December 30, 2011 > AFT applauds diversity guidelines AFT applauds diversity guidelines Submitted By AFT Public Affairs Department The U.S. departments of Justice and Education have released new guidelines to assist the nation's colleges and universities, as well as elementary and secondary schools, to increase the racial diversity of their campuses. Under the guidelines, higher education institutions may consider socioeconomic factors, residential instability and other hardships in their admissions decisions. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) applauds the Obama administration's latest actions to open the door to a college education and to promote greater diversity and opportunity for countless students. These new guidelines, based on recent Supreme Court decisions, provide that institutions "may permissibly aim to achieve a critical mass of underrepresented students," including racial and ethnic minorities. This new approach steps away from the Bush administration's restrictive interpretation of measures available to institutions to increase diversity.