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by Sharelle B. McNair

August 22, 2024

MIT Sees Massive Drop In Black Enrollment After Supreme Court Overturns Affirmative Action Ruling

This shouldn't be shocking.....

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NBC News reports that black student enrollment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has drastically dropped following the Supreme Court’s historic overturning of the affirmative action ruling. 

The first-year class profile, released on Aug. 21, showed a steep drop in its Black student population as the first class formed after the high court ruled race-conscious college admissions unconstitutional. Close to only 5% of MIT’s incoming class of 2028 is Black, a decrease from its 13% average. Dean of Admissions, Stu Schmill, points the finger at the court but says it was expected. “We expected that this would result in fewer students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups enrolling at MIT,” Schmill said. 

“That’s what has happened.”

The ruling shocked the nation in 2023 after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard. The court ruled that the programs violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and were deemed unlawful, causing a domino effect at other public universities and student protests. A host of programs designed under the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) departments were eliminated, as were scholarships provided only to students of color.

With 1,102 students enrolled in the incoming class, there was also a drop in Latino student enrollment. In comparison to an average of 15%, the incoming class only holds 11%. According to Reuters, MIT President Sally Kornbluth celebrated the new students but admitted to things looking different than prior classes. “The class is, as always, outstanding across multiple dimensions,” Kornbluth said in a statement. 

“But what it does not bring, as a consequence of last year’s Supreme Court decision, is the same degree of broad racial and ethnic diversity that the MIT community has worked together to achieve over the past several decades.”

While the court’s ruling banned schools from using race as an enrollment factor, students are still allowed to showcase their ethnic backgrounds in application materials such as essays, personal statements, and extracurricular activities. The populations of white and Asian American students have jumped up while other demographics, like Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, hit the zero percentage mark. 

Schmill predicted things like this would happen in a blog post in 2023. “If the Court rules in a way that constrains how universities may compose their communities, our commitment to the pursuit of diversity that advances MIT’s education will not waver, but our ability to achieve it will change — potentially dramatically,” he wrote. 

In an effort to combat the numbers, MIT said it expanded recruitment and financial aid initiatives to prioritize low-income students from all backgrounds.

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The late artist L.V. Hull made history by becoming the first African American to have an art environment added to the US National Register of Historic Places.

The Art Newspaper reports that Hull’s home studio is now part of the first visual arts center in Kosciusko, Mississippi. This marks the first time an art environment created by an African American has been recognized and the first instance where a Black female visual artist’s home studio has achieved national significance, not just significance in its home state.

After buying the house in 1974, Hull transformed it into her visual art hub, using discarded hubcaps she painted with polka dots, shoes displayed on poles, and shrouds of real blooms from her garden. Colorful art pieces are displayed inside and outside the home that sat vacant following her death in 2008.

“The imprint of her imagination is still there,” Yaphet Smith, a neighbor of the Hull house, said. “There are faded spots on the wall where she hung her art, as well as the nails all over the home. If you’ve seen pictures, the home was swarming with her work. And it’s really a way to commune with her, the way that people would when they came to visit.”

Smith’s grandmother lived nearby, and he frequented the Hull house prior to her passing. In 2021, he purchased the home and ran it under his non-profit, the Keysmith Foundation. Now, the home’s addition to the National Register ensures the preservation of its history ahead of launching the L.V. Hull Legacy Center in 2025 as the county’s first visual arts facility.

“It’s important to have an accurate story of creativity in America, and including her home on the National Register helps achieve that goal,” Smith said. “Hopefully, it will be a catalyst for preserving the spaces and stories of other African American artists, and particularly women.”

He is also working on a documentary about Hull, which can now use funding typically garnered from a National Register listing. Pieces from the late visual artist will live on through the Legacy Center, and an exhibit is set to open next year at the Mississippi Museum of Art.