundation, the John B. Ervin Scholars Program continues to develop, nurture, and support young people who advance discovery and dialogue. Drawing on a number of interviews, Program and University publications, and external publications, “A Legacy of Commitment,” the second installment of the Program’s history, demonstrates how the presence, contributions, and achievements of Ervin Scholars have changed Washington University in St. Louis. The Ervin Program has been an important part of the University’s efforts to be more diverse and inclusive, and it will continue to be integral to the University’s current and future plans.