Universities Weblog

Despite "winning" last year's Supreme Court battle on affirmative action, the University of Michigan has experienced a drop in black enrollment. And it's not alone in that regard.

Across the country, public flagship universities such as Penn State, Minnesota and UNC have seen similar drops. The reasons? Some speculate that African American students have been put off by affirmative action wars, and now consider these institutions potentially hostile environments. Others point to the low number of blacks who score high on the SATs, which results in a "bidding war" for those students, many of whom choose private institutions offering scholarship aid. Still others claim that public universities are pricing themselves beyond what most middle- and lower-class families can afford, and that this phenomenon disproportionately affects minorities.

But no one is absolutely certain why blacks (and not Hispanics) are enrolling at decreasing rates, especially at institutions that try mightily to recruit them. We'll see if this trend continues over the next few years.

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