(CALMATTERS) – California’s public universities haven’t used affirmative action in deciding which students to admit for almost 30 years. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June that bans race-based admissions has drawn concern of a chilling effect on diversity amongst the state’s selective private colleges, many of whom rely on the process to attract students of color.
Some students applying to colleges told CalMatters education reporters Mikhail Zinshteyn and Carolyn Jones that the ruling has left them frustrated but undaunted.
“I want to go to a college where I feel comfortable and supported and confident. So yes, the ruling has definitely affected what schools I’m looking at. I want to know what colleges are doing to guarantee diversity.”
Maya Murchison, a high school senior in Chula Vista
That means some of California’s private nonprofit colleges — which enroll around 180,000 undergraduates each year — are having to amp up their outreach efforts to avoid the same collapse in diversity the University of California system saw the first few years after state voters approved the 1996 ballot initiative that barred public institutions from considering race as a factor in admissions, contracting and hiring.
And if the UC’s story is any indication, that’s going to require a lot of money — but isn’t guaranteed to succeed.
“The reality is that we know in our backyard that we probably could have been doing more and we needed to do this work and felt like now was a good time to make that turn.”
Adam Sapp, director of admissions at Pomona College
Read more from Mikhail and Carolyn about how private colleges like Stanford and USC are approaching recruitment, financial aid and campus culture in light of the decision.