Trusteeship - November/December 2023 - 4

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NEWSIN BRIEF
Legacy Admissions Under Fire
T
HE RECENT U.S. Supreme
Court ruling to prohibit higher
education institutions from considering
race when deciding whom to admit
has encouraged policymakers, the public,
and the news media to question the practice
of legacy admissions, as well.
In an article on the topic, the New Yorker
said that more than 700 colleges and universities
consider in their admissions processes
whether a member of an applicant's
family previously attended, " but the practice
is most common at institutions that admit
less than 25 percent of applicants. " According
to data compiled by the research and
advocacy group Education Reform Now, only
about 64 U.S. universities admit less than a
quarter of their applicants, but of those, " 80
percent still employ a legacy preference, "
Times Higher Education reported.
Already some advocacy organizations
have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department
of Education about Harvard University's
legacy admissions practices, contending
that they discriminate against minority
students. And, in fact, one 2019 study found
that the chances of a White applicant getting
into Harvard increased significantly if they
were a legacy candidate, according to the
Washington Post. The newspaper also reported
on a recent, highly publicized, report that
concluded " legacy students are more likely to
receive admissions at 12 highly selective private
American colleges, including Ivy League
institutions, especially if they are from
high-income families. " Children of alums
were " nearly four times as likely to be admitted
as applicants with the same test scores, "
the New York Times, in its coverage on the
same report, said. " Legacy students are also
more likely to come from rich families, " and
those from " the richest 1 percent of families
were five times as likely to be admitted. "
Amherst College eliminated legacy consideration
for this year's freshman class, and
Wesleyan University and Occidental College
have also said they will end legacy preferences,
according to Forbes. So far, Colorado
appears to be the only state that has prohibited
legacy admissions at public colleges and
universities. But as Inside Higher Ed reported,
legislators in New York and Connecticut are
proposing bans on the practice at both public
and private institutions, and those in other
states, including Pennsylvania and California,
" have promised to introduce similar legislation. "
In addition, a newly introduced Massachusetts
bill would tax institutions that offer
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