VOA教育报道2024--US Colleges Report Effects of Ban on Race-based Admissions

Some top universities in the United States are reporting drops in the number of Black students in their incoming classes. At other colleges, including Princeton University and Yale University, the share of Black students changed little.

This fall's class is the first admitted since a Supreme¹ Court ruling barred affirmative action in higher education.

Several schools have seen changes in numbers of Asian, Hispanic and Native American students, but trends are still unclear. Experts and colleges say it will take years to measure the full effect of the ruling.

The end of affirmative action is not the only possible reason for the changing numbers. Some colleges are changing requirements, making test results more important. Earlier this year, there was a problem with the federal government's college financial aid process.

On September 5, the University of North Carolina at Chapel² Hill (UNC) reported drops in enrollment⁴ among Black, Hispanic and Native American students in its incoming class. It was one of the colleges at the center of the Supreme Court case.

The population of Black students dropped nearly 3 percentage points this fall, to 7.8 percent. Hispanic student enrollment fell from 10.8 percent to 10.1 percent, while the incoming Native American population fell half a percentage point to 1.1 percent, according to the university. The incoming Asian student population rose 1 percentage point to 25.8 percent. The share of white students, at 63.8 percent, hardly changed.

Rachelle Feldman is UNC's vice⁵ provost for enrollment. She said the delay in the student aid process was another possible influence on the enrollment numbers.

"We are committed to following the new law," Feldman said. She also said the school administration is committed to making sure all North Carolina's students know that they are welcome at UNC and can succeed there.

Other universities reported sharp drops in Black student enrollment. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said the percentage of incoming Black students fell from 15 percent to 5 percent. Another Massachusetts school, Amherst College, reported the percentage fell from 11 percent to 3 percent.

At Tufts University in Massachusetts, the drop in the share of Black students was smaller, from 7.3 percent to 4.7 percent. At Yale, the University of Virginia and Princeton, the change year-over-year was less than a percentage point.

Changes in enrollment for other demographic groups were more mixed. At MIT, for example, the percentage of Asian students increased from 40 percent to 47 percent. However, its Hispanic and Latino percentage dropped from 16 percent to 11 percent. And MIT's percentage of white students stayed about the same.

But at Yale, the percentage of Asian students fell from 30 percent to 24 percent. White students at Yale went from 42 percent of the class to 46 percent. Hispanic and Latino students saw an increased representation⁶ of 1 percentage point.

Colleges have started looking for other ways to preserve the diversity they say is critical to university life.

JT Duck is head of admissions at Tufts University in Massachusetts. He said the school would work with community organizations to reach underrepresented, low-income students and students whose parents did not graduate from college. He suggested that people not worry too much about year-to-year changes in enrollment.

At UNC, vice provost Feldman said the university wants to make sure "anyone from any background knows they can earn their way here."

Katharine Meyer works at the Brookings Institution. She said it is hard to tell which policy change is having a greater effect. But so far, she said, the drops in underrepresented minority students are smaller than in previous cases. California passed a ban on affirmative action in 1995 and Michigan did so in 2014. But since those bans, Meyer said, colleges have developed more effective, non-race-based ways of recruiting⁸ and enrolling⁹ a diverse class.

Words in This Story

affirmative action - n. the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, or the like

enroll³ - v. to take (someone) as a member or participant

committed - adj. willing to give your time, energy, and the like to something

diversity - n. the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization

recruit⁷ - v. to find suitable people and get them to join a company, an organization, the armed forces, et

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

3 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

4 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 representation   

n.表现某人（或某事物）的东西，图画，雕塑

参考例句：

• The painting is a representation of a storm at sea.这幅画描绘的是海上的暴风雨。
• All parties won representation in the national assembly.所有政党在国民大会中都赢得了代表资格。

7 recruit   

n.招聘，新兵，新成员；v.恢复，补充，招募

参考例句：

• The country's first act would be to recruit for the navy.国家的第一个行动是为海军征募新兵。
• This is a nationwide campaign to recruit women into trade unions.这是一次吸收妇女参加工会的全国性运动。

8 recruiting   

招聘( recruit的现在分词 )； 吸收某人为新成员； 动员…（提供帮助）； 雇用

参考例句：

• We are recruiting a sales manager with responsibility for the European market. 我们正在招聘负责欧洲市场的销售经理。
• "Hoist the recruiting flag and hungry men will come. “插起招军旗，就有吃粮人。”

9 enrolling   

v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They lashed out at the university enrolling system. 他们猛烈抨击大学的招生制度。 来自辞典例句
• You're enrolling in a country club, Billy. 你是注册加入乡村俱乐部了，比利。 来自辞典例句