Following the University’s release of data on the socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds of the Class of 2028 — the first admitted since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision limiting race-conscious admissions — student leaders from various cultural and affinity organizations issued statements condemning the significant decline in underrepresented students within the freshman class.
In a statement released on Oct. 5, the Black Student Union (BSU) called on the administration to prioritize transparency and be specific in their efforts to advance diversity on campus for upcoming admission cycles.
“We believe that diversity is not just a metric to be achieved, but a core value that enriches the academic experience for everyone," they wrote.
The percentage of first-year undergraduate students who reported identifying with underrepresented groups dropped from 37% in 2023 to 17.6% this year. This sharp decline follows years of growth in the proportion of incoming students who identify as underrepresented.
Since the 2010 fall semester, the University has reported consistent increases in the proportion of Black and Hispanic students in the incoming undergraduate class, with the percentage over doubling by 2023. Black students comprised 5.8% of incoming first year undergraduates in the fall of 2010, and rising to 13.8% for the incoming first year undergraduates in the fall of 2023. Hispanic students accounted for 8% of the Class of 2014, increasing to 20.8% of students for the Class of 2027. This year’s results effectively return representation of Hispanic and Black incoming undergraduate students to the percentages seen in 2010.
In an email to The News-Letter, Vice President for Media Relations and News J.B. Bird described the strategies Hopkins used to promote student diversity prior to the Supreme Court decision and were left intact after the decision.
“Using these and other approaches prior to the SFFA decision, Hopkins had, up until this fall, seen a dramatic increase in both the diversity of our students and their level of academic achievement, as the Washington Post reported in August 2023,” he wrote. “Because of those increases, Hopkins is listed today one of the four most racially and ethnically diverse universities among all 440 national universities ranked by U.S. News & World Report.”
Bird also stated that while the results are deeply disappointing, the University is still committed to fostering diversity in all of its forms.
In an interview with The News-Letter, Gnagna Sy — a senior and president of BSU —explained that she felt the effects of the SCOTUS decision even before the admissions data was released.
“I’m one of the pre-orientation facilitators for the HopkinsLEAD program, and we usually get a handful of Black students that participate, but this year there were maybe one or two students,” she said. “When the numbers came out, we weren't that surprised.”
Additionally, she explained how the lack of Black students in the freshman class made it difficult for organizations looking for freshmen representatives and underclassmen to sit on their executive boards.
“Our [cultural and affinity] student organizations are much smaller than we’ve ever been, and it's especially concerning because we don't feel like we have the strength to show up as strongly as we have in the past,” she said. “There's just a lot of downstream effects [because] there's less representation of people of color on this campus.”
She added that many seniors are concerned about the future of their organizations as upperclassmen graduate and worry that the work they have accomplished will not continue beyond their graduation.
“We put our hearts and souls into making sure that Black people on this campus know that they have a place and know that their place is meaningful,” Sy added. “If we do not have enough people to pass the torch to, there are going to be a lot of negative impacts on campus.”
In an interview with The News-Letter, senior Akosa Obianwu, president of the Sigma Sigma chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. — a historically Black fraternity — expressed that while the SCOTUS ruling may be one reason why diversity at Hopkins decreased, other institutions like Duke University have continued to report similar racial demographics as prior to the reversal of affirmative action.
Obianwu drafted a statement on behalf of his chapter, reflecting on the University’s approach to diversity and accountability. The statement highlighted moments when, in his view, the institution's responses to increasing diversity appeared more reactive than proactive.
“The University has demonstrated that it is only inclined to act on diversity when it is faced with public relations disaster as noted in Fall of 2015 following this indifference to the tragic death of Freddie Gray and its sanction violence by the Baltimore Police Department to physically target student protesters on the Homewood campus,” the statement read.
Obianwu then explained the motivations behind writing and publishing this statement.
“What caused me to write that letter was the email that President Daniels wrote, mostly blaming the removal of race consideration in college admissions as the only reason why Hopkins was unable to bring about that sort of diversity in the Class of 2028,” he said. “I knew it was not the full story, especially when looking at other institutions Black students like me also applied to.”
Obianwu also believes that attributing the lack of admission of underrepresented students solely to the reversal of affirmative action policies undermines the perception of the abilities of Black and Hispanic students.
“When you blame those numbers on affirmative action, you get away from the accountability of the University as the actors that actually accept and enroll students, and you say if it were not for affirmative action, those students would not have gotten in anyway. That’s a fallacy,” he stated.
Bird addressed some of these concerns in his email to The News-Letter. He suggested that the comparison of Hopkins to peer institutions does not reveal much about the University’s performance with regard to racial diversity.
“We can only speak to our own experience,” he wrote. “Universities always have different demographic compositions based on intangible factors, such as location, cost, student preferences and academic interests, and because of this, changes to admissions law are likely to have varying effects on different universities. The question before us is how to continue to foster diversity moving forward.”
He added that Hopkins collaborates with other universities on strategies to promote student diversity, and that they are interested in exploring new opportunities in this regard.
Students also expressed concerns that the impacts of the Supreme Court decision will affect who applies to selective institutions like Hopkins.
In an interview with The News-Letter, Emma Mendoza — a senior and the treasurer of Organización Latine Estudiantíl (OLÉ) — explained how the effects of the affirmative action ruling impact the perception of attending university for her community in El Paso, Texas.
“I come from a predominantly Hispanic community. I was one of the only people from my high school who left the city, and we don't really get college outreach as it is. You try to push your younger cousins and push your friends' younger siblings to go to college, but now without affirmative action, I think they feel less inclined to apply,” she said. “At the end of the day, we are underprivileged and underserved, so they feel like they have less of a competitive ground to stand on.”
Additionally, student leaders also claimed that the University has not been transparent about the policies in place to recruit minority students. In last week’s Student Government Association (SGA) town hall, titled the Communities of Color Forum, several students remarked that the University can be proactive in recruiting underrepresented students through outreach efforts in Baltimore and Prince George's counties.
Additionally, as a result of this town hall, SGA is proposing a draft resolution to officially recommend specific action steps that the University should take in order to have a more diverse class.
Bird reiterated the University’s commitment to diversity. He stressed that the University is working towards adhering to the law while exploring race-neutral strategies to create a diverse campus community, following the results of this year’s admission cycle.
“The results are deeply disappointing, and the university is firmly committed to fostering diversity in all of its forms, through all legally available avenues, to ensure that our student body reflects the pluralistic society we serve,” he wrote. “By becoming more diverse, Hopkins has become a stronger university, admitting some of the country’s most academically talented undergraduate students in each of the past several years. Hopkins is committed to continuing this tradition of advancing diversity and academic excellence, in compliance with the SFFA decision.”
Tami Adeagbo — a senior and president of the African Students Association — explained how she believes that Hopkins could emphasize outreach in underrepresented communities through partnerships with high schools, community organizations and scholarship programs in an email to The News-Letter. Adeagbo added that the University can expand its outreach especially through the University’s Fly-In initiative, where prospective students can experience campus life through a fully-funded trip.
“I think it would be beneficial if Hopkins not only makes an effort to advertise JHU to inner-city schools (within Baltimore, Maryland and even expanding to other states as well), but partnering with current underrepresented students to speak on their experience on Hopkins so there is a personal connection,” she wrote.
The Inter-Asian Council (IAC), along with several other Asian, Pacific Islander and Desi American (APIDA) organizations, also released a statement on Oct. 20 expressing their thoughts on the impact of the SCOTUS decision on diversity at Hopkins and their experiences as Asian students.
“We recognize the privileged standing many of us hold and how we benefit from this decision. But, we hold diversity and equity above all, understanding the ramifications of this change on individuals, our college campus, and generationally and society at large,” they wrote. “Specifically, the ways in which it increases the inaccessibility of elite institutions and continues to pit communities of color against one another.”
Bird discussed the strategies that the University plans to implement to promote racial diversity in future admission cycles. These included outreach to majority-minority high schools, the use of race-neutral data tools which help contextualize an applicant’s experiences, geographic diversity in admission, a return to requiring test scores with applications, an increase in financial aid messaging and investing in improving the student experience on campus.
“Moving forward, we will continue to scrupulously comply with the law while exploring race-neutral strategies to build a university community that resembles the rich diversity of America,” he wrote.
In an email to The News-Letter, Vanessa Han — a junior and president of the IAC — added how the University can take steps to further disaggregate data in order to more precisely report the demographics of Asian students at Hopkins.
She expanded on IAC’s statement, which highlighted their belief that grouping all Asian students together perpetuates harmful stereotypes, such as the model minority myth.
“IAC has been pushing the Admissions office to disaggregate the demographics for APIDA students for years. There is a difference between East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and other Asian categories,” she wrote. “By distinguishing among them, it will allow us to address inequities. Aggregating data only further contributes to the Model Minority Myth and other practices that depict the APIDA identity as a monolith.”
Bird concluded his email with a response to student concerns about administration transparency. He noted that the University plans to share admissions processes and strategies with the student body to keep the Hopkins community informed of its progress.
“Hopkins students are vital to our admissions efforts, and we want to make sure they feel well informed,” he wrote. “We shared summaries of our admissions plans in the President’s community message on fall undergraduate enrollment and in our Hub story on the topic. We’re open to suggestions on how we can do more to keep students informed, and we’ll seek input at upcoming meetings planned with leaders from student government and recognized student organizations to discuss undergraduate admissions.”
Lana Swindle contributed reporting to this article.
