Affirmative Action

Former President Donald Trump predictably hailed the Supreme Court’s decision prohibiting colleges’ and universities’ from considering race in their admissions, calling the ruling an “amazing” result that will “keep [the U.S.] competitive with the rest of the world.”

Key Facts

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said Wednesday that its incoming freshman class will be less diverse, pinning the shift on the Supreme Court affirmative action ruling last summer.  

Stu Schmill, dean of admissions at MIT, told MIT News that Black, Hispanic, and/or Native American and Pacific Islander students make up only 16 percent of the class of 2028.  

New college admissions data for the first group of admitted students since the US Supreme Court sharply limited affirmative action last year suggests that the decision has had a negative impact on Black enrollment at some universities.

While some colleges have seen major fluctuations in the enrollment of students of color in the class of 2028, including notable declines among Black and African American students, the impact has appeared more muted elsewhere. Many universities have yet to release their data, however, so a more clear picture may emerge throughout the fall.

'It looks to me like Yale is deliberately sending a message that it doesn't intend to comply with the law,' expert tells Free Beacon In the wake of the Supreme Court's affirmative action ban, several elite universities released breakdowns of their incoming freshman classes that showed virtually no change in racial composition. Experts say that's likely because the schools are sidestepping federal law.

Enrollment for Black and Latino students dropped at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the first class formed after the Supreme Court found race-conscience admissions in colleges unconstitutional.

In the year since the Supreme Court banned the consideration of race in college admissions last June, students have had to give more thought to how they present themselves in their application essays.

Previously, they could write about their racial or ethnic identity if they wanted to, but colleges would usually know it either way and could use it as a factor in admissions. Now, it’s entirely up to students to disclose their identity or not.

Asian Americans overwhelmingly support teaching historical topics like slavery, racism, and segregation in public schools but strongly oppose colleges using race and ethnicity in admissions, according to a new survey.

Why it matters: This data is a rare look at the nuances Asian Americans have around race and education four years after the pandemic, when the nation saw surges in anti-Asian hate and a racial awakening sparked by the murder of George Floyd.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up a case on admissions at a prestigious northern Virginia high school that eliminated standardized testing to diversify its student body.

Why it matters: The high court last year overturned decades of precedent by ending affirmative action — but left a path open for schools to consider other options to seek diversity.

The justices who declined to take up the case didn't provide a reason.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.

The Supreme Court declined on Friday to temporarily block race-conscious admissions at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, clearing the way for the school to continue considering race as a factor in selecting the class that will enroll in the fall.

The court’s order rejected a request for emergency relief from Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative group that has repeatedly challenged affirmative action in college admissions, as a lawsuit moves forward. It had asked the justices to act swiftly because West Point was poised to stop accepting applications on Jan. 31.

Unwilling to drop racial preferences in admissions, colleges are now being advised to redefine merit to include race.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court held that colleges and universities can no longer elevate race over merit in their admissions decisions. EducationCounsel, a leading education consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., has devised a clever way to get around this: Redefine merit to include race.