As Supreme Court considers affirmative action, colleges see few other ways to diversity goals
By Collin Binkley // Diversity // AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges from California to Florida have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state.
But after years of experimentation — often prompted by state-level bans on considering race in admissions — there’s no clear solution. In states requiring race-neutral policies, many colleges have seen enrollment drops among Black and Hispanic students, especially at selective colleges that historically have been mostly white.
Now, as the Supreme Court decides the fate of affirmative action, colleges nationwide could soon face the same test, with some bracing for setbacks that could erase decades of progress on campus diversity. A ruling is expected by the end of June.
At Amherst College, officials have estimated that going entirely race-neutral would reduce Black, Hispanic and Indigenous populations by half.
“We fully expect it would be a significant decrease in our population,” said Matthew McGann, Amherst’s director of admission.
Facing a conservative Supreme Court that appeared skeptical from the start, colleges have been preparing for a rollback. Some are considering adding more essays to get a better picture of an applicant’s background. Others are planning to boost recruiting in racially diverse areas, or admit more transfer students from community colleges.
The court took up affirmative action in response to challenges at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Lower courts upheld admission systems at both schools, rejecting claims that the schools discriminated against white and Asian-American applicants.
Meanwhile, other schools have been taking lessons from colleges that don’t consider race. Nine states previously banned affirmative action, starting with California in 1996 and most recently Idaho in 2020.
After Michigan voters rejected it in 2006, the University of Michigan shifted attention to low-income students.
It sent graduates to work as counselors in low-income high schools. It started offering college prep in Detroit and Grand Rapids. It offered full scholarships for low-income Michigan residents. More recently, it started accepting fewer early admission applications, which are more likely to come from white students.
Despite those efforts, the university offers itself as a cautionary tale. The share of Black and Hispanic undergraduates hasn’t fully rebounded from a falloff after 2006. And while Hispanic enrollments have been increasing, Black enrollments continued to slide, going from 8% of undergraduates in 2006 to 4% now.
The campus is drawing more low-income students, but that hasn’t translated to racial diversity, said Erica Sanders, the director of undergraduate admissions at Michigan.
“Socioeconomic status is not a proxy for race,” Sanders said.
At the same time, some of Michigan’s less selective colleges have fared better. At nearby Eastern Michigan University, the number of students of color increased, reflecting demographic shifts in the state.
