“It feels more isolating”: Northeastern Black students and staff express concerns amid drop in Black first-year enrollment

Professor Régine Michelle Jean-Charles, director of the Africana Studies program and Dean’s Professor of Culture and Social Justice, was attending a talk by the first Black female Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson when one of her students sent her an email containing a screenshot of The News’ article reporting a 35% enrollment drop of Black students at Northeastern. “I anticipated that the decline would happen, but it’s always jarring when you see the numbers,” Jean-Charles said.

Northeastern wasn’t the only university that saw a decrease in Black student enrollment this academic year. The 35% drop reflects a nationwide trend of lower enrollment of Black students in the class of 2028 across colleges and universities following the 2023 Supreme Court decision overturning affirmative action in college admissions. 

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