On September 17, SFFA sent letters to Princeton, Yale, and Duke, signed by Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions.
“Based on SFFA’s extensive experience, racial figures are not possible with true neutrality,” the letter said, according to The New York Times. “We warn you: Please preserve all potentially relevant documents and correspondence.”
SFFA said the decline in Asian American student enrollment since last year was unexpected. The decline in Asian American enrollment is as follows:
At Duke, 35% to 29%, at Yale, 30% to 24%, and at Princeton, 26% to 23.8%.
Enrollment of black students remained roughly steady.
“I think the battle is going to shift from policy to what’s going on in admissions offices,” Cornell University law professor William Jacobson, founder of the nonprofit Equal Protection Project, which challenges diversity, equity and inclusion programs, told The New York Times.
Some experts argue it’s too early to know whether these figures reflect larger trends after universities end affirmative action programs.
“It’s disappointing to see the same old scare tactics being used by Bloom here to steer universities away from doing what they can to give better opportunities to bright and talented students,” Oiyan Poon, a researcher into college admissions systems, told The Times.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision, college admissions officers can no longer see applicants’ race or ethnicity sections until after the application process is complete, but students can still describe experiences related to their racial background on their applications.
