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Following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the ensuing protests and unrest that have convulsed the nation, university presidents have spoken out against racial injustice, police brutality and economic inequality. Some have done so eloquently and convincingly, strongly condemning conditions that have plagued the nation for decades. Others have fallen short, offering little more than platitudes, missing a moment that called for greater candor and courage.
College leaders are in an important position of leadership and responsibility, and those who have made statements condemning the recent police killing of black Americans, such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Artery, are taking their leadership responsibilities seriously. Good for them. It’s important that they stand up and speak out.
But as important as expressions of outrage or promises of reform are, what is ultimately needed from higher education leaders is action that changes the policies and behavior of the institutions they lead – particularly in the area of admissions and enrollment.
The data are clear. As much as college presidents may condemn racial exclusion and inequities, the leading colleges in America continue to under-enroll black and African American students. By a lot.
Approximately 14% of college students today are black or African American, roughly the same percentage as recent high school students who are black.
Compare that to the enrollment of black and African American students at Ivy League colleges. According to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), among those eight schools, the percentage of blacks and African Americans among undergraduates enrolled in 2018 ranged from 6% (Brown, Dartmouth), to 7% (Cornell, Columbia, Penn) to 8% (Harvard, Yale, Princeton). Not a single Ivy League school reaches even the 10% threshold for enrolling black undergraduates.
It’s not just elite private universities with paltry enrollment of black students. Highly regarded public universities do no better. At the University of Michigan, black and African Americans constituted 4% of undergraduates in 2018, the same as at the University of Texas, Austin. At the University of Virginia, it’s 7%. At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 8%. Black/African American students account for just 2% of undergraduate enrollment at the University of California, Berkeley, often considered the best public research university in the nation.
Strong public messages voiced by high-profile college officials about the importance of racial justice and the dangers of racial oppression are to be encouraged. But so too would be admission and financial aid policies that increased black students’ access to the institutions these officials lead.
