A new lawsuit against Harvard University is taking aim at legacy admissions
what's also been dubbed affirmative action for the rich.
Now, three minority advocacy groups are accusing the school of discrimination.
By giving preferential treatment to the children of wealthy donors and
alumni who of course are overwhelmingly rich and also overwhelmingly white.
And they're citing the recent s Supreme Court ruling against affirmative
action to bolster their lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by the Lawyers for Civil Rights group on behalf of
the Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England and
the Greater Boston Latino Network.
Alleges the students who receive that preferential treatment
are overwhelmingly white and make up as much as 15% of admitted students.
Now, Lawyers for Civil Rights said in a news release that this
preferential treatment has nothing to do with an applicant's merit.
Instead, it is an unfair and unearned benefit that is conferred
solely based on the family that the applicant is born into.
This custom, pattern and practice is exclusitory and discriminatory.
It severely disadvantages and harms applicants of color.
Now, of course, the lawsuit comes right after the Supreme Court handed down
a decision deeming affirmative action unconstitutional in college admissions.
Ruling that schools can no longer take race into consideration as
a specific basis for accepting a candidate.
The lawsuit cited that ruling and quoted the Supreme Court's majority,
which said college admissions are zero-sum and a benefit provided to some applicants.
But not to others necessarily advantages the former at the expense of the latter.
Now, the plaintiffs allege that a portion of the white students admitted to
the school because of donor and
legacy preferences would not be admitted otherwise.
Which would increase admissions opportunities for applicants of color.
The numbers suggest that they're right.
So let's get into those numbers.
The records revealed that 70% of Harvard's donor-related and
legacy applicants are white.
And it's blatantly obvious from admissions data that the children of alumni and
donors are way more likely to be accepted.
>> They found that for the class of 2026, just under 2000,
applicants gained admission out of an applicant pool of more than 61,000.
But look at that admission rate.
3.24% is minuscule, but it's very, very different if you are related to
someone who has donated to Harvard or if you have a parent or relative who went.
For donors, those applicants were seven times more likely to be admitted with
an admissions rate of 42%.
If you have a parent or relative who went to Harvard, you were six times
more likely than an ordinary student to be admitted for an acceptance rate of 33%.
>> Six to seven times more likely to be admitted.
And we're not talking about small differences around the edges.
There's a clear advantage to these legacy families who tend to be wealthy and white.
So what actions do these organizations suing Harvard want the government to take?
Well, in their lawsuit, the plaintiffs have called on the US department of
education to, among other things.
Investigate Harvard's use of donor and legacy preferences and
the resulting unjustified disparate impact.
And ensure that, moving forward, applicants have no way to
identify a familial relationship in the admissions process.
Ivan Espinoza Madrigal is the Executive Director of Lawyers for
Civil Rights and is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
He says, quote, why are we rewarding children for
privileges and advantages occurred by prior generations?
Your family's last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure
of merit and should have no bearing on the college admissions process.
And look, let's be clear legacy admissions are absolutely not only
a problem at Harvard, okay?
There are other schools that are using this,
although the exact number of schools that use legacy preferences is unknown.
But a survey by Inside Higher Ed in 2018 found that 42% of private schools,
including most of the nation's elite institutions and
6% of public schools used the strategy.
An Associated Press survey of the nation's most selective colleges last
year found that legacy students in the freshman class ranged from 4% to 23%.
At four schools Notre Dame, USC, Cornell and Dartmouth.
Legacy students outnumbered black students.
So why do elite schools do this?
I mean, I think it's pretty obvious, it's about the money.
Supporters of the policy say it builds an alumni community and encourages donations.
A 2022 study of an undisclosed college in the Northeast found that
legacy students were more likely to make donations, but at a cost to diversity.
The vast majority were white.
Unlike these school leaders, the public is overwhelmingly against legacy admissions.
In fact, a poll released last year by the Pew Research Center found that
an increasing share of the public.
A whopping 75% believe that legacy preferences
should not be a factor in who was admitted to college.
And look,
I think it's pretty easy to understand why the majority of Americans feel that way.
I mean, first of all, if you're gonna say that college admissions are merit based,
legacy admissions really do fly in the face of that.
And when education is sold to the American public as the great equalizer.
How can you make that argument when you are giving preferential treatment to
children who come from wealthy families or applicants who come from wealthy families?
I mean, it's so brazenly obvious that all they're trying to do is
increase the likelihood of future donations.
But will anything actually be done about this?
Probably not, but Biden is pretending like there will be some action.
So, look, the Office for Civil Rights of the Education Department,
which would review the complaint, may already be gearing up to investigate.
In a statement after the Supreme Court decision.
President Biden said he would ask the department to examine practices like
legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunities.
And look, we all know that Biden really loves to study the issues until we forget
about the issues, so don't let him forget about it.
I think this is something that we should continue pushing the Biden administration
on, and I'm very happy to see that this lawsuit is moving forward.
Now, beside that lawsuit, there is a separate campaign, and
I love this as well, urging the alumni of 30 elite colleges to
withhold donations until their schools end legacy admissions.
And here at TYT, we have our own petition that you can participate in.
Go to tyt.com/campaigns to sign our Lose the Legacy petition
urging Congress to ban legacy admissions that unfairly favor
wealthy white children of alumni and big donors.
And I think once you do that,
it'll at least feel a little close to a merit based system.
At least a little closer.
We'll see how it plays out.
But I love that people are taking action, and I am very curious to see if this is
the case that makes its way to the Supreme Court,
how these conservative Supreme Court justices are going to rule.
They might surprise us, and
they might side with the vast majority of Americans who wanna end legacy admissions.
Or they could have a double standard where are totally fine with striking down
affirmative action while upholding legacy admissions.
If they do that, I think any faith in a merit based system would be destroyed.
We'll see.