Brown University Sees Sharp Decline in Freshman Diversity

The share of black and Hispanic students in Brown University’s incoming class of 2028 fell 10 percentage points from last year, from 29 percent to 19 percent, according to demographic data released by the university. That marks a significant decline in diversity a year after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action.

The share of incoming black students fell by six percentage points and Hispanic students by four percentage points. The share of white students also fell by three percentage points, while Asian American enrollment increased by four percentage points. The share of students who declined to report their race or ethnicity increased from 4 percent to 7 percent.

Colleges are slowly releasing demographic data for their first post-Affirmative Action class, offering an early snapshot of the impact the Supreme Court’s landmark summer 2023 decision has had on diversity at selective institutions. Brown is the third Ivy League institution to do so, and its 10-percentage-point drop in Black and Hispanic enrollment is the steepest among its peers: Princeton saw a two-percentage-point drop, while Yale saw a modest increase in Black and Hispanic enrollment.

The decline in diversity puts Brown more in line with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which saw a nearly 10 percentage point decline in black and Hispanic students, and Amherst College, which saw a 13 percentage point decline.