If Affirmative Action Has To Go, So Do Legacy Admissions
On June 29th, 2023, the US supreme court ruled to strike down Affirmative Action. This groundbreaking ruling reversed an established legal precedent that previously provided significant advantages to Black and Latino students pursuing higher education. The United States is supposed to be a country where everyone has equal opportunity. But America has now proven it is a country with deeply rooted inequality, and this ruling only makes fighting this problem even harder.
The first time I heard about affirmative action was when I was 16 years old. Hasan Minhaj had recently come out with a show on Netflix called Patriot Act, where he discussed various political issues. The first episode was on Affirmative Action. While watching the episode, I tended to disagree with pretty much everything he was saying. Why should certain groups of people be favored just because of their race? I thought to myself, “This is America, where people have equal opportunity.” As horrified and disgusted as I am to admit this, I thought affirmative action was unjust and unfair. But to be frank, I was uneducated and naive. It was not until the Black Lives Matter movement picked up in 2020 that I realized just how deep-rooted this problem was.
What is affirmative action?
According to Cornell Law School, Affirmative action is defined as a set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future. It is used as a tool to create equal opportunity among disadvantaged groups. This policy tends to address past injustices by allowing the opportunity of disenfranchised minorities to get a level playing field to ensure equal opportunity for everyone.
What are legacy admissions?
Legacy admissions refer to a form of preferential treatment granted by an institution or organization to specific applicants based on their familial connection to former students or alumni of that same institution. Based on a 2022 report, findings from a study conducted in 1997 estimated that applying as a legacy student grants the applicant a comparable advantage, equivalent to an additional 160 points on the SAT.
Why should legacy admissions be dismissed?
I think the actual question to be asking here is: why allocate a pathway exclusively for predominantly white children who already possess numerous social and economic privileges?
Within the college admissions system, children with legacy status already have substantial advantages. However, research indicates that these very same students were already destined for success due to the inherent privileges they were born into. Studies have shown that going to a less prestigious college does not impact the earnings of these privileged students.
What steps and actions are being taken against legacy admissions?
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, legacy preferences perpetuate historical inequalities by excluding BIPOC students from university admissions and further advantaging affluent white students who possess greater resources and institutional connections. In many instances, the acceptance rates for legacy applicants surpass those of Black students, with legacies representing a significant proportion (10 to 25 percent) of available spots at prestigious universities. For instance, Harvard University exhibits an average legacy admission rate of 33 percent, which exceeds non-legacy admission rates by more than five times, while Black students constitute only 16 percent of the admitted class of 2025. Additionally, as of 2020, Notre Dame, among the nation's leading colleges, maintained a legacy admissions rate of 36 percent while maintaining a meager Black student population of 3 percent.
But there are already actions that are currently being taken against legacy admissions in Ivy League schools such as Harvard. Solutions have started emerging at both the federal and state levels. Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Jeff Merkley recently introduced the Fair College Admissions for Students Act in the 117th Congress. This bill aims to withhold federal financial aid from colleges and universities that maintain preferential treatment for legacy applicants. By doing so, it seeks to foster more equitable and accessible college admissions procedures. In a significant milestone in 2021, Colorado became the first state to enact a law banning legacy admissions for public colleges. The Connecticut legislature is deliberating on legislation that would prohibit legacy preferences in both public and private universities.
Strike Out,
Anjali Kamath
Boca Raton
Anjali Kamath is a Content Writer and Merchandise Director for Strike Magazine Boca. When she’s not belting her heart out on karaoke, she’s either at the yoga studio or spending all her money. She’s a textbook Aries and an avid foodie.
