The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions hurts universities, including Harvard Law School, which registered its lowest class of black applicants in years, The New York Times reports.
Data from the American Bar Association showed that the law school enrolled only 3.4%, or 19, of first-year black students, the lowest number of black students since the 1960s, and more than half of the 43 black students enrolled in 2023. Although there may be other students with explanations behind the decline, it is noticeable that the elite alum became the best in the country black lawyers, including former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Harvard Law Professor David B. Experts like Wilkins believe that Harvard’s name is particularly important in the lawsuit leading to the high court’s decision.
“This is the lowest number of black freshmen enrolled since 1965.”
The entering class of 1965 admitted 15 black students.Since 1970, the average number of first-year black law students has ranged from 50 to 70.
The Supreme Court decision came in response to admissions challenges from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard. as a result, nationwide protests have erupted, and universities are looking for new ways to promote diversity on campus. Some law schools have changed their application essays to provide a deeper understanding of applicants’ backgrounds without the hassles of their admissions decisions.
Harvard Law School’s enrollment didn’t just drop: The Boston school’s first-year black undergraduates also fell to 14% from 18% in 2023.
Harvard Law spokesman Jeff Neal said first-year data is difficult to navigate, but insists the school believes “that a student body comprised of individuals of diverse backgrounds and experiences is an important component of a legal education at Harvard Law the school remains committed to both following the law and developing a community and legal profession on campus that reflects the many dimensions of the human experience,” he said in a statement.
However, the numbers don’t reflect similar numbers at Harvard and other Ivy League institutions, as the school reported declines in other demographics, including Hispanic and Native American students.According to Newsweek, New York’s Columbia Law School saw a slight drop in black enrollment, 42 from 48 in 2023. The numbers increased at other schools, such as Yale and Stanford, from 23 25 black freshmen, while Stanford doubled that Black registrants.
Despite the backlash, affirmative action critics see the decline as a positive. University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Sander argued that declining black enrollment can be beneficial “because those students are going to go to another school where they’re better suited and prepared.” to succeed.” “Students prefer to go to a school where they won’t get preference because they think they’ll be more competitive there, which I think is true. is,” Sander said.
However, Wilkins argued that the drop in enrollment reflected the negative impact of the Students for Fair Admissions lawsuit and additional barriers against would-be black lawyers.
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