Among the variables shaping the current numbers is the jump in the percentage of students who chose not to check the boxes for race and ethnicity on their applications. At Princeton, for instance, that number rose to 7.7 percent this year from just 1.8 percent last year. At Duke it rose to 11 percent from 5 percent. Universities may not know whether the “unknown” number includes more white and Asian American students.
Universities have also tried to achieve more diversity by increasing the percentage of students on financial aid, to 71 percent from 66 percent at
Princeton.
“We have carefully adhered to the requirements set out by the Supreme Court,” Jennifer Morrill, a spokeswoman for Princeton, said Tuesday. Yale and Duke did not provide immediate comment.
“It is deeply ironic that Mr. Blum now wants admissions numbers to move in lock step,” said Oren Sellstrom, litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston, which has filed a complaint with the Department of Education against Harvard’s legacy admissions policy, accusing it of favoring white applicants.