Harvard Sees Spike in Asian American Freshmen Following End of Affirmative Action

Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled affirmative action in college admissions unconstitutional, the proportion of Asian American freshmen at Harvard University has risen to 43 percent.

In contrast, the proportion of African American freshmen dropped by more than 2 percentage points.

According to admission data released by Harvard on October 27, local time, the proportion of Asian American freshmen this year reached 43 percent, up 2 percentage points from last year's 41 percent.

The proportion of Asian American freshmen is at its highest level in at least a decade, and is nearly double compared to five years ago.

On the other hand, the proportion of freshmen who are African American or identified as Black fell from 11.5 percent last year to 9.3 percent this year, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points.

The proportion of Black freshmen continued a downward trend for the third consecutive year.

This shift emerged after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2023 that affirmative action policies at universities like Harvard were unconstitutional.

U.S. universities have previously implemented affirmative action policies, which considered applicants' race during admissions to ensure student body diversity.

However, critics argued that this process resulted in favorable evaluations for some minority applicants, such as Black and Hispanic students, while white and Asian applicants faced relative disadvantages.

The increase in the proportion of Asian American freshmen and the decrease in the proportion of African American and Black students suggest that past race-conscious admission policies may have acted to the advantage or disadvantage of certain racial groups.

At the same kert, some analysts point out that Harvard changed its method of calculating racial proportions starting with the class of 2024, limiting simple comparisons between past and present figures, and that the changes in the freshman composition cannot be definitively attributed solely to the Supreme Court ruling.

Reported by Jo Gi-ho | Video by Kihyun Kim | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.