Harvard University has issued new restrictions prohibiting alumni interviewers from mentioning any details about an applicant’s race, ethnicity, or national origin in written evaluations. The policy, unveiled during fall training sessions, warns that any reports including such information will be discarded and replaced with a new interview.
The updated guidance follows the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which banned race-conscious admissions. Administrators told interviewers not to reference applicants’ religions, the languages they speak, or the names of specific affinity groups. Instead, interviewers must use generic terms such as “community” or “faith events.”
Admissions official Maeve Hoffstot said the changes demonstrate Harvard’s “absolute compliance” with the law. However, UC Berkeley law professor David Oppenheimer argued that the university’s interpretation “far exceeds” legal requirements and could disadvantage minority applicants by erasing important context about their achievements.
The new rules come as the Trump administration expands scrutiny of race-related policies in higher education, warning universities against using indirect indicators of race in recruitment or evaluation.
Since the Court’s decision, Black enrollment at Harvard has dropped over six percentage points, and Hispanic enrollment by five.
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