A number of predominantly white institutions (PWI) are seeing massive drops in Black enrollment following the Supreme Court’s historic affirmative action ruling.
As reported by NBC News reported, Amherst College, St. Louis’ Washington University, Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among the schools where Black student enrollment decreased for the 2024 academic year.
Mount Holyoke President Danielle Holley said the court’s ban on inquiring about race in admissions demographic data meant the school had to rely on outreach programs, personal statements and other application materials in attempts to meet their diversity goals.
“The feeling was pretty catastrophic,” Holley said of the Supreme Court’s decision. “It fundamentally changed,” the application process, she added. “That demographic information that used to be readily available for a student’s file is now masked.”
MIT announced last month that the percentage of Black students in its incoming class of 2028 dropped to 5 percent from 15 percent for the 2027 class.
Massachusetts’ Amherst College saw its Black student enrollment drop from 11 percent for the class of 2027 to 3 percent for the 2028 class. Black first-year students dropped by 4 percent at Washington University and 2.6 percent at Tufts University.
Dean of Admissions at Tufts JT Duck called the drop in Black enrollment “disappointing.”
“We now have our first entering class selected consistent with the Supreme Court’s guidance. Looking at the first-year undergraduate class, the percentage of U.S. students of color has dropped from roughly 50% last year to 44% this year. While still higher than our figure of 38% in 2019, it represents a disappointing drop,” Duck said in a statement.