As a civil rights lawyer who faced resistance and threats, he challenged school districts that tried to defy the Supreme Court’s 1954 ban on school segregation.
Uncertainty about how much money colleges and universities stand to lose has led some schools to reduce the number of doctoral students, in some cases reneging on offers.
The idea that every student should aim for a four-year college motivated a bipartisan movement for decades. Now even enthusiastic promoters of the idea are reconsidering it.