Cornell First-Year Enrollment of Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans Drops Following Affirmative Action Ban
“This year’s class of first-years is the first to be admitted after the Supreme Court banned race-conscious affirmative action in higher education last year.”
This same scenario has been pointed out at other schools. The left is very unhappy about it, naturally.
The Cornell Daily Sun reports:
Black, Hispanic and Native American First-Year Enrollment at Cornell Drops After Affirmative Action Ban
Black, Native American and Hispanic student enrollment dropped markedly between the classes of 2027 and 2028, while the proportion of Asian first-years rose slightly, according to data released by the University on Wednesday. This year’s class of first-years is the first to be admitted after the Supreme Court banned race-conscious affirmative action in higher education last year.
Black first-year undergraduate student enrollment saw a decrease from 11.7 percent last year to 7.7 percent. The share of first-years who identify as Hispanic dipped from 16.7 percent to 10.5 percent. Native American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander first-year student enrollment both saw sharp declines. White enrollment decreased less than a percentage point, from 48.5 percent to 47.7 percent.
The only racial group in the data to see an increase from last year’s figures were Asian students, with first-year enrollment rising only marginally, from 36.3 percent last year to 36.5 percent.
The racial data is based on self-identification. Because students can select multiple categories, the sum of the demographic percentages is above 100 percent.
The Class of 2028 saw the lowest summed percentage of reported races. The percentage sum was just 103.5 percent this year, a stark 12.4 percent drop from last year’s value of 115.9 percent. Over the past four years, this figure had not dipped below 113 percent.
The number of students whose self-reported race/ethnicity was classified as unknown grew from 183 last year to 314 this year.
The released data did not give a specific breakdown of the student enrollment in specific colleges.
In an interview with The Sun, Interim President Michael Kotlikoff said that this year’s process of releasing demographic data for Cornell’s first-year students was expedited, as the final figures are typically announced in October.
In a University press release, Lisa Nishii, vice provost for undergraduate education and vice provost for enrollment, said that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn race-conscious affirmative action does not undermine Cornell’s founding commitment to diversity.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“The left is very unhappy about it, naturally.”
Because clearly the cause is that Cornell is rayciss again!
It absolutely couldn’t have happened organically.
It would be interesting to see the SAT scores of incoming freshmen compared to the previous year.
Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (2005): The Widening Racial Scoring Gap on the SAT College Admissions Test
There are not many blacks whose SAT scores fit the profile of the average Ivy League student.
“In a University press release, Lisa Nishii, vice provost for undergraduate education and vice provost for enrollment, said that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn race-conscious affirmative action does not undermine Cornell’s founding commitment to diversity”
I understand the value of diversity of thinking. I can also understand the citizenship value accrued when students are exposed to individuals from a wide range of communities. What I have never seen is an honest explanation of the benefits of demographic “diversity” at specific population levels (e.g. looks like America) beyond platitudes. I would think such a detailing of benefits would be easily within the wheelhouse of scholarly institutions such as Cornell. Instead from the administration we get the long faces when numeric goals fall, not to zero but, short of their expectations. The admitted minorities, however, should be more competitive and therefore less likely to be seen as ill equipped and undeserving.