Staff Reports
In a recent move, the US Supreme Court ruled that using racial preferences in college admissions is unconstitutional, leaving college admissions officers and liberals in a state of shock. But never fear, the left always has a new way to punish White students without resorting to outright racism. This time, their target is “legacy admissions.”
Legacy admissions refer to students who are admitted to a university because their parent or grandparent attended the same school. The left, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that this practice gives an unfair advantage to White applicants. They insinuate that legacy admissions keep out better-qualified non-White students. But let’s take a closer look at the facts.
It’s unclear exactly how much of a boost legacy admissions provide and which schools practice this. However, in California, where disclosure is required, USC reported that only 14% of last year’s admitted students had family ties to alumni or donors. Stanford reported a similar rate. Hardly a widespread problem, as the left would have you believe.
Harvard, on the other hand, was forced to release years of records as part of a lawsuit, and it was found that legacy students were eight times more likely to be admitted, with nearly 70% of them being White. But does this mean they are unqualified? Absolutely not. In fact, studies have shown that legacy applicants tend to have higher scores on the SAT compared to non-legacy applicants.
A 2009 Harvard study found that legacy applicants to the top 30 most selective colleges had higher mean scores on the reading and math sections of the SAT. And more recently, a college software provider called Naviance examined legacy applications from 2014-17 and found that 82% of legacy applicants had SAT or ACT scores at or above their colleges’ average for accepted students. So much for the stereotype of the dumb rich kid coasting through life on family connections.
But let’s not forget the real issue here. Without racial preferences in admissions, Harvard’s student body would be predominantly Asian and White. So, while the left is busy demonizing legacy admissions, they conveniently ignore the fact that economically disadvantaged White students would be the ones suffering if legacy admissions are banned.
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
As a conservative, it’s hard not to enjoy the irony of the left’s dilemma. They wanted to get rid of racist admissions practices, but instead of achieving their goal, they are now faced with the possibility of disadvantaging White students. I fully support eliminating legacy admissions, but let’s not pretend it’s a legal issue. The data clearly show that legacy students would still be admitted based on their merits alone. If the left insists on this change, they should at least have the self-awareness not to be surprised by the consequences.
In conclusion, outlawing legacy admissions will not make progressives happy. It will only serve to create new problems and potentially harm economically disadvantaged White students. The left should focus on merit-based admissions and stop trying to play the victim card at every turn.
Source= RedState
