Class of 2028 enrollment data shows decrease in Black, Latino student enrollment

Black and Latino student enrollment fell in Stanford’s first freshman class admitted after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban of race-conscious admissions, according to data released by Stanford in January.

Compared to demographics for the class of 2027, this year’s data showed a 49.4% decrease in Black student enrollment and a 14.4% decrease in Latino student enrollment among first-time, first-year matriculants. Meanwhile, Asian and white student enrollment increased by 14.5% and 10%, respectively.

In October, Stanford released preliminary enrollment data for the first time due to national interest following the Supreme Court’s decision. In the report, the University expressed their commitment to the “recruitment of a diverse class through legally permissible means.”

Provost Jenny Martinez said in a statement for the Stanford Report that the data demonstrated the “importance of continuing to pursue diversity broadly defined through the means accessible to us.” Martinez also noted it was “difficult to observe declines in representation.”

“We are committed to working aggressively to continue seeking diversity through legal means, including through the further expansion of our outreach to high-achieving students from underserved populations, and to fostering community for our students here on campus,” said Martinez.

Jose Berdeja ’27, a member of Derechos — Stanford’s Latino pre-law society — and a graduate of Stanford’s first-generation, low-income (FLI) summer bridge programs, expressed his fear that declined enrollment of minority groups would negatively impact community spaces and reduce the diversity of voices on campus.

“When it comes to movements and advocacy, there’s always power in numbers,” Berdeja told The Daily. “If we don’t have that quantity of people, it dilutes movements.”

Bedeja also expressed his concern regarding potential defunding of programs such as the FLI summer bridge programs, which were recently replaced by a single program. He said that participation in such programs provided him with “a community to look forward to seeing.”

“It was hard to hear that Stanford would [combine the programs],” Berdeja said. “It felt like we were, again, swept under the rug, like we typically are. There are benefits to these programs, and they still change a lot of students’ experiences.”

Leslie Luqueño, a fifth-year PhD student and instructor of the course “CSRE 15: Race and College Admissions,” believes that Stanford “abandoned race conscious admissions without some kind of fight back.”

“I do really think [Stanford] had the potential to fight back and actually make a stance that this would inhibit their ability to admit Black and Latinx students,” Luqueño said of the ban. “It was disappointing for me to hear that Stanford was just going to follow suit. Historically, we also know that ‘colorblind’ admissions policies don’t work.”

Luqueño said that building partnerships with high schools that serve “racially diverse populations” through recruiting and specialized programs could be a “good consideration” in Stanford’s efforts to recruit a racially diverse class.

In Stanford’s preliminary report, Richard Shaw, dean of undergraduate admission and financial aid, pledged that Stanford will “work harder than ever in communities across the country to identify competitive students and make them aware of the extraordinary opportunities available to them at Stanford.”

Additionally, Luqueño called upon the Stanford community to “think about other ways in which [minorities] are still making contributions to the University.” Luqueño said that valuing these perspectives “can not only help ourselves in terms of being able to better our families and bring more education to our communities, but also bring diverse perspectives into a college campus where everybody can learn.”

Luqueño and Berdeja agree that the University should take more action to protect and promote diverse backgrounds on Stanford’s campus. 

“Stanford should not just say that they’re ‘for diversity’ but actually implement change that will promote that idea,” Berdeja said. “That’s all that really matters.”

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