The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions is starting to show its impact on students’ application approaches.
At some of the nation’s most selective universities, fewer students are disclosing their race or ethnicity, raising questions about the ruling’s long-term effects on diversity in higher education.
Data from a handful of elite institutions, such as Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton, shows that more students in the incoming 2024 freshman class opted not to indicate their race on applications compared to previous years. For example, at Pomona College in California, the percentage of applicants who did not disclose their race jumped from 3.7% in 2023 to nearly 7% in 2024.
While this trend only affects a small fraction of U.S. universities, namely those with highly competitive admissions, the implications are significant. These schools, including Ivy League institutions, were some of the most likely to consider race as a factor in admissions before the ruling. Now, as colleges and universities grapple with the fallout, many are wondering how the makeup of their student bodies will shift.
The Defender spoke with Dr. Bequita Pegram, a History Lecturer at Prairie View A&M University, who sees the reasons behind this shift as clear. Students are worried about facing discrimination.
“In my class, we discussed how some students feel that by disclosing their race, they’re opening themselves up to biases,” Pegram said. “One student even said, ‘If I don’t put my race down, they can’t discriminate based on what they think I am.’ It’s unfortunate, but some students feel that withholding this information might protect them in a system that isn’t always fair.”
Many students of color feel that even seemingly neutral factors like a name can hint at their racial background. Dr. Pegram recounted how some Hispanic students in her class shared that their birth certificates list them as “white” in Texas despite their Hispanic identity.
“One student said, ‘I’m going to stop putting my race down,’ because they felt it would stop institutions from making assumptions or treating them differently,” Pegram said.
In some cases, data shows a decline in the enrollment of Black and Hispanic students. For example, Johns Hopkins University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reported fewer first-year students from these demographic groups. However, other institutions, like Northwestern and Yale, have seen increases, making it difficult to draw sweeping conclusions.
Still, the data has raised concerns about the future of diversity at elite schools. Some universities that had previously used race as a factor in admissions are now left wondering how to maintain diverse student bodies without self-reported racial data.
Pegram pointed out that while students might withhold their race on college applications, universities will still collect this information in other ways.
“Even if a student doesn’t disclose their race on the application, schools will get that information through government documents like financial aid forms,” she said. “Public universities, in particular, won’t be able to get away from knowing a student’s race because it’s tied to things like Pell Grants and student loans.”
This raises an important question: Can colleges create diverse campuses without knowing the racial backgrounds of their students? Pegram expressed doubts, particularly for private schools that might try to work around the issue.
“It would be a challenge,” she said. “If you don’t know a student’s race before they get to campus, you’re left to guess. And that’s dangerous—you can’t just go off skin color. So, schools will still have to ask for that information, even after students are admitted.”
Another complication is the broader political landscape. The rollback of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in states like Texas has only intensified concerns about how colleges will address racial inequality in the future. She believes that eliminating DEI programs doesn’t solve the underlying problem.
“I was disappointed when Texas decided to cut DEI programs,” she said. “It gives the illusion that we don’t have a DEI problem when, in fact, we do. Without these programs, people who were making discriminatory decisions before will continue to do so, unchecked.”
