Antisemitism, reduction of affirmative action, negative publicity cited as possible variables
In a year of document high apps to wealthy schools, Harvard University’s programs are lower.
In the collapse, first enrollment apps were down 17 percent. The nation’s top college revealed in an announcement next Thursday evening reported on by The New York Times that applications are down 5 % nevertheless.
” General, Harvard received 54, 008 academic programs in this enrollment period, compared with 56, 937 last month, a cut of about 5 percent”, according to the content.
Brown’s implementation process was lengthy this year and included more essay-questions. But apps were up — to record highs — at Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Yale, Amherst, University of Virginia, and many other wealthy colleges and universities, the Times reported.
Antisemitism has taken over the Harvard campus and work wild, according to a strong idea as to why apps were over. This idea was made popular by the New York Times, New York Post, and a number of other magazines and experts.
The Times cited the drop as “drop suggests that a yr of upheaval– which went into overdrive with a pupil letter that claimed Israel was “utterly accountable” for the Hamas attacks– perhaps have damaged Harvard’s reputation and dissuaded some students from applying.”
That letter, written on Oct. 7 itself, was followed by many more effective racist actions, including protests, intense methods of Israeli students on the principal campus, effective protests in the dining halls, libraries, and elsewhere, and classes interrupted by the chants calling for annihilation of Israel.
The New York Post noted that this year, Harvard’s situation became so bad that Jewish students filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging that they had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The Post noted that President Claudine Gay’s claim that free speech was the cause of pro-Palestinian protests was absurd was made by the Post:” For a university that placed last in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s ( FIRE ) free speech rankings last year, receiving a score of -10, suddenly hiding behind the defense of free expression fell flat for many.
After receiving well-supported accusations of plagiarism, Gay ultimately resigned from her position.
Jewish high school students who had the necessary grades and scores to be admitted to Harvard may have chosen to apply to Yale or Princeton instead after considering all the anxiety-inducing activities.
However, none of the Ivies are free of antisemitic protesting and activity. And some, including Penn and Columbia, appeared every bit as bad as Harvard. Why did some schools see applications decline while others did not?
Bad publicity might have played a role.
According to the Times,” college counselors and admissions experts said that the investigation has been intense and, in some cases, the reputational damage has been severe.” However, they said it was difficult to pinpoint the causes of the decline in Harvard’s numbers. On June 29, a historic Supreme Court decision overturned decades of Harvard’s affirmative action policy, which had become a model for higher education nationwide.
Minorities may not have been able to apply because of the affirmative action case.
A “private college admissions coach, Hafeez Lakhani,” according to The Times, said that the anxiety over the campus climate was “particularly acute in the fall.” Students were terrified about the doxxing trucks, the C. E. O. s calling for protester names, students losing job offers for speaking up about Israel- Palestine,’ he said. ‘ Some applicants, in my opinion, chose less-spot schools as a result.
For all that, Harvard still ended up with an admissions rate of 3.58 percent.
MORE: Harvard sociologist defended against plagiarism accusations: ‘ Bogus claims ‘
IMAGE: JanYuan/Shutterstock
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.