Affinity groups issue opinion seeking admissions to increase diversity

Three of WashU’s main affinity groups have been published an opinion piece announcing, among other things, the creation of several student intern positions after a year of negotiations with the administration. These interns will work with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to help increase enrollment diversity.

The statement was written by the Association of Black Students (ABS), the Asian Multicultural Council (AMC) and the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS).

The groups drafted the statement to express their disappointment with the University regarding the lack of diversity in the class of 2028.

After the Supreme Court overturned Affirmative actionWashU saw a Decrease of 4 percentage points in the number of incoming black students, from 12% in the class of 2027 to 8% in the class of 2028. The percentage of Asian, white, and Hispanic students remained relatively stable, while the percentage of who refused to share their race increased from 1% to 5%.

Last year, in response to the ruling, Chancellor Andrew Martin released a statement affirming the University’s commitment to diversity.

“We will make the necessary adjustments to ensure we comply with the law while maintaining student diversity as a fundamental priority,” Martin wrote.

Before the new initiative was announced, senior Paul Scott, political chair for ABS, expressed the need for the University to do more to admit more diverse classes.

“(While) the University, in some ways, has done much more than it has done in the past to make black students feel welcome, we can always do more,” Scott said.

In response to the ruling, WashU hired additional admissions officers to do so recruitment and expansion at disadvantaged rural high schools and a staff member focused on admissions/financial aid in the St. region. Louis. Admissions also added an optional essay question that allows applicants to talk about their identity.

Dacoda Scarlett, Associate Director of Rural Recruitment, explained the increased importance of rural recruitment after the repeal of Affirmative Action and how rural communities should not be stereotyped.

“Rural recruitment is a very new method that a lot of universities are using to continue to recruit and enroll diverse students (by decision),” Scarlett said. “Rural communities are not monoliths. Across the country, there are dynamic and thriving communities of color that are located in rural communities.”

Junior Subratha Araselvan, AMC Co-President, felt that these measures were not enough.

“WashU, first and foremost, should focus on making their campus a safer place, a more welcoming place for students of color,” Araselvan said. “And then the focus on recruiting students of color or Pell-eligible students of color. So I don’t think just adding a question to the app is enough.”

AMC, ALAS, and ABS have negotiated extensively with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions regarding student input and the subsequent creation of intern positions, on which they recently reached an agreement with the Office.

“The Office of Undergraduate Admissions will hire more student interns to propose and support improved strategies to grow a historically marginalized student population,” the groups wrote. “We are eager for this internal model to implement significant initiatives such as the launch and expansion of recruiting and yield initiatives.”

According to Ronné Turner, vice provost for admissions and financial aid, working with students has been a helpful way to better understand how to improve diversity on campus.

“Working with the Student Advisory Group (Center for Diversity and Inclusion) allows us to meet with representatives of these groups and engage in a conversation where we can hear about the total student experience,” Turner wrote.

This is not the first time ABS and Admissions have collaborated. Turner explained some past initiatives aimed at increasing diversity.

“Last year, we hosted a collaborative event with ABS for select high schools,” Turner wrote, noting that WashU plans to repeat the event this year.

Although the lawsuit that ended affirmative action was filed on his behalf Asian studentsjunior Sonal Churiwal — AMC co-president — voiced her strong support for affirmative action and felt Asian students were being misrepresented.

“This is very emblematic of a long racial history in the United States where white communities try to pit Asian Americans against black Americans, and (at) AMC, we absolutely reject using our identity as a wedge,” Churiwal said . .

The filing also called for WashU to collect more specific data about students’ identities after they enroll that go beyond current racial categories. He outlined one reason why student groups believe this is a necessary measure.

“Vietnamese, Hmong, and Bhutanese Americans are less likely to earn a college degree, while Chinese and American Indians are more likely,” the groups wrote. “We suspect that the decline in students from lower-achieving backgrounds has been offset by an increase in higher-achieving students.”

Submission of the opinion expressed hope that when WashU transitions from WebSTAC to Working day in February 2025, will allow more detailed data to be collected.

“We’re in conversation with the people who are launching the Student Sunrise project, and we’ve been told that it will allow for more data collection,” said junior Natalia León-Díaz, ALAS’ director of social justice.

Regarding data disaggregation, Turner acknowledged that more students are reporting multiple identities to the university than in years past.

“We will use this year to further examine our data to find the best way to report to ensure we are inclusive,” Turner wrote.

Several representatives from AMC, ABS, and ALAS—including Araselvan—felt that race played a factor in their own college application process.

“I talked about my identity as a South Asian woman in my application. That was basically my entire Common App essay,” Araselvan said.

Araselvan was admitted when Affirmative Action was still in effect. Today, although race itself is prohibited from playing a direct role in admissions, colleges can still consider how race may have affected an applicant’s life. into considerationas long as the applicant writes about it in their essay.

Scott felt it would have been impossible for race not to have played a major role in his application given his family ties to East St. Louis.

“When I got into WashU, I remember talking to my uncle, and he was worried because he didn’t think WashU was going to be a place that fostered growth, a place that accepted people who looked like us, because it wasn’t, when he was my age,” Scott said.

At the end of the submission, the groups reaffirmed their mission to support students of color at WashU.

“Racial and ethnic equity cannot stop at admissions. We believe it is imperative that we focus on every dimension of the student experience, from admission to graduation,” they wrote.

Scott said more work needs to be done, especially after race-conscious admissions ends.

“When my kids are my age, I want them to see a completely different WashU. I want it to be better. And I want it to start with us. I mean, we can’t just talk about it. We need to be part of this advocacy.”