Race
Most Say Race Shouldn’t Be Used in College Admissions
White Americans are the least likely to support using race and ethnicity as a factor in college admissions.
Almost three-quarters of Americans believe that colleges and universities should not consider race and ethnicity when making admissions decisions.
A new Pew Research Center study found that 73 percent of Americans don't support universities taking this factor into consideration. Just 7 percent believe race should be a major factor in college admissions, while 19 percent believe it should be just a minor factor.
Although there are differences among racial groups, a majority remains. Seventy-eight percent of white Americans oppose using race and ethnicity in admissions, the largest percentage of any group, while 18 percent believe it should be a minor factor and 4 percent believe it should be a major factor. Sixty-five percent of Hispanics and 62 percent of African-Americans don't believe it should be a factor, while 11 of Hispanics and 18 percent of African-Americans think it should be a major factor.
Most likely to support race and ethnicity playing at least some part in college admissions are Asians. Fourteen percent believe it should be a major factor, 27 percent believe it should be a minor factor and 59 percent believe it shouldn't be a factor at all.
Pew's study comes amid a lawsuit against Harvard University by Students for Fair Admissions, which opposes affirmative action. The nonprofit group alleges that the university discriminates against Asian-American applicants.
Among political parties, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to oppose using the race in admissions. Eighty-five percent of Republicans believe race shouldn't be factor, while 12 percent believe it should be a minor factor and 4 percent believe it should be a major factor. Among Democrats, 63 percent believe race and ethnicity shouldn't play a role in admissions, while 26 percent believe it should play a minor role and 10 percent believe it should play a major role.
Of eight factors, most people, 67 percent, believe high school grades should be the most important. The second most important factor is standardized test scores, with 47 percent supporting those as a major factor. Race and ethnicity were the seventh most important, followed by gender, which only 5 percent of Americans believe should play a major role in admissions.
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