Colorado banned legacy preferences at public universities in 2021, and the University of California system stopped considering legacy after voters banned affirmative action at public universities in a 1996 referendum. Many flagship state schools, from Republican-run states such as Texas and Georgia to Democratic-run states such as Illinois, also stopped considering alumni relationships.
But the decades-long push to end special consideration for the well-connected gained fresh momentum after the Supreme Court restricted race-based affirmative action last June. Legacy admissions’ unfairness became even starker: Schools could no longer give a nudge to Black and Hispanic applicants who were historically shut out of elite higher education, but they could still help applicants whose parents attended.
Because the Supreme Court’s ruling affected admissions policies at public and private universities, states are looking at cracking down on legacy admissions at both types. Connecticut and Massachusetts, home to Yale and Harvard, respectively, are debating measures to prohibit legacy admissions at institutions of higher learning in their states. Maryland’s House of Delegates passed a bill last month to curb the consideration of legacy status at public and private universities, and it’s awaiting action in the state Senate.
This cause is refreshingly bipartisan. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) want to build off Virginia’s law by passing a federal law barring schools from using an applicant’s relationship with alumni or donors as the “determinative factor.”
More than 100 schools acknowledge considering alumni-applicant relationships while making admission decisions, including Georgetown University and George Washington University. Advocates say doing so creates multigenerational connections and brand loyalty, helps with fundraising that pays for scholarships to low-income students and increases the yield of admitted applicants who enroll as students — which matters in college rankings.
To be sure, legacy admits are usually well-qualified. They tend to be raised by parents who know how to prepare their progeny for the rigors of elite education. Studies show that legacies are statistically far more likely than non-legacies to secure slots at selective schools because of their other qualifications, such as extracurricular activities and test scores. This means that eliminating legacy admissions policies probably will not have a dramatic impact on the makeup of student bodies in Virginia, just like it has not elsewhere.
But perceptions of fairness matter. Bans such as Virginia’s reassure first-generation college applicants that they can compete for a slot. Conversely, students will stop assuming that classmates who are the children of alumni only got admitted because of their familial pedigree or mom and dad’s checkbook. Government restrictions on private institutions are more debatable, but state leaders should not hesitate to do away with legacy admissions at public schools. At a time when skepticism of elite education is rising, universities should accept, if not welcome, the shift.
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