Harvard Is Latest Elite College to Report Drop in Black Freshmen.

Harvard University has reported a decline in the number of first-year Black students following a US Supreme Court ruling that prohibited colleges from considering race in admissions. The percentage of African American or Black students in the new class of first-year undergraduates dropped from 18% to 14%, while Hispanic or Latino students increased by 2 percentage points to 16%. Asian American students remained steady at 37%. This ruling has forced colleges to reconsider how they promote diversity, as Black and Hispanic admissions had previously increased under affirmative action, while Asian American students were seen as being penalized. However, the trend varied among different institutions, with some reporting a decline in Black students but a rise in Asian American students. Harvard stated its commitment to serving students from diverse backgrounds and emphasized the importance of bringing together students with varied perspectives. The university was a defendant in the Supreme Court case, along with the University of North Carolina. The ruling allowed universities to consider how race affected individual applicants' lives. Harvard made changes to its essay requirements and included a question about how applicants' experiences have shaped them. However, this year, admissions readers did not have access to applicants' self-reported answers about race and ethnicity. Harvard and other elite schools have also announced the reintroduction of standardized testing requirements for applicants in 2025, which may impact future diversity. Harvard has implemented a rural recruitment initiative and other programs to attract minority applicants and first-generation college students. The incoming class of 2028 includes 21% of students who qualified [Extracted from the article]