Some HBCUs May Also Have to Face the Issue of Legacy Admissions

by Al-Tony Gilmore Since the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling, the conversation and debates on legacy admissions – the preferential treatment given to the children of alumni in the college admissions process – have moved closer to center stage in higher education. Legacy preferences, however, are much more consequential and widespread at the nation’s most selective colleges than other schools. Over three quarters of the nation’s most prestigious schools and virtually all of the nation’s top 100 liberal arts colleges employ the practice, compared to only 14 percent of public universities nationwide. Being a legacy applicant, says Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade, provides a boost equivalent to scoring 160 points higher on the SAT. Higher education researcher, Michael Hurwitz, found that legacy applicants saw a 45 percentage-point increase in their chances of admission compared to otherwise equally qualified candidates who were not legacies. Legacy admissions originated after World War I, as a response to the influx of immigrant students, mostly Jews, into America’s most selective colleges. When quotas on Jewish students became hard to defend, schools sought to limit Jewish enrollment with other considerations one of which was legacy status. Over time the practice became institutionalized on application admission forms as...