While most Americans of all races view the end of affirmative action as “mostly a good thing,” a generational divide exists among Black adults regarding its impact on higher education and their racial group. (Norma Jean Gargasz, Alamy)
Jan 16, 2024 Story by: Editor
A recent Gallup Center on Black Voices report reveals a generational divide among Black adults regarding the impact of ending affirmative action on higher education and their racial group. While a majority of Americans across all races view the end of affirmative action as “mostly a good thing,” Black adults are split on the issue.
According to the survey, 56% of Black adults aged 40 and older view last year’s Supreme Court ruling, which prohibits colleges and universities from considering race in admissions, negatively. Conversely, 62% of young Black adults see the decision positively.
The findings, released recently, are based on a Gallup Panel survey of 12,443 adults in the United States, conducted online between October 25 and November 9.
When asked about the ruling’s impact, approximately half of Black adults believe it will have a mostly or slightly negative effect on higher education nationwide. In contrast, 17% foresee no impact, and 33% predict a slightly or mostly positive effect.
Similar proportions of Asian, Hispanic, and White adults—nearly 50%—anticipate a slightly or mostly positive impact from the ruling. However, a larger share of Black adults (52%) than other racial or ethnic groups think the ruling will make it harder for students of their own race to attend college.
About one-third of Hispanic adults, 23% of Asian adults, and 9% of White adults believe it will be much or slightly harder for applicants of their race or ethnic group to attend college. Meanwhile, approximately one-third of respondents from each group believe it will be easier, and about half of Asian and over half of White adults think it will have no impact.
Across all racial and ethnic groups, more respondents said the ruling would lead to less diverse college campuses. Nearly 49% of Black adults and 57% of Asian adults agreed with this sentiment.
Tye Compton, a 22-year-old political science major at Howard University, is among the young adults who believe the Supreme Court ruling will reduce diversity on college campuses. “There will be fewer students of color applying for more competitive programs, and there could be fewer opportunities for underserved students to receive support,” he said, referring to scholarships, grants, and fellowships aimed at diversifying the student body.
Compton criticized the decision to overturn affirmative action in higher education, calling it “flawed” and saying it “has severely undermined the significance of diversity within our higher education institutions.”
Fatimah Gilliam, CEO and founder of the consulting firm Azara Group, shared her experience of California’s decision to dismantle affirmative action in the late 1990s and its impact on her college decisions. Gilliam chose not to attend the University of California, Berkeley’s law school despite being accepted, opting for Columbia Law School instead due to concerns about being one of the few Black students on campus.
“I went to Columbia Law School—a more expensive school where I took out significant student loans—when I had a financially cheaper option that was more expensive mentally,” said Gilliam, who is also the author of “Race Rules: What Your Black Friend Won’t Tell You.” She added, “I opted not to go to what I deemed would be a lonely, isolating, possibly hostile, and not inclusive but exclusionary environment where I would be tokenized and expected to represent the voice of all Black people. I wasn’t signing up for that emotional labor on top of the rigor of law school.”
Camille Lloyd, director of the Gallup Center on Black Voices, told CNN that many Americans, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, believe admissions should be based on merit rather than race. However, Lloyd noted that they don’t view the end of affirmative action as having a positive impact on people like them.
“I do think that people are more likely to say that there are negative impacts that will likely occur as a result of this, regardless of how they feel in terms of whether the decision itself is mostly good or mostly bad,” Lloyd told CNN. This perception is likely to influence prospective students’ decisions, Lloyd said.
A snapshot of the latest Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education study, released Tuesday, suggests that the ruling could affect the college applications of non-college graduates aged 18 to 59. Among 1,378 respondents who had considered pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the past two years, half of the 208 respondents who identified as Black said the ruling on affirmative action would impact “a great deal” or a “fair amount” which colleges they might apply to.
“It’s not surprising, unfortunately, but disheartening to hear that this is going to impact [where they apply to college],” said Courtney Brown, vice president of strategic impact and planning for the Lumina Foundation, a nonprofit aiming to increase participation in education beyond high school. “We need to make sure we’re actually doing something with the results.”
Brown told CNN that Black students’ enrollment has declined in the past decade, and it’s concerning that the Supreme Court ruling may become another challenge for them. “Black students face more barriers, they have more responsibilities, and so they already have all of these things piled on them, and this is another burden they may be carrying,” Brown said.
“This decision is going to impact them more because they feel like their universities may not be as diverse, that they won’t feel as welcome, and unfortunately, my fear is that they’ll be less likely to enroll, and we’ll see these numbers continue to decline in the future,” Brown added. CNNd. CNNct them more because they feel like their universities may not be as diverse, that they won’t feel as welcome, and unfortunately, my fear is that they’ll be less likely to enroll, and we’ll see these numbers continue to decline in the future,” Brown added. CNN
