Class-conscious alternatives could allow selective colleges to partially claw back their current levels of diversity in some cases
Washington, DC, March 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — (Washington, DC, March 28, 2023) New analysis from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) demonstrates that an expected national ban on race-conscious admissions practices would threaten the racial and ethnic diversity of students at selective colleges unless these colleges fundamentally altered their admissions practices.
The new CEW report, Race-Conscious Affirmative Action: What’s Next finds that selective colleges barred from considering race and ethnicity in their admissions decisions may be able to partially claw back some racial/ethnic diversity using class-conscious admissions practices, but they will be extremely unlikely to enroll student bodies that match the demographic diversity of the high school class.
Moreover, if the US Supreme Court declares race-conscious college admissions unconstitutional and selective colleges preserve admission preferences for legacy applicants, student athletes, and other privileged groups, as is expected, selective college campuses will most likely become less racially and ethnically diverse than today. The Supreme Court is considering cases in its current term that challenge affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, with a ruling expected by the end of June.
In the report, CEW researchers examine six different admissions models and the impact they would likely have on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity if used consistently across selective colleges. Four models consider alternatives to race-conscious admissions, and two demonstrate what could happen in the unlikely event that race-conscious admissions were expanded instead of banned. Two models specifically consider class-conscious admissions as alternatives to race-conscious admissions.
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