Minnesota colleges change application questions after affirmative action ruling

The University of Minnesota and Macalester College are among a growing number of schools changing their student applications as they try to both boost diversity and comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting their ability to consider race in admissions decisions.

People applying to Macalester College in St. Paul, one of the state's most selective institutions, now see a revised question asking how their lived experiences connect with the school's mission of "academic distinction, internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society."

A question asking people applying to the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus how they would contribute to — or benefit from — its diverse community used to be optional. Starting this year, it will be mandatory. Admissions officers hope it will allow them to better understand each applicant's background as they try to assemble a diverse class.

"We are absolutely committed to making this work, to finding every possible to way to continue with that mission we are committed to," U Regent Ruth Johnson said during a public meeting last month.

This fall marks the first college application cycle since the U.S. Supreme Court issued a polarizing decision overturning the decades-old affirmative action programs that were designed to help women and people of color get more opportunities in higher education.

The ruling came at a precarious time for colleges. Americans are increasingly questioning the value of a college education, with one Gallup poll finding that Democrats expressed concerns about the costs and Republicans worried the schools are too political.

Meanwhile, the pool of high school graduates is shrinking and growing more racially and ethnically diverse, due to changes in birth rates years ago. By 2036, about 40% of Minnesota public high school graduates will be people of color, up from about a third today, according to projections by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, a nonprofit that works with colleges and universities.

Before the court ruling, colleges considered race to varying degrees. Leaders at some places, such as the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities, said they didn't consider race. Admissions officers at other institutions, often at more selective schools, said they sometimes considered race when deciding between applicants who otherwise had similar credentials, such as grades, test scores, workloads or extracurriculars.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling this summer, found that admissions practices used at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated the law because they "lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points."

But Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, also said in the ruling that "nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected the applicant's life" — as long as they tie it to other characteristics.

"A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student's courage and determination," Roberts wrote. "Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student's unique ability to contribute to the university."

In the months following the ruling, some colleges, such as Columbia University in New York City and Emory University in Atlanta, revamped their application questions to try to draw out some of those details. Sarah Lawrence College in New York gives applicants the option to write about how the ruling might affect their goals for a college education.

Representatives for Macalester College declined a request to interview their admissions officers in more detail about the changes there. Leaders at the University of Minnesota discussed their changes in a public regents meeting last month.

The application for the U's Twin Cities campus included three optional short answer questions before the court ruling. One of them, which asks how an applicant would contribute to or benefit from the U's diverse community, is now mandatory and capped at roughly 150 words. The majority of applicants — about 65% of high school students applying for freshman admittance, and roughly 75% of college students seeking to transfer there — had already been answering that question, according to U statistics.

"Requiring an answer to this question ensures that application reviewers obtain the information needed to consider holistically how the applicant contributes to diversity through their lived experiences and challenges they have faced and they've overcome in life," Robert McMaster, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, told regents. "In addition, the question is a way for us to tell applicants that the university highly values a diverse class broadly defined."

The advisers who work with high school students on their college applications say that in many ways, they were already prepared for this moment. Some colleges began adding questions about diversity after the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Carleton College in Northfield added a question last year that notes that its plan for diversity, equity and inclusion "aims to nurture and develop an even stronger community" and asks applicants how they might contribute to that sense of belonging.

Many high school seniors are now working on whittling down the list of places they'd like to apply and will start thinking about essay questions in the coming weeks, said BG Tucker, senior director of programs for College Possible Minnesota, an organization that aims to help students from underinvested communities access higher education.

One of the challenges will be helping students understand which aspects of their stories to emphasize, such as their Hmong lineage or the fact that they live on a street parallel to George Floyd Square.

As application season kicks off, Tucker is asking advisers to think about "what kind of prompting questions can you ask a student to get their story to come out."