Page 10 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
U.S.A.
July 3, 2023
Affirmative action for white people? Legacy college
admissions come under renewed scrutiny.
By Collin Binkley
The Associated Press
ASHINGTON — The next big
fight over college admissions
already has taken hold, and it
centers on a different kind of minority
group that gets a boost: children of alumni.
In the wake of a Supreme Court decision
that strikes down affirmative action in
admissions, colleges are coming under
renewed pressure to put an end to legacy
preferences — the practice of favoring
applicants with family ties to alumni. Long
seen as a perk for the white and wealthy,
opponents say it’s no longer defensible in a
world with no counterbalance in
affirmative action.
President Joe Biden suggested colleges
should rethink the practice after the
court’s ruling, saying legacy preferences
“expand privilege instead of opportunity.”
Several Democrats in congress demanded
an end to the policy in light of the court’s
decision to remove race from the
admissions process. So did Republicans
including senator Tim Scott of South
Carolina, who is vying for the GOP
presidential nomination.
“Let’s be clear: affirmative action still
exists for white people. It’s called legacy
admissions,” representative Barbara Lee,
a California Democrat, said on Twitter.
For critics of legacy admissions, the
renewed debate over fairness in
admissions has offered a chance to swing
public sentiment behind their cause.
As colleges across the U.S. pledge their
commitment to diversity following the
court’s ruling, activists have a simple
response: prove it. If schools want to enroll
more Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous
W
students, activists say, removing legacy
preferences would be an easy first step.
“Now more than ever, there’s no
justification for allowing this process to
continue,” said Viet Nguyen, a graduate of
Brown and Harvard who leads Ed
Mobilizer, a nonprofit that has fought
legacy preferences since 2018. “No other
country in the world does legacy
preferences. Now is a chance to catch up
with the rest of the world.”
Using the Supreme Court decision as a
catalyst, Nguyen’s group is rallying the
alumni of top colleges to press their alma
maters to end the practice. The goal is to
get graduates of the 30 schools to withhold
donations until the policy ends. The
schools include Harvard and the
University of North Carolina, which were
at the center of the court case, along with
the rest of the Ivy League and the
University of Southern California (USC).
It builds on other efforts taking aim at
the practice. Colorado banned it at public
universities in 2021, and lawmakers in
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New
York have introduced similar bills. In
congress, representative Jamaal Bowman
of New York and senator Jeff Merkley of
Oregon, both Democrats, are reviving
legislation that would forbid it at all
universities that accept federal money.
Legacy preferences have become an easy
target in the wake of a Supreme Court
decision that hinged on questions of merit
in the college application process, said
Julie Park, who studies college admissions
and racial equity at the University of
Maryland. Instead of getting in on their
own merit, she said, legacy students are
just “standing on their parents’
shoulders.”
“It’s just low-hanging fruit,” she said.
“People want something to do, and there’s
a strong rationale to get rid of it.”
Secretary Miguel Cardona urged
HELP FOR PEOPLE
AFFECTED BY GAMBLI NG
Habit Check
Habits can bring positive momentum to our lives. They help us do regular tasks without
devoting too much mental energy to them. But for the same reason, habits can cause us
to prolong behaviors that no longer serve our best interests. If gambling has become a
habit for you — or a loved one — help is available.
Change Your Habit s w it h OPGR
If you want to change how you gamble, reach out . Oregon Problem Gambling
Resource (OPGR) has trained counselors who specialize in supporting people
affected by gambling. They can help you explore new choices and get you back
in the driver’s seat when it comes to gambling. Call, text or chat . You can feel
better about gambling — starting today.
COLLEGE CONTROVERSY. Viet Nguyen
poses for a portrait on the Brown University campus in
Providence, R.I., in this February 14, 2017 file photo.
Nguyen, now an alumnus, helped lead an effort urging
Brown and other elite universities to rethink their leg-
acy admissions policies. (AP Photo/Steven Senne,
File)
colleges to “ask themselves the tough
questions,” adding that legacy admissions
and other types of special treatment “have
long denied well-qualified students of all
backgrounds a level playing field.”
“In the wake of this ruling, they could
further tip the scales against students who
already have the cards stacked against
them,” Cardona said in a statement to The
Associated Press.
In the hazy world of college admissions,
it’s unclear exactly which schools provide a
legacy boost and how much it helps. In
California, where state law requires
schools to disclose the practice, USC
reported that 14% of last year’s admitted
students had family ties to alumni or
donors. Stanford reported a similar rate.
At Harvard, which released years of
records as part of the lawsuit that ended
up before the Supreme Court, legacy
students were eight times more likely to be
admitted, and nearly 70% were white,
researchers found.
An Associated Press survey of the
nation’s most selective colleges last year
found that legacy students in the fresh-
man class ranged from 4% to 23%. At four
schools — Notre Dame, USC, Cornell, and
Dartmouth
—
legacy
students
outnumbered Black students.
Supporters of the policy say it builds an
alumni community and encourages
donations. A 2022 study of an undisclosed
Continued on page 14