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Vanderbilt University’s Class of 2028 was significantly less diverse than last year’s incoming class, with underrepresented students of color declining by nearly 10 percentage points, according to institutional data released Monday. Black student enrollment decreased by the widest margin, from 11.5 percent of the Class of 2027 to just 6 percent of this year’s incoming class. Hispanic and Asian student enrollment also declined, while white enrollment increased by five percentage points.
Those numbers put Vanderbilt in a category with Cornell, Brown and MIT, all of which saw underrepresented student enrollment plummet by double digits for the first class admitted after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action last summer.
Other colleges have also reported substantial declines in Black, Hispanic and Indigenous enrollment in the past few weeks. At New York University, total enrollment of underrepresented students is down eight percentage points, while enrollments of both Asian and white students are up.
Self-reported demographic data also continues to show an explosion in students choosing not to report their racial or ethnic identity. That proportion doubled at Vanderbilt, from 3 to 6 percent; at the University of Southern California it went from 1.5 percent to 13 percent, according to university data.
Inside Higher Ed is tracking selective college diversity in a post–affirmative action world. Our database has been updated with numbers from these institutions and more.
