Courtrooms and classrooms are connected.

Inside Higher Ed reports.

Historian discusses his new book on the way courts have treated issues of college access

Headlines these days deal with court cases challenging the constitutionality of some forms of affirmative action and the way some colleges handle allegations of sexual assault. Much of the public discussion of these issues suggest a history in which courts have deferred to colleges on many matters. But when it comes to access (getting in or getting kicked out), the narrative has evolved, writes Scott M. Gelber, associate professor of education and (by courtesy) history at Wheaton College, in Massachusetts. He traces this history in Courtrooms and Classrooms: A Legal History of College Access, 1860-1960 (Johns Hopkins University Press).

Gelber responded via email to questions about his new book.