College ends swim test requirement over concerns students of color could not easily pass it

Williams College has scrapped its 229-year-old swim test requirement over concerns that many students of color could not easily pass it.

The faculty’s Committee on Educational Affairs recently voted 103 to 30, with 11 abstaining, to end the longtime graduation requirement after it was “criticized for having a disparate impact on students from underrepresented minority backgrounds,” the Williams Record student newspaper reported.

Williams College, a private and preppy liberal arts college in Massachusetts, has mandated a swim test or swim class since 1793, according to its website.