Vanderbilt and other selective universities are seeing a decline in diversity

Vanderbilt University’s class of 2028 was significantly less diverse than last year’s incoming class, with the number of underrepresented students of color dropping by nearly 10 percentage points, according to institutional data released Monday. The number of black students fell by the largest margin, from 11.5 percent of the class of 2027 to just 6 percent of this year’s incoming class. The number of Hispanic and Asian students also fell, while the number of white students increased by five percentage points.

These numbers put Vanderbilt in a league with Cornell, Brown and MIT, where underrepresented student enrollments all fell by double digits for the first class admitted after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action last summer.

Other colleges have also reported substantial declines in Black, Hispanic and Indigenous enrollment in recent weeks. At New York University, the total number of underrepresented students has fallen by eight percentage points, while enrollment of both Asian and white students has increased.

Self-reported demographics also continue to show an explosion in the number of students choosing not to report their racial or ethnic identity. That share doubled at Vanderbilt, from 3 to 6 percent; at the University of Southern California, it went from 1.5 percent to 13 percent, according to university data.

Within Higher Ed follows selective college diversity in a post-affirmative action world. Our database has been updated with figures from these institutions and more.