Students walk across campus at Bates College on Tuesday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Two of Maine’s largest private colleges say they haven’t seen drastic changes to their racial diversity despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that ended race-conscious admissions.

The United States Supreme Court decision effectively ended affirmative action. The decision bans colleges from using race-conscious admissions practices, although the opinion does say schools can consider race through certain elements of an application like a personal statement essay.

Some private colleges in Maine vigorously disagreed with the decision last summer, expressing a commitment to creating diverse student bodies, including for the students who arrived on campus this fall, the first class impacted by the ruling.

While other elite colleges and universities around the country reported concerning changes in diversity among their incoming classes, Maine’s liberal arts colleges say they have yet to see major differences in their racial makeup.

BATES COLLEGE 

Bates College in Lewiston is touting its class of 2028 as the most diverse in the school’s history and said it also chose from the largest applicant pool ever, with more than 10,000 prospective students.

The college says 32% of the first-year class are students of color, not including international students (which colleges count separately from domestic students in racial data). There was also an increase in Black and Latinx students, the college reported in August, despite the challenges imposed by the court’s ruling.

That’s a larger percentage than the school’s overall enrollment, which is currently 27.6% students of color. According to enrollment data, the first-year class is about 58% white, 6.7% Asian, 4.7% Black, 11.8% Hispanic and 9.4% multiracial. About 10% of the class is international students.

Bates College freshman Graca Bila, of Westbrook, studies outside on the Lewiston campus Tuesday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

“Recruiting the Class of 2028 in the wake of the SCOTUS decision around race-based admission was a new experience for our admission team, but we leaned heavily on sharing that message of access, equity and inclusion with all applicants,” Leigh Weisenburger, the dean of admission and vice president for enrollment, said in a statement.

“In June 2023, on the day of the decision, we had communicated confidently and strongly that we would follow the law while maintaining our commitment to having a diverse student body,” she said. “I think Bates’ message resonated with prospective students, families, and high school counselors, and we backed it up with increased recruitment events and travel, more virtual engagement sessions, opportunities for first generation students to come to Bates for a campus visit and making sure whole families, along with college counselors, knew what we had to offer. This will be an ongoing process as the new law continues to shift the admission process nationwide.”

When the Supreme Court ruling was first announced, outgoing Bates President Clayton Spencer and incoming President Garry Jenkins co-signed a letter expressing strong disappointment in the decision and committing to pursuing racial diversity.

“We will not allow the court’s decision to diminish our commitment to our current students or the students we will continue to seek out. We will take this opportunity to do what we do best: think creatively and experiment with new strategies consistent with the law that will allow us to continue to craft a class with diverse identities, life experiences, interests, and perspectives,” they wrote.

They said diverse students, faculty and curriculum are critical to the college’s mission, and would remain important in the aftermath of the court’s ruling.

Bates College senior Suhana Liedtke, of Hawaii, and sophomore Babacar Pouye, of Santa Barbara, California, work on a project for their American Religious History class on Tuesday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

BOWDOIN COLLEGE

At Bowdoin College in Brunswick, the Class of 2028 is made up of 39% students of color. That’s a small decrease from last year’s incoming class class, which was 42% students of color.

The new first-year class is 54% white, 9.5% Asian, 5.7% Black, 16% Hispanic and 7.7% multiracial. International students make up 6.7%, which colleges count separately from domestic students for racial data. The college’s total student population is 40% students of color, not including international students.

When the Supreme Court released its decision in June 2023, outgoing President Clayton Rose wrote a letter criticizing its implications.

“President-elect Safa Zaki and I have discussed these cases, and we share the view that today’s decision undermines the essential work to create an educational environment and experience that prepares students for the diverse worlds of work and of informed political and social engagement,” he wrote. “We also believe the decision undermines the long-term effort to recognize and respond to the structural obstacles for those in our society who have faced the most profound barriers to opportunity.”

He ended the letter with a commitment to sustaining diversity at the school, while complying with the ruling’s mandates.

The Bowdoin Chapel on the quad at the Brunswick College in April. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald file photo

Bowdoin’s Dean of Admissions and Student Aid Claudia Marroquin was not available for an interview about this year’s data but told the student newspaper The Bowdoin Orient in September that it’s hard to tell from just one year of data if the decrease is a result of the court’s ruling. She said her office had been eagerly awaiting the numbers, for Bowdoin and other colleges across the country.

“There was a little bit of a sense, not of relief, but the worst did not happen, at least at Bowdoin. … I think it’s mixed emotions, because we are learning every day about different reports at different institutions and just trying to make sense of it all. … We’ve spent time with our data … and it appears as if our efforts to recruit students held,” Marroquin told The Orient. “But certainly, there’s more work to do.”

She said the admissions office changed its strategy in response to the court’s decision by visiting more high schools with a large percentage of low-income students and paying attention to markers of socioeconomic status like Pell Grant eligibility and first-generation status. She also said that while the college’s optional essay about navigating differences is not meant to prompt students to talk about race, the admissions office can glean information from it.

“So in those essays or in the personal statement, if a student is talking about their lived experience … that can be considered because you cannot separate a person’s experience and the values they draw and inspiration they gain from those moments,” she said.

Colby College in Waterville would not release its racial diversity data for the Class of 2028, but shared other demographic information about the class.

“Seventeen percent are first-generation-to-college students, 25% are from low-income families, and 14% are non-U.S. citizens,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“Colby’s Office of Admissions and Financial Aid has long practiced a holistic review process, evaluating each applicant as an individual within the context of their unique background,” the statement said. “Our goal is to identify talented and intellectually curious students who will contribute to Colby’s vibrant community of scholars.”

An announcement from the college in August said this year’s incoming class class was selected from a pool of more than 19,000, the “largest and most competitive applicant pool in Colby’s history.”