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Affirmative action for white college applicants is still here
VoxThe Supreme Court’s decision to effectively ban the consideration of race in college admissions reversed more than 40 years of precedent. It also left other kinds of admission preferences in place — ones that often benefit white students.
For decades, the Court held that schools could consider race as one of many factors in the holistic review of an applicant, a consideration that could help foster diversity on campus.
The majority opinion laid out how it worked. Harvard’s final stage of deciding to admit or reject students is a step called the “lop,” in which four factors are evaluated: whether an applicant is a legacy, meaning an immediate family member went to Harvard; whether they were recruited as an athlete; whether they are eligible for financial aid; and their race.
Race is now unconstitutional to consider, but other preferences remain.
One study found that these preferences give an edge to white applicants. Among white students admitted to Harvard, 43 percent received a preference for athletics, legacy status, being on the dean’s interest list, or for being the child of a faculty or staff member, and without those advantages, three-quarters would have been rejected.
Many colleges don’t have selective admissions at all. But at those that do, the Supreme Court, in other words, left plenty of discretion for college officials to fill their student bodies with the children of donors or employees, or with lacrosse, tennis, or football players, or with the children of alumni. Only the effort to create a racially diverse student body is now all but banned.
While the Supreme Court left these preferences untouched, the Court’s decision is already renewing the debate over them. “Well before the decision came down there have been conversations about what to do about the legacy boost, for example,” said Adam Nguyen, the founder of Ivy Link, an organization that advises families, who pay at least $150,000 beginning when their child is in middle school, on college admissions. “People have long questioned why legacy even exists. In a democratic society, it seems intrinsically unfair that the children of alumni, generation after generation and by virtue of birth, get that privilege. These conversations are still sensitive but they shouldn’t be happening behind closed doors anymore.”
For decades, the Court held that schools could consider race as one of many factors in the holistic review of an applicant, a consideration that could help foster diversity on campus.
The majority opinion laid out how it worked. Harvard’s final stage of deciding to admit or reject students is a step called the “lop,” in which four factors are evaluated: whether an applicant is a legacy, meaning an immediate family member went to Harvard; whether they were recruited as an athlete; whether they are eligible for financial aid; and their race.
Race is now unconstitutional to consider, but other preferences remain.
One study found that these preferences give an edge to white applicants. Among white students admitted to Harvard, 43 percent received a preference for athletics, legacy status, being on the dean’s interest list, or for being the child of a faculty or staff member, and without those advantages, three-quarters would have been rejected.
Many colleges don’t have selective admissions at all. But at those that do, the Supreme Court, in other words, left plenty of discretion for college officials to fill their student bodies with the children of donors or employees, or with lacrosse, tennis, or football players, or with the children of alumni. Only the effort to create a racially diverse student body is now all but banned.
While the Supreme Court left these preferences untouched, the Court’s decision is already renewing the debate over them. “Well before the decision came down there have been conversations about what to do about the legacy boost, for example,” said Adam Nguyen, the founder of Ivy Link, an organization that advises families, who pay at least $150,000 beginning when their child is in middle school, on college admissions. “People have long questioned why legacy even exists. In a democratic society, it seems intrinsically unfair that the children of alumni, generation after generation and by virtue of birth, get that privilege. These conversations are still sensitive but they shouldn’t be happening behind closed doors anymore.”
14 replies
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…because capitalism and freedom for private businesses.
…of Harvard announcing next April that they have complied with SCOTUS and removed all affirmative action procedures and have retooled their admissions process to be 100% merit based…and that the entering class of fall 2024 will consist entirely of students of Asian ancestry.
