Some Elite Colleges Dodge the Affirmative-Action Ruling

At Duke, Princeton and Yale, Asian enrollment went down after last year’s Supreme Court decision

By Jason L. Riley. Excerpts:

"In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), the Supreme Court held that race-conscious admissions policies violated the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Given that Asian applicants tend to have higher test scores than other groups, the expectation was that their enrollment at top schools would increase once racial double standards were no longer permitted.

That’s what happened at the University of California’s Los Angeles and Berkeley campuses after voters approved a ballot initiative prohibiting race-conscious admissions in 1996. And it’s what happened this year at Harvard, Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But at other elite institutions, Asian enrollment somehow declined."

"Edward Blum, head of Students for Fair Admissions, likewise fears that some selective schools are thumbing their noses at the Harvard ruling and continue to discriminate against Asian applicants. He sent letters last week to three institutions—Duke, Yale and Princeton—where Asian admissions fell in this year’s entering class. Mr. Blum told Duke and Yale that “based on SFFA’s extensive experience, your racial numbers are not possible under true race neutrality.”

In his letter to Princeton, he said that “your racial numbers are not possible without substantially increasing socioeconomic preferences and eliminating legacy preferences,” which go to the offspring of alumni. “Yet you’ve announced no such changes, and you’ve reported no substantial increase in the number of students receiving Pell Grants,” which go to undergraduates from low-income families."

"in 2023 “the gap between average Asian and Black test scores on the SAT was more than 300 points, and . . . nationally, fewer than 2,300 Black students got combined scores of 1400 or above, which is generally considered what a student needs to be admitted to an Ivy Plus school.” Nevertheless, black enrollment at Duke, Yale and Princeton was essentially flat this year, while Asian enrollment dipped by 6% at Duke and Yale and by 2.2% at Princeton. How?"