A recent study out of Stanford University addressed the question of alternatives to affirmative action programs in colleges which were banned by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2023. The study found that a total of only about 13 percent of students in the admitted class at a group of colleges studied were Black or Hispanic. For context, Americans of high-school-graduation age today are about 38 percent Black or Hispanic. In addition they noted that SAT scores often continued to be used as a simplified measure of academic merit. This was despite the fact that test scores fell out of favour with many colleges during the pandemic. However, several of the most selective schools, such as M.I.T. have recently returned to them. Of course, higher income families can afford to have their children tutored in how to pass a SAT itself.
Let’s face it, low-income Black and Hispanic students are more likely than low-income white and Asian students to live in high-poverty neighbourhoods and attend high-poverty schools. College admissions officials know that Black and Hispanic students are less likely to attend high schools where subjects like calculus, physics and computer science are taught. Thus, limiting their ability and chances to be admitted into important disciplines such as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Now we are seeing the impact of the loss of affirmative programs, which no doubt previously benefited Black and Hispanic students. The Washington Post reported in July 2024 that many universities are abandoning race-conscious scholarships worth millions. As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, they are forced to consider possible legal consequences in favouring any particular racial group. Instead, college administrations are looking at possible alternatives to insure greater diversity on their campuses and provide some forms of income support to minorities.
The negative impact has been substantial. For example, the New York Times reported in August that at M.I.T., Black, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander student enrollment for the incoming class of 2028 dropped sharply after the affirmative action ban. Their enrollment represented 16 percent of all M.I.T. students compared with a baseline of about 25 percent of undergraduate students in recent years. The comparison to the class of 2027 was also dramatic. The percentage of Black students enrolled dropped to 5 percent from 15 percent, and the percentage of Hispanic and Latino students dropped to 11 percent from 16 percent. White students made up 37 percent of the new class, compared with 38 percent last year. On the other hand, the percentage of Asian American students in the class jumped to 47 percent from 40 percent. This is very likely the result of Asian American students having better access to STEM programs in secondary schools. As well, Asian American students score higher on SAT
tests than other minority groups, especially Black students who tend on average to score much lower on standardized tests. These results are not happening just at M.I.T., but also at other universities where they banned affirmative action initiatives as far back as the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1996 and the University of Michigan in 2006. Both saw significant drops in Black student admissions even as the number of college-age Black residents rose in their states.
The inability of minority groups to access higher education without some form of affirmative initiatives has become quite evident. Much of the problem lies with the poor quality of primary and secondary education available to low-income neighbourhoods, often populated by minority families. The way in which schools are locally and state funded has to change in order to offer more standardized and equitable education opportunities. In the above noted New York Times article, Justin Driver, a professor at Yale Law School, was quoted as saying that the decline in Black enrolment was “as depressing as it is predictable,” with far-reaching consequences. “A paucity of Black students at the nation’s foremost colleges will ultimately have effects on the nation itself,” he said, adding, “What begins on college campuses will ultimately affect the nation as a whole, in every sector of the nation, from governmental leaders to academic leaders to business leaders.”
FROLITICKS 
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