State lawmakers launch push to end legacy admissions in US

Times Higher Education

Paul Basken

March 25, 2024

Lawmakers in several US states, growing frustrated with the persistence of legacy admissions in higher education, are moving forward with legislation that attempts to ban the practice.

The idea is being pursued by Democrats in at least three politically liberal north-eastern states with elite institutions: Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. If any succeeds, it would become the first state to outlaw the practice of giving admissions advantages to children of alumni at both public and private institutions.

“There is no debate here,” James Murphy, the director of career pathways and post-secondary policy at the advocacy group Education Reform Now, said in testimony on the matter before the Connecticut legislature. “It is obvious to us all that passing an admissions advantage along family bloodlines is unethical and anti-American.”

Such sentiment is typically found on the political left. But it got a boost from the political right when the US Supreme Court in June 2023 forbade the use of affirmative action on race in college admissions and suggested that equity-minded institutions could instead take steps such as ending legacy favoritism.

Despite their constant assertions of concern for improving social equity, hundreds of top US universities annually reserve large shares of their entering classes for family members of their alumni and donors, for athletes and for those who can apply early – all with negative implications for lower-income and minority applicants.

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