Ever since the Supreme Court banned affirmative action regarding college admissions last year, there has been a decrease in Black enrollment at several of the country’s most prestigious universities.
Institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Washington University and Amherst College are just a few examples of at least six schools that have experienced less Black student enrollment for the upcoming 2024 academic year as reported by NBC News.
Conservatives got their wish and with the gut-wrenching Supreme Court decision, schools can no longer inquire about race in admissions demographic data. As a result, colleges have to instead gather this information from application materials and outreach programs to fulfill their diversity goals.
The court ultimately ruled that affirmative action programs violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. However, students with bias for being accepted to a certain college—like being a legacy preference or having a family that has donated to said school—have not received the same scrutiny.
Amherst College in Massachusetts saw a shocking drop in Black students: they comprise 11% of its class for 2027 but only 3% of its class for 2028. MIT released data in August that showed around 5% of its incoming class of 2028 is Black, compared with a 13% average in recent years.
Around 4% of Smith College’s 2024 freshman class is Black, though it was 4.6% last year. The Supreme Court ruling didn’t just affect Black students. At Smith College, Tufts University and Yale, Asian American enrollment has also decreased for 2028.
Conservative activist Edward Blum led the crusade against affirmative action. His group, Students for Fair Admissions Inc., said Harvard and the University of North Carolina discriminated against Asian Americans and instead showed favoritism to Black and Latino students.
Blum also was successful in persuading the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to stop the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund from administering grants to Black women.
