US Universities Are Struggling to Increase Diversity. Are Legacy Admissions Part of the Problem?

Since the US supreme court banned affirmative action in college admissions in June 2023, US colleges and universities have grappled with how to boost campus diversity amid recent, troubling data. The latest figures on US college admissions at some major universities have shown drops in Black, Latino and Indigenous first-year enrollment. Such enrollment fell sharply at elite, private colleges such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University and Stanford following the ban on race-conscious admissions, according to preliminary, self-reported data. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a prestigious, public university, also reported that Black and Latino student enrollment fell, by at least 25% and 7%, respectively.