University of North Carolina Reports Declines in Black and Hispanic Enrollment

"FILE - In this file photo taken on March 18, 2020, individuals are seen removing belongings on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)"

Sep 5, 2024 Story by: Editor

Fourteen months after the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) , the university has reported significant declines in the enrollment of Black and Hispanic students for the current academic year.

Last fall, Black students comprised 10.5% of new enrollees, while Hispanic students made up 10.8% of the incoming class. However, the latest figures show a more than 25% drop in the number of new Black first-year and transfer students, and a 7% decrease in new Hispanic students.

Rachelle Feldman , UNC’s vice provost for enrollment, acknowledged the shift in demographics but noted, "It’s really too soon to determine if this is a lasting trend or a one-year fluctuation." She added that the university was strictly adhering to the law in its admissions processes.

This fall, Black students represent 7.8% of the 5,624 new students at UNC, while Hispanic students account for 10.1%. Asian or Asian American students now make up nearly 26% of the entering class, a slight increase from the previous year. UNC, like many universities, allows students to identify with more than one race, causing the total percentage to exceed 100.

The Supreme Court's decision, which drastically limited the use of race in college admissions , has prompted universities across the nation to reassess their admissions strategies. However, the court cases specifically targeted two schools : Harvard University and UNC. The group behind the lawsuits, Students for Fair Admissions, argued that UNC engaged in unlawful discrimination by using racial preferences rather than available race-neutral alternatives to achieve diversity.

Although UNC did not implement racial quotas, records showed that its admissions process allowed for a “plus” to be given based on an applicant’s race or ethnicity, depending on the details provided in the application. The university maintained that this approach aligned with previous Supreme Court rulings and was intended to enhance educational diversity.

Despite this, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. , struck down both Harvard and UNC’s programs, stating that they “inevitably involve race in a negative way, rely on racial stereotypes, and lack clear objectives.” Following the ruling, UNC Provost J. Christopher Clemens stated the university would make admissions decisions based on "achievements, character traits, and other criteria that do not serve as a proxy for race."

Other universities are also revealing mixed results from the Supreme Court’s decision. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander students made up about 25% of undergraduate classes in previous years, but this number fell to around 16% for the class of 2028. Meanwhile, Amherst College saw an 8-percentage-point decline in Black student enrollment this year, while the University of Virginia and Yale University reported minimal changes.

The outcomes for Hispanic and Asian American students also varied. MIT reported an increase in Asian American students, with 47% of its incoming class identifying as such, up from 40% last year. At Yale, the percentage of Asian American students in the freshman class decreased from 30% last year to 24% this year.

While Hispanic students make up a smaller portion of the new classes at MIT and Amherst, dropping to 8% from 12% at Amherst, they have a larger presence in the classes at Tufts, Virginia, and Yale.

Universities are expected to refine their admissions policies over the coming years, and opponents of affirmative action have suggested that any shifts in diversity will be short-lived. However, many university officials have warned that these changes could slow progress and present challenges for students of color.

UNC also raised concerns that the Department of Education's problematic rollout of a redesigned financial aid form might have influenced enrollment, though the full impact remains uncertain. In what Feldman called “a year of uncertainty,” the share of white students at UNC rose slightly by a tenth of a percentage point. Meanwhile, the percentage of students identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native decreased to 1.1% from 1.6%, and the percentage of native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students increased by a tenth of a percentage point, to 0.3%. Source: The New York Times