Harvard Law enrollment plummets for Black and Hispanic students
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The Law School Library at Harvard. Photo: Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The number of first-year Black and Hispanic students enrolled at Harvard Law School this year plummeted almost by half, according to enrollment data released this week.
The big picture: The class of 2027 is the first to be admitted after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action last year, which many education advocates feared would lead to a decline in diversity in higher education.
- The landmark ruling radically transformed how colleges attract a diverse student body and jeopardized the representation of Black and Latino students on campuses nationwide.
- The University of North Carolina too saw a decline this year in diversity with its first-year students.
Zoom in: 19 Black students were enrolled as first-years at Harvard Law this year, making up 3.4% of the class, according to data submitted to the American Bar Association.
- That's down from 43 first-year Black students enrolled a year earlier, per ABA data.
- It also marks the lowest number since the 1960s, according to the New York Times.
- The number of first-year Hispanic students enrolled at Harvard Law this year also fell — from 63 to 39.
Worth noting: The number of Black and Hispanic students at other top law schools saw a less pronounced decline, The Times reports.
- At a few schools, including Stanford, enrollment for Black and Hispanic students increased.
What they're saying: Jeff Neal, a spokesperson for Harvard Law, said in a statement: "When the Supreme Court ruled last year, it was understood that the decision would impact, in ways that could not be fully anticipated, the ability of educational institutions across the nation, including law schools, to attract and admit a diverse cohort of students."
- He added: "We continue to believe that a student body composed of persons with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences is a vital component of legal education."
- Neal noted that conclusions drawn based on one year of enrollment data are "necessarily limited," adding: "Harvard Law School remains committed both to following the law and to fostering an on-campus community and a legal profession that reflect numerous dimensions of human experience."
Zoom out: The erasure of affirmative action in higher education comes as colleges nationwide are shutting down diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
- Republican lawmakers, including President-elect Trump, have promised a nationwide crackdown on DEI programs.
- Florida, Texas, Iowa and Utah have banned DEI offices and initiatives at public universities and Alabama has restricted them.
Universities in states that have not yet implemented DEI bans are also cutting programs.
- The University of Missouri got rid of its DEI office to pre-empt anti-DEI legislation, per Inside Higher Ed.
- The University of Michigan, which has one of the most ambitious and well-funded DEI programs in the country, is ending diversity statements in faculty hiring and promotion.
More from Axios:
- Colleges dismantle DEI
- Gen X: The last generation of school racial integration
- Education Department opens investigation into Harvard admissions
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comment.
