With Black Enrollment Down, Amherst College Faces an Identity Crisis

New York Times

25-04-2025

One of the nation's most elite liberal arts schools, Amherst College has historically also been one of its most diverse.
In 2023, federal data revealed that its overall Black enrollment, 11 percent of the student body, far outstripped many other similar institutions.
So it was particularly jarring to the Amherst community last fall when data for the entering freshman class revealed that only 3 percent of its members were Black.
Quincy Smith, an art major, joined one of the most diverse classes in Amherst history in 2022 and said gatherings of Black students feel different now: 'There's less engagement, fewer people coming to our meetings and going to events.'
At Amherst, a college of about 1,900 undergraduates in central Massachusetts, students and administrators alike are now uneasy as the idea of diversity, one of the school's core values, is increasingly under attack by conservatives in Washington.
Across the country, highly selective universities and their students were already trying to reckon with the demographic shifts caused by a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2023, when the court banned the use of racial preferences in college admissions. Some schools saw only minor changes in their enrollment makeup, according to an analysis by The New York Times.
But at others, including Amherst, Black and Hispanic enrollment declined sharply last fall — the first class affected by the new ruling — with Amherst experiencing one of the steepest drops. Hispanic enrollment in Amherst's freshman class dropped to 8 percent last fall, compared with 12 percent a year earlier.
The Trump administration is trying to use that Supreme Court case to increase the pressure on universities to eliminate diversity efforts. It is promising to punish schools it believes might be circumventing the decision. The moves have added to the tension at schools like Amherst as they try to avoid legal challenges, but also face faculty, students and alumni urging their school to fight back.
Conservatives argue diversity efforts meant to boost Black, Hispanic and other groups have resulted in discrimination against Asian and white students, the contention that formed the crux of the Supreme Court case. 'Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,' the Supreme Court said in its decision.
Despite the decision, Michael A. Elliott, Amherst's president, said the school's 200-year-old mission, which emphasizes educating students from all backgrounds, has not changed.
'My goal is to be able to execute our mission and to do so in a way that's in compliance with the law,' Dr. Elliott said in a telephone interview.
Amherst was one of the first highly selective colleges to eliminate legacy preferences, which tend to favor white students. It was also the lead author of a brief in the Supreme Court case arguing for the 'educational benefits of a diverse student body and the societal benefits of educating diverse future leaders.'
In the brief, Amherst argued that eliminating race-conscious admissions would 'have a drastic resegregating impact' and predicted it could lose about half its enrollment of Native American, Black and Hispanic students.
Since that prediction largely came true, many at Amherst are concerned that fewer Black and Hispanic students on campus will make it less attractive to those groups, prompting a cycle of further declines.
Marllury Vizcaino, a freshman from Washington Heights, in Manhattan, said she was the only Black student in her required first-year seminar last fall, and one of only two Black students in her chemistry class.
'I didn't feel like I was welcome because I didn't really see students who looked like me,' Ms. Vizcaino said, adding, 'I can't really talk about it without getting upset.'
Bryce Dawkins, a senior from Oakland, Calif., majoring in English and Black studies, said that diversity attracted her to Amherst.
'When I was applying to college, I was looking at Amherst particularly because the number of Black students was so high,' she said.
During a book talk on campus in October, one of Amherst's notable Black alumni, the professor and writer Anthony Abraham Jack, said he felt a deep sadness over the changes.
'I just can't tell you how hard of a walk it was when the numbers came out,' said Dr. Jack, a 2007 graduate who teaches today at Boston University and grew up in a low-income household in Miami. 'The place that changed my life and the place that I love, probably more than any other, is hurting.'
Concern about the numbers frequently comes up in faculty meetings and alumni gatherings; at the Charles Drew house, a dorm for Black students named for the pioneering Black physician; and at the Multicultural Resource Center, a gathering place for students of color.
The campus newspaper, The Amherst Student, described diversity as the 'ever-present backdrop' during a visit by 130 prospective students last fall.
Since its freshman class demographics were disclosed, Amherst has been working to reverse the decline in Black and Hispanic students while still complying with the law. (When international students are included, this year's freshman class was 9 percent Black, but that number declined from 19 percent last year.)
Colleges are no longer allowed to ask applicants about their race after the Supreme Court decision. So highly selective schools are seeking students who are the first to attend college in their family, visiting communities in rural areas and expanding financial aid for low-income students.
Amherst added four people to its recruitment team, who traveled a broad swath of the country to find students who might help the school yield a more diverse class. Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi were on the list. So was Texas' Rio Grande Valley.
On March 21, Amherst announced that it had offered admission to 1,175 students. Ninety-six are from rural regions, an increase from 37 last year.
Amherst said it did not have a racial breakdown for the newly admitted students, but Matthew L. McGann, Amherst's dean of admission and financial aid, said that a quarter of the students would be the first in their family to attend college, a school record.
Dr. Elliott said he believed that more than one factor was at play in last year's demographic shift, and pointed out that the school's small size amplifies percentage changes.
And he is optimistic about the incoming class.
'We're really encouraged by what we see so far,' he said.
Applicants must accept by May 1, and it is hard to say how many will say yes. Many schools, including those in the Ivy League, are competing for the best and brightest students from racial minority groups.
'The largest number of students who say 'no' to Amherst, end up in New Haven at Yale and other places like that,' Dr. McGann said in an interview. He acknowledged that there were also declines in the number of Black students offered admission last year, adding that one year is not enough to suggest a trend.
Dr. Jack said he believed that Amherst may have been more careful than many other schools in using measures, such as high school grades, to select its class.
'It felt like there was a conversation about trying not to get sued,' said Dr. Jack, a professor of higher education leadership.
Conservatives have only intensified their scrutiny of schools in recent weeks. The Justice Department announced last month that it would investigate admissions policies at four California universities. And Edward Blum, an activist who is the driving force behind the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court case, has said he is examining school data for evidence of 'cheating.'
Mr. Blum has said that his effort to end affirmative action is inspired by the work of Martin Luther King Jr., arguing that 'an individual's race and ethnicity should not be used to help them or harm them in their life's endeavors.'
In an interview, Jeffrey Wright, the Amherst alum and actor who starred in the 2023 film 'American Fiction,' a satire on how the publishing industry stereotypes race, characterized Mr. Blum's reference to Dr. King as 'the most egregiously cynical thing that I've heard in a long time.'
Mr. Wright, who was recently on Amherst's campus speaking at a literary event, sees Mr. Blum's work as part of a movement to roll back civil rights, reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.
In recent months, Amherst leaders have held a flurry of meetings with campus constituencies, trying to reassure them that they are working to prevent resegregation.
After attending one such meeting with the Black Student Union, Zane Khiry, a senior from Avenel, N.J., and a former officer of the group, said he remained skeptical.
'They had a choice between prizing diversity and playing it safe. They chose to play it safe,' he said.