Amherst College, a prestigious liberal arts school, saw a significant drop in Black student enrollment in its 2023 freshman class, down to 3 percent from a historical average of 11 percent. This drastic decrease has caused unease within the college community.
Students report a noticeable decline in engagement and participation in Black student gatherings. The reduced number of Black students is impacting the overall campus experience and sense of community.
The decline comes amidst national debates surrounding affirmative action and conservative attacks on the concept of diversity in higher education. Amherst, like many other institutions, grapples with maintaining its commitment to diversity in this evolving political climate.
One of the nation’s most elite liberal arts schools, Amherst College has historically also been one of its most diverse.
In 2023, federal data revealed that its overall Black enrollment, 11 percent of the student body, far outstripped many other similar institutions.
So it was particularly jarring to the Amherst community last fall when data for the entering freshman class revealed that only 3 percent of its members were Black.
Quincy Smith, an art major, joined one of the most diverse classes in Amherst history in 2022 and said gatherings of Black students feel different now: “There’s less engagement, fewer people coming to our meetings and going to events.”
At Amherst, a college of about 1,900 undergraduates in western Massachusetts, students and administrators alike are now uneasy as the idea of diversity, one of the school’s core values, is increasingly under attack by conservatives in Washington.
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