By Neil Offen

noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646

DURHAM — The lead author of a research paper that has riled black students at Duke University says despite the finding that blacks disproportionally switch to what are considered easier majors, “this has absolutely nothing to do with African-American students having a worse work ethic or taking the easy way out.”

In fact, said Peter Arcidiacono, a professor of economics at Duke, “the remarkable finding of the paper is that there is no racial gap in switching out of these fields once we condition [for] academic preparation.”

A white student, he said, “with the same SAT score, parental income, etc., as an African-American student will be just as likely to switch out of … majors” like the hard sciences and economics.

While there are many reasons why someone may switch majors, Arcidiacono argued, “the point is that there are no racial differences in switching behavior of similarly prepared students.”

Changing majors, he continued, “is not occurring because of race, but because of differences in academic background that result from the combination of the legacy of discrimination coupled with affirmative action policies.”

News of the unpublished paper has elicited angry denunciations from members of the Black Student Alliance at Duke as well as black alumni of the school.

It also has spurred a growing discontent among black students on campus over a range of related issues.

The furor continued Tuesday when a group of the students, saying they are disappointed with the university administration's response so far to their concerns about how blacks are treated on campus, gathered at two administration buildings in hopes of meeting with Duke President Richard Brodhead and other officials.

The students, who also protested earlier in the month, presented to officials the Black Culture Initiative, a list of issues and remedies they hope the school will adopt, including plans for an endowment to provide stable funding for cultural events and academic efforts aimed at black students.

University spokesman Michael Schoenfeld said administrators plan to discuss the issues with students and "we welcome their call to action and we welcome their recommendations,"

Earlier this month, in a letter to the Duke community, administration officials had responded to the furor ignited by the research by acknowledging that “the conclusions of the … paper can be interpreted in ways that reinforce negative stereotypes” and that the issues raised by the students are important “and we share a collective commitment to finding new paths to action.”

But that response has not been enough, said Nana Asante, the president of the alliance, on Tuesday.

"The university has affirmed through media outlets that it has a commitment to meeting the needs of all its students, including black students," said Asante. "We have yet to witness any action that reflects this supposed truth.”

The paper that sparked the controversy found that among students who initially expressed an interest in majoring in economics, engineering and the natural sciences, a significantly greater percentage of blacks ended up switching to the humanities or another social science.

The authors of the study, who also included Kenneth Spenner, a professor of sociology, and graduate student Esteban Aucejo, suggested that the switch to what are considered less rigorous majors was predominantly responsible for why the grade-point averages of black undergraduates ultimately mirrored the GPAs of white students as they progressed through school.

The paper suggests its findings call into question other studies that play down the academic difficulties initially experienced by those who benefit from race-conscious admission policies.

The paper is included in a brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court by opponents of affirmative action. The court is considering whether to hear a lawsuit challenging race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas.

Arcidiacono argues that the paper, which is unpublished and was written for an economics journal, has been misunderstood.

“Nowhere in the paper does it say, and I will not say, that there are any easy majors at Duke,” he explained. “The paper does state that some majors are more demanding than others.”

African-American students at Duke, Arcidiacono said, are “among the very brightest and hardest-working students in the country. These students would be successful in virtually all schools.”

But due to the legacy of past discrimination, he pointed out, African-American high school students generally “are on average not as prepared for college as their white counterparts.”

Affirmative action, he said, thus results in African-American students coming into college with relatively worse academic backgrounds than their white counterparts.

“This puts African American students at a disadvantage, particularly in fields in the natural sciences, engineering and economics which build on past preparation,” Arcidiacono wrote in an email to The Herald-Sun.

While obtaining any degree at Duke is an incredible accomplishment, he said, “I also believe that the vast majority (if not all) of African-American students at Duke could complete majors in the natural sciences, engineering and economics. However, because of differences in academic preparation, to do so would require (on average) significantly more time than other students.”

What Arcidiacono called the “out-of-left field” conclusion of the report is thus that “affirmative action has virtually no effect on the probability of African Americans (or other under-represented groups) attending college.”

Instead, he said, “it does affect which college they attend.”

“Any African American student who is attending Duke would graduate from college with or without affirmative action. At issue is what major they will be graduating with,” he wrote.

There are both costs and benefits of affirmative action, Arcidiacono added. “This paper,” he said, “just points out one potential cost and was not intended be a critique of the whole policy.”

The professor said he has not yet met with representatives of the BSA, but “I want to meet with them badly.

“I have told the president of the BSA that I am happy to take any of them out to lunch to talk and that I'm happy to do a forum. I am happy to meet with any faculty or student who has concerns or questions about my work.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.