Black and Latinx students at Hills are seemingly facing a crisis.
After a year and a half since the Supreme Court’s nationwide ban on race-conscious admissions, we get to witness its effects firsthand—and it’s not looking great. In selective schools like Amherst College, Black enrollment fell from 11% to 3%, and its Latinx enrollment also declined from 12% to 8%. Similar declines have been noted in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brown University, Tufts University, and more. Meanwhile, White and Asian American enrollment overall has increased—in Amherst, again, enrollment rose from 33% to 39% for White students and 18% to 20% for Asian Americans.
At a time where admissions grow increasingly competitive year by year, the decision has somewhat divided the student body. Some note how the admission of underprivileged students under the grounds of race could lead to the rejection of hard-working students of other ethnicities.
“In order to make everyone equal, you don’t drag everyone else down to the same level—you lift them all up to the same level,” said Ian Kwon, junior at Wayne Hills High School.
Others contend that the end of affirmative action might disadvantage underprivileged students even more without offering an alternative solution.
“You have to take into account that many people who are Latinx and Black face harder barriers … because data shows that many [of those] students are lower-income and live in areas that usually don’t have as much resources or opportunities. Or they have other obligations like having to support their families,” said Santiago Gonzales, also a junior at Wayne Hills High School.
What’s the solution? Some universities, like Duke University and the University of Virginia (UVA), have responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by increasing recruitment efforts in lower-income regions. The result? A net increase in the enrollment of minority students (Blacks, Hispanics, and indigenous groups), even after the ban went into effect. Such results signal the opportunity for schools to continue diversifying their campuses while warding off criticisms of unfair admissions decisions for White and Asian American students. However, as recruitment efforts only increase the overall chances an entire racial group has of gaining representation on college campuses, this likely does not aid a minority individual’s chances of getting through an admissions board.
Despite these small victories, the future for Black and Latinx students remains uncertain. Colleges, whose affirmative action policies have in the past granted “ladders of opportunity for those who, throughout our history, have too often been denied a chance to show how fast they can climb,” according to Michelle Obama, must charter new paths to diversity and equality in education, and can start by following Duke’s and UVA’s lead. That the road towards universally fair admissions will be quick and simple or that we are anywhere near the equitable society our founders set at the heart of the American mission, however, is far from certain.
