--- description: The majority of Harvard University's incoming class is nonwhite for the first time in the school's 380-year history. title: Harvard's Incoming Class Is Majority Nonwhite For First Time image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad7f79858af44263/6988d85b8fd2ee802c358486/harvard-university-admissions-non-white-race.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Education](/tag/education/) ## Education Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Harvard's Incoming Class Is Majority Nonwhite For the First Time by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 3, 2017 8:14 PM CUT  The campus of Harvard Business School and Harvard University, July 26, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. The campus of Harvard Business School and Harvard University, July 26, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts.Brooks Kraft—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 3, 2017 8:14 PM CUT The majority of Harvard University’s incoming class is nonwhite for the first time in the university’s 380 years, officials say. The Boston _Globe_ [reports](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/08/02/harvard-incoming-class-majority-nonwhite/5yOoqrsQ4SePRRNFemuQ2M/story.html "undefined") that 50.8% of the incoming freshmen class are from minority groups, up from last year’s 47.3%. Of the [students admitted](https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/admissions-statistics "undefined") from minority groups, 22.2% are Asians, 14.6% are African American, 11.6% are Latino and 2.5% are Native American or Pacific Islander. Harvard’s milestone follows a [New York _Times_ report](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html?%5Fr=1 "undefined") that said the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division planned to investigate universities for [affirmative action admissions policies](http://time.com/4883793/justice-department-college-admissions-affirmative-action/ "undefined") that discriminate against white applicants, according to an internal document obtained by the newspaper. However, the Justice Department [said](http://time.com/4885174/justice-department-affirmative-action-colleges-universities/ "undefined") on Wednesday that the document was a job posting relating to only one complaint and not a part of a larger effort. “The posting sought volunteers to investigate one administrative complaint filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American associations in May 2015 that the prior administration left unresolved,” spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said. The complaint [accused Harvard University](http://time.com/4883793/justice-department-college-admissions-affirmative-action/ "undefined") and other Ivy League institutions of discriminating against Asian-American students in the admissions process. Harvard defended its admissions practices on Wednesday. Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane told the _Globe_ that the university “remains committed to enrolling diverse classes of students.” “Harvard’s admissions process considers each applicant as a whole person, and we review many factors, consistent with the legal standards established by the U.S. Supreme Court,” she said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4886566/harvard-diversity-incoming-freshmen-nonwhite/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4886566/harvard-diversity-incoming-freshmen-nonwhite/"},"headline":"Harvard's Incoming Class Is Majority Nonwhite For the First Time","datePublished":"2017-08-03T20:14:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:51:32.270Z","description":"In the school's 380-year history","url":"https://time.com/4886566/harvard-diversity-incoming-freshmen-nonwhite/","keywords":["Education","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad7f79858af44263/6988d85b8fd2ee802c358486/harvard-university-admissions-non-white-race.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad7f79858af44263/6988d85b8fd2ee802c358486/harvard-university-admissions-non-white-race.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"harvard-university-admissions-non-white-race","caption":"The Campus of Harvard University","creditText":"Brooks Kraft—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4886566/harvard-diversity-incoming-freshmen-nonwhite/","name":"Harvard's Incoming Class Is Majority Nonwhite For the First Time"}}]}] ```