A Mixed Methods Study of Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action, Colorblindness, and White Privilege Among White Women College Students in the US

Abstract This study seeks to address the research question: What are U.S. White women college students' attitudes toward race-conscious affirmative action policy in college admissions since the 2023 Supreme Court ruling, and how do they relate to their racial attitudes? We qualitatively examined participants’ reasoning behind their opinions on the consideration of race as a factor in college admissions. In addition, we quantitatively examined the differences in participants’ attitudes toward race-conscious admissions based on their colorblind racial attitudes and White privilege attitudes. 159 White women undergraduates from a rural Midwestern university between the ages of 18 and 23 ( M age = 19.70; SD = 1.11) were recruited from a required diversity course at the start of the semester. They responded to survey items and short answer questions. Seven qualitative themes were identified, with the most highly endorsed being “only merit should be considered,” “considering race for equity,” and “considering race is unfair.” Short answer responses were also coded into categories to represent their support of/opposition to affirmative action for use in t-tests with racial attitude measures. Almost half of participants (48.4%) opposed the consideration of race in college admissions, while a little more than a third (37.1%) were in support. Quantitative results suggested that those in support reported lower scores on colorblind racial attitudes, and higher scores on awareness of White privilege and willingness to confront White privilege than those who reported opposing using race/ethnicity in admissions. This study has implications for how students are educated about race and racism.