After the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) delivered a landmark ruling on June 29, 2023 that effectively prohibited the use of affirmative action, the practice of favoring individuals belonging to groups regarded as disadvantaged, the Black and Hispanic student enrollment rates in Harvard, UNC, MIT, and other highly selective colleges dropped significantly. According to the Washington Post, “based on the experience of public universities in states that had previously enacted bans, many experts predicted significant declines in the number of Black and Hispanic or Latino students at selective schools.” Now, this trend is showing up across the U.S.
According to the data released by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in September, “the number of Black students admitted to the university dropped from 10.5% to 7.8% – a decrease of around 25%,” as CNN states. Harvard University, who released their data in September, admitted around 22% less Black students than the year prior, showing how impactful affirmative action was to the college admissions process for these schools. One of the most significant drops of Black admissions was in MIT, where around 5% of their class of 2028 was Black, compared to the 15% last year. Amherst College also saw one of the largest drops, going from 11% to 3%.
As stated by the Washington Post, a decline in Black and Latino students were predicted, as “university officials said race was just one factor of many considered in reviewing applications but that if it were stricken from consideration, their classes would be less diverse.” However, this lessened diversity doesn’t impact only Black and Hispanic students; Asian American enrollment at universities such as Yale, Duke, and Princeton dropped significantly. From 35 percent to 29 percent at Duke; From 30 percent to 24 percent at Yale; and from 26 percent to 23.8 percent at Princeton.
Overall, the impact of the ban of affirmative action on students applying or students that have applied for prestigious universities seems to be significant, as it led to an overall decrease in acceptance rates in Black and Hispanic students.
