After Brown saw a drop in Black and Hispanic students last year, enrollment has partially rebounded for the class of 2029, a Herald poll of incoming first-year students suggests.
The class of 2028 was the first cohort admitted after the Supreme Court ruling that outlawed race-based affirmative action. The cohort saw a significant drop in the share of Black and Hispanic students.
Approximately 12% of this year’s incoming class identifies as Black, while another 12% identifies as Hispanic, according to The Herald’s first-year poll. This marks an increase from the class of 2028, which saw 8% Black and 10% Hispanic enrollment, according to last year’s Herald poll data.
The poll data signals a partial return to the Black and Hispanic enrollment levels the University enjoyed prior to the Supreme Court decision. The class of 2027 polled at 13% Black and 15% Hispanic, The Herald previously reported.
According to Brown’s Common Data Sets, the class of 2028 was 5% Black and 10% Hispanic, while the class of 2027 was 9% Black and 14% Hispanic. These numbers differ from The Herald’s data likely because students are asked to select a single identifying race, and international students are counted in a separate category. The Herald’s poll allows students to select multiple races and relies on a partial, representative sample of the student population.
After last year’s drop in Black and Hispanic enrollment, The University announced initiatives to sustain racial diversity, including the creation of five regionally based admissions positions, new programs for high school guidance counselors and increased collaboration with QuestBridge — a program that matches low-income students with top universities.
While University Spokesperson Brian Clark did not directly answer whether these initiatives helped bolster racial diversity for the incoming class, he told The Herald that “additional perspective from Brown on our approaches to sustaining an academic environment that prizes intellectual openness and diversity would come as we formally release enrollment data.”
Institutional data, which is usually compiled in October, has yet to be released for this year’s class, according to Clark.
As part of Brown’s agreement with the federal government to restore millions in canceled research funding, the University is required to report and publicly disclose certain admissions data. “We will release admissions and enrollment data on a single timeline to ensure consistency in the information across all internal and external sources,” Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Undergraduate Admission Logan Powell wrote in an email to The Herald.
Crystal Ordonez ’27, co-president of the Latinx Student Union, said she was “disheartened” by the drop in Hispanic students last year, but The Herald’s polling results makes her hopeful. At this year’s club fair, 170 students signed up for the LSU, a significant increase from the 81 who expressed interest last year, she said.
“While we’re unsure whether this spike reflects an increase in Latine-identifying admitted students or an increased need for community during challenging political times, we’re overjoyed by this momentum and look forward to building on it,” Ordonez said.
Members of the Black Student Union did not respond to requests for comment.
“Brown is and will remain firmly committed to advancing the diversity that is central to achieving the highest standards of academic excellence and preparing our students to grow and lead in a complex world,” President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote in an announcement following the Supreme Court’s decision.
Additional reporting by Nyria Delph.
Ian Ritter is a senior staff writer for university news. A junior studying chemistry, he covers the graduate schools & students and admissions & financial aid beats. When he isn’t at The Herald or exploding lab experiments, you can find him playing the clarinet, watching the Mets or eating Ratty carrot cake.
