The Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action last summer was expected to drastically change the demographics of college campuses around the country. David Leonhardt, who has written about affirmative action for The Times, explains the extent and nature of that change as the new academic year gets underway. Guest: David Leonhardt, a senior writer who runs The Morning, The Times’s flagship daily newsletter.
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York Times, I'm Katrin Benhold, and this is the daily the Supreme Court's decision to ban affirmative action last summer was expected to drastically change the demographics of college campuses around the country.
Now we are starting to understand the extent of that change.
Today, my colleague David Leonard explains.
It's Friday, September 6.
David, welcome back to the show.
Thank you, Katrin.
So in the past few weeks, elite colleges around the US have started to release their enrollment numbers for this academic year, which is the first academic year since the Supreme Court banned affirmative action.
It's a moment you and a lot of other people have been eagerly awaiting because we're all curious what the effects of this decision will actually be.
So what have you seen so far?
It's been fascinating.
So, as you said, this is the first year of students who are coming after the Supreme Court decision in 2023.
That said, colleges cannot continue to use the kind of race based affirmative action that they used before.
And really what that meant is that students were checking a box about their race.