Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago
By JEREMY ASHKENAS, HAEYOUN PARK and ADAM PEARCE AUG. 24, 2017
How much more or less each group is represented among freshmen at top colleges relative to the U. S. population
Even after decades of affirmative action, black and Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges
and universities than they were 35 years ago, according to a New York Times analysis.
“A cascading set of obstacles all seem to contribute to a diminished representation of minority students in highly selective colleges.”
Black students make up 9 percent of the freshmen at Ivy League schools but 15 percent of college-age Americans, roughly the same gap as in 1980.
Blacks and Hispanics have gained ground at less selective colleges and universities
but not at the highly selective institutions, said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president at the American Council on Education, which represents more than 1,700 colleges and universities.
Blacks and Hispanics remain underrepresented at other top universities, even as the share
of white students at many of these schools has dropped, in some cases below 50 percent.
The number of Hispanic and black freshmen on the University of California campuses declined immediately after California’s affirmative action
ban took effect, especially at the most sought-after campuses, said Stephen Handel, associate vice president for undergraduate admissions.
For example, the share of white freshmen at Rice University in Houston, which was exclusively
white until the mid-1960s, declined to 42 percent in 2015 from 87 percent in 1980.