Selecting the Next Class

An article entitled “Selecting the Next Class” that appears in the On the Campus section of the May 2021 issue of PAW contains an important clue concerning the future of Princeton University. Referring to the recently admitted applicants, the article states that “the University’s statistics ... show gains in diversity: Sixty-eight percent of U.S. citizens and permanent residents in the admitted group self-identified as people of color, up from 61 percent a year ago.” This statement suggests that the University has not yet achieved its ultimate diversity goal and that the University intends to continue making “gains in diversity” until a significantly higher percentage of the applicants admitted are people of color.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that as of July 1, 2019, 60.1 percent of the U.S. population was white (not including Hispanics or Latinos). At 68 percent of the most recently admitted applicants to Princeton, people of color are thus heavily overrepresented relative to their percentage of the total U.S. population. If the University continues making “gains in diversity” in its admissions process, white students are likely to become very scarce on the Princeton campus, if they exist at all.