Credit: (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)Data from states that once banned affirmative action in college admissions has left critics of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week concerned about what will happen to racial diversity in higher education.
When the country’s most diverse states, like California and Texas, got rid of race-based admissions practices in their college admission practices in 1996, their university populations became more white and Asian over time — and had fewer Black, Hispanic and Indigenous students, according to Washington Post analysis of data where affirmative action was banned in states during 2021.
This data raises the question of what will happen in New Jersey, one of the most diverse states in the country with nearly a 50% population of people of color. The state does have universities and colleges whose enrollments are made up by a majority of people of color. However, even with affirmative action, several New Jersey schools are majority white.
It is not yet clear how universities and colleges will now handle race in their admissions processes. While Chief Justice John Roberts said that students can mention their race in college application essays, some critics say not every student may want to discuss their background.
Here’s how diverse, or not, New Jersey’s undergraduate schools are.
- Rutgers University is among the most racially diverse schools in the nation, with a white student population of 31.5%, Asian population of 26.9%, Hispanic population of 17% and Black population of 9.2%, according to data on its website.
-
- Per College Navigator, the racial breakdowns by campus for fall 2021’s undergraduate students were:
-
-
- Camden: 40% white, 20% Hispanic/Latino, 18% Black/African American and 12% Asian
- New Brunswick: 34% white, 31% Asian, 14% Hispanic/Latino, 7% Black/African American
- Newark: 31% Hispanic/Latino, 20% white, 18% Black/African American and 18% Asian.
-
- William Paterson University’s undergraduate student population is 34% white, 34% Hispanic/Latino, 19% Black/African American and 8% Asian.
- New Jersey Institute of Technology’s undergraduate population is 30% white, 21% Hispanic/Latino, 21% Asian and 9% Black/African American.
- Montclair State University’s undergraduate students are 40% white, 32% Hispanic/Latino, 14% Black/African American and 7% Asian
- New Jersey’s other public colleges are significantly less diverse. Stockton University’s undergraduate demographic is 58% white, 19% Hispanic/Latino, 10% Black/African American and 7% Asian. The College of New Jersey’s undergraduate student population is 60% white, 17% Hispanic/Latino, 11% Asian and 5% Black/African American. Rowan University’s undergraduate population is possibly the least diverse in the state at 65% white, 14% Hispanic/Latino, 10% Black/African American and 6% Asian.
- Princeton University, the state’s only Ivy League school, has an undergraduate population that is 38% white, 23% Asian, 10% Hispanic and 8% Black.
- Community colleges in the state vary in racial diversity. Brookdale Community College’s fall 2022 undergraduate demographic was 61% white, 19% Hispanic/Latino, 8% Black/African American and 4% Asian. Middlesex College, meanwhile, has an undergraduate population that’s 33% Hispanic/Latino, 26% white, 16% Asian and 12% Black/African American. At Bergen Community College, undergraduate students are 37% Hispanic, 33% white, 10% Asian and 7% Black/African American.
— Graphics by Genesis Obando
