Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 years Ago

Title: Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 years Ago

Authors: Jeremy Ashkenas, Haeyoun Park and Adam Pearce

Source: The New York Times

Equitable access to a higher education remains elusive. A recent New York Times article revealed that Black and Hispanic freshman are more underrepresented at the nation’s elite colleges today than they were 35 years ago. Using fall enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the authors analyzed 100 schools ranging from public flagship universities to the Ivy League. Despite decades of affirmative action, the analysis revealed that the share of black students at elite schools has remained relatively constant since 1980, while the share of Hispanic students attending elite schools has declined.

Finding ways to promote racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity in higher education is a social and economic imperative. Improving access for racial/ethnic minority populations will require that institutions further bolster efforts to target recruitment and outreach to encourage them to apply and enhance recruitment and additional consideration for community college transfers.