“Any drop in an already small number can dramatically impact the campus environment for students of color, and students are already reporting negative effects,” the group said.
But some experts put a positive spin on the new data. It shows a way forward for diversity under the new regimen, argued Richard Kahlenberg, director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute.
“There were predictions that the Black population could fall to 2 percent at some universities and 6 percent at Harvard, and that did not happen,” Mr. Kahlenberg said. “I want there to be racial diversity on campus. I think it showed it was possible to achieve that without racial preferences.”
One area for litigation could be the personal essay. The court allows admissions officers to consider race in the personal essay, if it was germane to some life experience. Mr. Kahlenberg said that it could become problematic if essays are used as a way to elevate the applications of only certain groups. If, for example, equal consideration were not given to Asian American students who had overcome discrimination or to white students who had overcome poverty.
