Two years after the Supreme Court ruled to end affirmative action in college admissions, Black student enrollment at highly selective institutions is backsliding. This fall, some colleges reported shrinking Black populations, which in some cases now comprise less than 2 percent of the student body, the Associated Press reported. The AP analyzed enrollment data from 20 selective colleges and universities, including Columbia, Cornell, Emory, Harvard, Princeton, Tulane and Yale Universities.
But the new higher-education compact offered to universities by the administration strongly suggests that Trump's higher-education agenda, if successful, will result in a far less diverse academy, with fewer Black and Latino students. It will do this by demanding that colleges adopt an admissions system based purely on test scores and GPA-and accusing any institution that resists of illegal racial preferences.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed legislation that would have allowed public and private colleges to provide preferential admissions to applicants directly descended from individuals who were enslaved in the United States before 1900. The governor thanked the bill's author for his commitment to addressing disparities and urged educational institutions to review and determine "how, when, and if this type of preference can be adopted." "This bill clarifies, to the extent permitted by federal law, that California public and private postsecondary educational institutions may consider providing a preference in admissions to an applicant who is a descendant of slavery," Newsom wrote Monday in his veto. "These institutions already have the authority to determine whether to provide admissions preferences like this one, and accordingly, this bill is unnecessary."
The MBRS program prioritizes racial classifications in awarding federal funding, including by relying on 'minority student enrollment' to determine applicant eligibility.
"Most college applications don't have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background," said Mamdani in an interview.
It's hard to follow the rules when they're in conflict, especially for law schools balancing accreditation with new political pressures against affirmative action.
