UW-Madison freshman class drops in diversity

MADISON, Wis. --  This year's freshman class has a lower percentage of Black, Indigenous, and Latino students compared to last year.

This is disproportionate to the overall increase of the class size; the Class of 2028 is UW-Madison's second largest to date.

There are a total of 8,516 students enrolled in this year's freshman class. That's exactly 550 more students compared to last year's incoming class.

The percentage of Black students dropped by a third of its population, now making up 2.1% of the freshman class.

The number of Indigenous students went from 22 to 13 students this year. That's a 40% decrease, and ultimately makes up 0.15% of the freshman class

The percentage of Latino students dropped by about 1.5% from 2023 and now makes up 8.5% of the freshman class.

News 3 Now went and spoke with current UW-Madison students to get their reaction to these numbers.

“Wow, that's actually really surprising,” said UW-Madison freshman Genisis Lee. “I didn't know that it was decreasing, if anything, I thought it would be increasing.”

“I think that's honestly pretty sad for the university,” said UW-Madison junior, Siri Thronson.

“I just think it's a little bit discouraging to see this difference in minority populations,” said Isabelle Van Wagenen.

The percentage of White students increased in UW Madison's freshman class from 58% in 2023 to 60.4% in 2024. In years leading up to 2024 the total percentage of students of color was increasing and the total percentage of White students was decreasing. 2024 is the first time we are seeing the inverse of this according to the data from the university.

“We do need to increase our minority populations. We don't have enough, and we really need to have those voices seen on campus,” said Thronson.

Since the Supreme Court ruling was only about a year ago, it will take more time to see the full impact it has on the demographics of universities around the country.

“It kind of makes me wonder, like, like, how that impacts minority groups' decisions on like, which schools they apply to,” said Van Wagenen.

“I am surprised, but I'm also trying to be understanding of it, because every person has their story, and so the reason why they chose to or not to come to the school,” said Lee.

We also are seeing less prospective students include their race in UW Madison applications. The percentage of students who did not include their race increased from 3.2% to 4.2% over the last year.

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin responded to the numbers in a statement saying, "Though declines are disappointing, I want to be clear that our commitment to these students and their communities remains steadfast."

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