May 2, 2024 | NEWS | By Sofia Joucovsky
On August 28, 2023, President L. Song Richardson sent an email promising that Colorado College will be “doubling down” on creating a “diverse and equitable campus.” This was in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Affirmative Action, which allows institutions to look at a student’s self-identified race during the admissions process.
According to Doug Edlin, attorney and chair of the Colorado College Political Science department, the court’s definition of affirmative action “is considering race as a plus factor in the admissions process for the purpose of increasing the diversity of the student body.”
Affirmative Action was still legal during the 2023-24 school year and at CC over 50% of undergraduate students (1,146 out of 2,145 students) were considered white, non-Hispanic/Latino, according to Colorado College’s common data set. In light of the decision, CC admissions is aiming to create a ‘pipeline’ for more diverse students to attend the small liberal arts school.
To attain this, the office is sending admissions officers “to go out and meet students and try to be very intentional about where it is we have opportunities to meet BIPOC students,” said Karen Kristoff, dean of admissions at Colorado College, “including partnering with organizations that work with certain populations, such as Indigenous Americans.” “We started a connection with a charter school network in Philadelphia, with high schools that are 90 and 95% African-American.” Kristoff explained.
Mark Hatch, the Vice President of Enrollment at Colorado College says tactics like the ones described above are known as “race-neutral” and “College Board, in addition to some other partners put together a playbook for race-neutral admissions… now that [affirmative action] is eradicated, we all need to move forward with some race-neutral strategies.”
Colorado College’s reliance on tuition to function may also cause some issues regarding lack of diversity. According to the New York Times, in 2017, “the median family income of a student from Colorado College is $277,500, and 78% come from the top 20 percent.”
Kristoff says something CC could do to increase diversity is increase the amount of financial aid given, but because “65% of the college’s operating budget comes from tuition we need to be able to generate millions of dollars of revenue based on tuition.”
Rosalie Rodriguez, associate vice president of institutional equity, says, “Race and class are intertwined.”
“Financial aid is a huge determining factor of students choosing an education, especially a private education,” said Rodriguez. “If you’re low-income and, again, disproportionately being folks of color, the amount of aid you get will be a determining factor.” Rodriquez argues that both during and post-affirmative action, the price of Colorado College may deter students from choosing to apply. “We can let in anybody, but if they can’t actually access this place, that’s a whole different question.” Rodriguez says.
Even with maintaining diversity, Colorado College is being very careful not to violate the Supreme Court’s decision by practicing race-conscious admissions. In the Students For Fair Admissions V. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard University, Chief Justice John Roberts’ language in the ruling explains that “admissions processes [can] consider the racial identity of an applicant but only in relation to that applicant’s own experiences, identities, accomplishments, and potential contributions.”
For this reason, CC can ask students in their application if they would like to discuss their experiences in relation to their identity [but without checking a box],” said Edlin.
Additionally, with the Biden administration at the helm, it is very unlikely for the Department of Justice to investigate violations of affirmative action by universities and colleges. However, that does not mean colleges can still practice affirmative action. If a student believes they were unfairly denied from a school, they may choose to go to an organization such as Students For Fair Admissions, and file a lawsuit against the school, Edlin said.
Edward Blum, President of Students For Fair Admissions, sent a letter to over 100 colleges and universities threatening to sue them if it was believed they violated the new Supreme Court ruling, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
SFFA claims that affirmative action is racist, harms students, and often specifically focuses on affirmative action negatively impacting Asian students.
Rodriguez says that in schools like CC, with low rates of Asian students, affirmative action could theoretically help create more diversity at CC from certain demographics.
Now, Colorado College is asking questions on the Common App about students’ lived experiences and area codes to help diversify admissions. “We cannot utilize the checkbox. Justice Roberts, who issued several very important points in the rulings, talked about the opportunity for us to share a student’s background if they choose to show their race and how it affected their lived experience,” Hatch said.
“What we are looking at is the narrative about that student,” Kristoff explains.
Since many students may have to delay their decision due to Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FASFA) delays, it may take longer to see the ethnic makeup of the class of 2028, Hatch says. Although, he says because CC meets “full demonstrated need,” and uses tools such as the College Scholarship Service Profile, most students should know if they can attend CC and will be able to meet the May 1 decision deadline.
International status is another lens through which admissions is considering diversity. “Citizen is not a category that the Supreme Court has banned us from talking about and considering,” said Kristoff. Out of 11,000 CC applicants, 2,500 were international, meaning they don’t hold American citizenship.
There are many factors that contribute to diversity, from financial aid to affirmative action, to other race neutral tactics. According to Rodriguez, it’s about ‘tweaking’ and figuring out what works as the years go on, to continue to make CC more diverse.