College enrollment is down among minorities

Once upon a time at the dawn of what was dubbed “the New Frontier,” a brash young American president burst upon the scene determined to expand the economic opportunities in this, the wealthiest country in the world, by using legislation to right the wrongs of generational injustice.
Officially titled “Executive Order 10925,” it was the first documented use of what became widely known as “affirmative action” to introduce a more level playing field in the economic spectrum and related areas. Conceived by 35th President John F. Kennedy, it was expanded by his predecessor Lyndon Baines Johnson into what was called the “Great Society,” a driving force behind the push for equality during the remainder of the century, and a point of contention for the silent majority that felt left out.
Flash forward 50 or so odd years later, and this aura of discontent mushroomed into a political movement thrusting an improbable media personality into the highest office in the land. Abetted by the shrewd policy-making of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R,KY), Republicans nurtured this conservative resentment into an ideological juggernaut, including the slant of the highest court in the land, an imbalance that will continue into the middle of this century.
This latest manifestation is just materializing as a beginning salvo against what current presidential candidate Donald J. Trump called “anti-White feeling” in America. Just over a year after the Supreme Court determined that preferential treatment in college admissions was a violation of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution in June 2023. More plainly, the consideration of an applicant’s race had no place in determining a potential student’s admission into the bastion of higher learning. This went against a precedent going back four decades.
More recently, just after the beginning of a new academic year, the fallout from this decision is beginning to register on the political Geiger counter. Minority representation is down in this, the first incoming freshmen class since the landmark decision. This is especially telling within the student bodies of elite institutions across the country, a fertile launching point for leaders of the future. Schools reporting this trend include the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which recorded a drop of 5 percent this fall, down from 13 percent in previous years. Perhaps more alarming, but not necessarily correlated, in the drop in enrollment of Black males at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country (see American Institute for Boys and Men, https://aibm.org/).
All this can be directly linked to Trump’s appeal to the sense of marginalization and isolation within his core base of blue collar, working class voters. These groups in turn are among those he has consistently reached out to since the beginning of his political explorations.
In a Time Magazine interview early this summer, he said as much,
“I think there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country and that can’t be allowed either,” he told National Politics Reporter Eric Cortellessa.
This is a theme likely to be replicated throughout the fall election campaign.