Black enrollment drops in Harvard’s freshman class after Supreme Court ruling

Harvard University released racial and ethnic data for its newly enrolled freshman class that showed a decrease in students who identify as African American or Black, the first class to be affected by the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that struck down affirmative action. 

Students who identified as African American or Black made up 14 percent of the class – a decrease of four percent from the class of 2027.  

“We have worked very hard for many decades to ensure that students from every background come to Harvard and make a difference to their fellow classmates, the nation, and the world. We will continue to fulfill our mission, even as we continue to follow the law with great care,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid. 

There was also a one percent decrease in those who identified as Native American. There was no shift to the 37 percent of students identifying as Asian American or the one percent identifying as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. There was, however, a two percent increase in students identifying as Hispanic of Latino, making the total 16 percent. 

Earlier this month, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) released enrollment data that showed a drop in Black first-year and transfer students since the Supreme Court’s decision. The number dropped from 10.5 percent in the fall of 2023 to 7.8 percent this year.  

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also pinned decreasing diversity of its incoming class on the Supreme Court’s decision. Black, Hispanic, and/or Native American and Pacific Islander students make up 16 percent of the class set to graduate in 2028, but in recent years that number is usually around 25 percent, said Stu Schmill, the dean of admissions at MIT. 

Yale University released enrollment data earlier this month that complicated the situation, showing an increase in its white population and a decrease in its Asian American enrollment. Students who identified as Black or Hispanic stayed the same.   

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, lower diversity in enrollment has caused advocates to call on administrators to find different ways to help Black and Hispanic students.  

“This is about what people anticipated when the Supreme Court decision came down last summer, in part because affirmative action was a tool among many that was seeking to mitigate some of these systemic impediments to marginalized groups’ ability to enter into competitive postsecondary institutions. And so removing one of those tools would then make it harder for members of those groups to gain admittance to some of these institutions,” Timothy Welbeck, director for the Center of Anti-Racism at Temple University, told The Hill earlier this month.