Some students are including their experiences tied to their background in college admissions essays despite the Trump administration cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion. The government has been issuing directives against DEI since Donald Trump took office in January. These have included writing about diversity or overcoming obstacles in personal essays, an essential part of college applications.
Some students and universities are still including their racial background in college admissions essays
Since the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back affirmative action, universities have been banned from considering race and ethnicity in college admissions. Yet, the court did not rule on college admissions essays, an integral part of applications in which students may discuss their life experiences. In fact, many institutions have been inviting applicants to detail their “lived experience” or write about their “community” in essays. This is due to what is now known as the Chief Justice Roberts Loophole.
“A lot of students might read [a community prompt] and think, Oh, I’m in the band, I’m the editor of the paper, and I’m going to write about an activity,” Jayson Weingarten, a senior admissions consultant for Ivy Coach, told The Boston Globe.
Other students may “read between the lines of what admissions officers are asking — and they’re going to talk about their race, culture, ethnicity, heritage, socioeconomic status, anything like that,” he added.
For instance, Harvard and Columbia University have asked students to recall a time they disagreed with someone and write about how they handled it.
Mo Marie Lauyanne Kouame, an 18-year-old student who applied to MIT, Princeton and Columbia, wrote about her experience in her admissions essays. It felt “impossible” not to write about her identity “because the things that I’ve gone through in life make me who I am now,” she told The Boston Globe. Kouame added that one of her essays recounted how she overcame adversity as a low-income student of color “surrounded by classmates whose lives felt worlds apart from mine.”
The Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI
Although the U.S. Supreme Court did not rule on college admissions essays, the Trump administration has issued directives to higher education institutions in order to roll back DEI initiatives as much as possible. It previously flagged personal essays as being potentially unlawful over the past year, according to The Boston Globe.
The Trump administration has also requested data from colleges in order to ensure they do not consider race in admissions. It has expanded what is considered DEI and now includes an applicant’s sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, nationality, political views and religious associations.
Several colleges have taken measures to cut DEI efforts, such as shutting down student news publications and closing student centers, to appeal to the Trump administration and avoid losing funding. Some institutions have also modified their curricula, notably in the humanities, to meet the government’s demands.
Changes in law and policies have led to a decline in the enrollment of students of color. This fall, Harvard University reported a decline in enrollment among Black, Latino, and international students.