On Wednesday, Harvard released data showing significant yet moderate shifts in the demographic makeup of the Class of 2028. The first since a Supreme Court decision to invalidate affirmative action in higher education, the enrollment of Black students in Harvard’s Class of 2028 fell by 4 percentage points from the previous year.
The percentage of Asian American students in the class of 1,647 remained unchanged from the previous year, while the number of Hispanic students saw an increase of 2%, from 14% to 16%.
Harvard’s Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, William R. Fitzsimmons, emphasized the importance of diversity in the incoming class. He stated that the “university benefits greatly from having students with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs.”
Fitzsimmons highlighted the value of diverse perspectives in fostering a vibrant learning community.
“Our community excels when those with varied perspectives come together — inside and outside of the classroom — around a common challenge by seeing it through another’s perspective,” Fitzsimmons wrote.
While the released data provides a preliminary understanding of how the student body has changed following the removal of affirmative action, it is challenging to draw direct comparisons between the Class of 2028 and previous years.
The College has traditionally reported the percentage of students who identify as a particular race or ethnicity based on the entire freshman class. However, this year, they switched to calculating percentages using only the students who voluntarily disclosed their demographic information. This change has led to a more significant difference between the College's historical data and its current figures.
According to The Crimson, Harvard’s Admissions Office released updated data for the Class of 2027 on Wednesday. These new figures represent calculated percentages based on the total number of students who disclosed their demographic information, as explained by a College spokesperson.
