Education

Legacy admissions to Harvard now face scrutiny

Three Boston-area groups have challenged legacy admissions at Harvard University with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Published

1 year ago

July 4, 2023

Terry A. Hurlbut

Harvard University Widener Library. In 2017 Harvard started black-only college graduations. Do universities even value freedom of speech anymore?

Legacy admissions – admitting students to elite schools solely because their parents once attended – will now face an administrative challenge. Four days after the ruling disallowing affirmative action in college admissions, a civil rights group is now challenging Harvard precisely to challenge the fairness of legacy admissions.

The legacy admissions riddle

Three Boston-area Black and Latino civil rights groups filed the civil rights complaint, according to The New York Times. (Many other news organs, including The Hill, filed similar stories.)

Three groups requested that the Education Department review legacy admissions, saying Harvard’s policies discriminated against Black, Hispanic and Asian applicants and were in favor of less qualified white candidates with alumni and donor connections. https://t.co/oHIVxFFMgI pic.twitter.com/nRvVDO6AVt— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 3, 2023

A civil rights group is challenging legacy admissions at Harvard University, saying the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair boost to the mostly white children of alumni. pic.twitter.com/zir7AZt3j8— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 4, 2023

LEGACY ADMISSIONS AT HARVARD: A civil rights legal group is challenging legacy admissions at Harvard University, saying the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair boost to the mostly white children of alumni. https://t.co/rTu5aZfg8z— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) July 3, 2023

Harvard University is accused by minority groups of violating the Civil Rights Act by giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to children of alumni and wealthy donors https://t.co/G2OYzMNnLz— Bloomberg (@business) July 3, 2023

COMPLAINT FILED: An activist group has challenged Harvard over legacy admissions, claiming it discriminates against Black students. https://t.co/nBf9jMjBGZ pic.twitter.com/qOSWxcWQ6G— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 4, 2023

Of the applicants from donor and legacy families, nearly 70% are White. That results in preferential treatment over Asian American, Black and Hispanic applicants, they say. – https://t.co/AZdiNHVf6n— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) July 4, 2023

“Each year, Harvard College grants special preference in its admissions process to hundreds of mostly white students — not because of anything they have accomplished, but rather solely because of who their relatives are,” according to the complaint. https://t.co/17Uqhb5lAM— The Hill (@thehill) July 3, 2023

Harvard sued over ‘overwhelmingly white’ legacy admissions https://t.co/kVCWDJPfqq pic.twitter.com/IMAzlcKAsT— New York Post (@nypost) July 4, 2023

Harvard Sued Over Legacy Admissions After Activists Angered By Affirmative Action Ruling https://t.co/oIizJsNAkZ pic.twitter.com/3E1CfuWMxR— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 3, 2023

A civil rights group announced that it has petitioned the federal government to force Harvard University to stop giving a boost to children of alumni in the admissions process. https://t.co/x9tSUzk4km— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 3, 2023

A civil rights legal group filed a lawsuit over legacy admissions at Harvard University, saying the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair boost to the mostly white children of alumni. https://t.co/U1aDyUB7Lv— The Associated Press (@AP) July 3, 2023

The groups (Chica Project, African Community Economic Development of New England, and Greater Boston Latino Network) filed their complaint, not in District Court, but with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. They seek a review of legacy admissions with a view to declaring them illegal. According to the Times, President Biden has already said he would task the Department to review legacy admissions, along with “other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity.”

The main objection to legacy admissions seems to be that the overwhelming majority of “legacies” are white. In fact, NBC News carried a study showing the legacy advantage. In fact, NBC asserted that forty-three percent of white students at Harvard are “legacies,”athletes, or faculty or staff relatives.

43% of White students at Harvard are legacy, athletes, related to donors or staff.

All the universities making social media statements today should end legacy admissions tomorrow. https://t.co/ysuQaAxgi2— Jay Van Bavel, PhD (@jayvanbavel) June 29, 2023

One user shared some relevant data supporting that assertion:

Here's a wild stat:

43% of white students admitted to Harvard are legacy, athletes, or related to donors or staff.

86% admit rate for athletes is insane. pic.twitter.com/IbEMiVshhA— Peter Yang (@petergyang) July 3, 2023

But not all “legacies” are white. Candace Owens pointed out that the two daughters of Barack Obama would benefit from his status as an alumnus of Harvard Law School.

And the audacity given the fact that her children are literally benefiting from legacy admissions at Harvard.

It really is clown world sometimes. https://t.co/6D4GCKKvJF— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) June 30, 2023

Not all elite schools still practice legacy admissions. The Times names three that have stopped the practice: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Johns Hopkins University, and Amherst. Amherst in particular saw legacy enrollment cut in half this fall when they abolished the practice.

Where sympathies lie

As one might expect, leftist politicians (in addition to President Biden) hailed the complaint. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said this, on the day the affirmative action decision came down:

If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous “colorblindness” claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged.

70% of Harvard’s legacy applicants are white. SCOTUS didn’t touch that – which would have impacted them and their patrons.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 29, 2023

The Times quoted Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) as also calling for an end to the practice:

One of the things that Harvard could do to make that even better is to eliminate any legacy programs where they have preferential treatment for legacy kids.

CNAV called for an end to legacy admissions in its discussion of the Harvard/University of North Carolina admissions case. We said then, and say now, that the practice violates the concept of merit.

The usual grounds for the practice is to increase alumni donations. That also applies to the seeking-out of student athletes.

About the image

“Widener Library” by EllenSeptember is licensed under CC BY 2.0 .

Terry A. Hurlbut

+ posts

Terry A. Hurlbut has been a student of politics, philosophy, and science for more than 35 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and has served as a physician-level laboratory administrator in a 250-bed community hospital. He also is a serious student of the Bible, is conversant in its two primary original languages, and has followed the creation-science movement closely since 1993.