Since the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling on affirmative action, some of the nation’s elite colleges and universities have seen a significant dip in Black student enrollment.
The decision, which struck down the ability of public colleges and universities to consider race in admissions, has led to immediate and stark changes in the demographic makeup of incoming freshman classes.
Colleges such as Amherst College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Washington University in St. Louis are among at least half a dozen schools reporting a noticeable decline in Black enrollment for the 2024 academic year. This marks a pivotal shift for institutions that had long relied on affirmative action as a tool to promote diversity and equity on their campuses.
At Amherst College, Black students made up 11% of the class of 2027. However, in the class of 2028, that number has plummeted to just 3%. Similarly, MIT, which historically had a Black student enrollment of around 13%, revealed that only 5% of its incoming class this year is Black.
The ripple effects of the court’s decision are being felt nationwide, as universities scramble to adapt to the new legal landscape.
Mount Holyoke College President Danielle Holley described the impact of the court’s ruling as “catastrophic,” noting how it fundamentally altered the admissions process. With the ban on inquiring about race in demographic data, institutions must now rely more heavily on outreach programs, personal statements, and other non-demographic application materials in their efforts to maintain diversity.
“The feeling was pretty catastrophic,” Holley said, reflecting on the Supreme Court’s ruling. “That demographic information that used to be readily available for a student’s file is now masked. It fundamentally changed the process.”
The ruling, which specifically targeted affirmative action programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University, deemed them unconstitutional, citing violations of the Equal Protection Clause.
In doing so, the court set a precedent that has reverberated across higher education, leading to far-reaching consequences for institutions that had depended on these policies to create more diverse student bodies.
Not all schools have seen a decline in Black enrollment. For instance, Yale University has maintained steady numbers, and Sarah Lawrence College has experienced a slight increase. However, the broader trend is one of concern for many educators and students alike.
Freshman Flematu Fofana, now attending Yale, expressed her anxiety over the court’s decision, fearing it would jeopardize her chances of being accepted at a top-tier school. Fofana, who excelled academically but felt she lacked the extracurricular accomplishments of some of her peers, said the ruling changed her approach to the college application process.
“Without affirmative action, I felt so uncertain about how my college decision was going to go,” Fofana said. “It made me decide to change my strategy a little bit when I was applying to colleges too.” She highlighted her race and her experiences growing up in a predominantly white county in Maryland as she tailored her application to reflect her identity.
For Fofana, diversity became a crucial factor in her decision-making process when choosing which schools to apply to. “Initially, I had based my school list around how much I aligned with the academics, the extracurriculars there,” she explained. “But after the decision, and when I started visiting schools, I started realizing how much I value diversity.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling has introduced new complexities into the college admissions process, especially for students of color. While some institutions have found ways to maintain their diverse student bodies, others have been hit hard by the restrictions placed on them.
As more ramifications from the Supreme Court’s decision unfold, the struggle for diversity and inclusion in higher education has undoubtedly entered a new and uncertain phase.
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