Legacy admissions

Legacy admissions are facing more scrutiny following the Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action from college admissions …

Transcript

00:00Wesleyan University is the latest school to announce it will no longer consider legacy status

00:04or family ties in its admissions process. So what are legacy admissions? Brie can explain in less

00:09than 60 seconds. According to a university community letter sent by Wesleyan's president,

00:13legacy status will no longer play a role in the school's admissions process. Legacy admissions

00:18practices, which give preferential treatment to applicants whose families are alumni or have

00:23historical ties to the school, have come under scrutiny following the Supreme Court's banning

00:27of affirmative action. Earlier this month, a nonprofit in Boston filed a civil rights complaint

00:32against Harvard, saying their legacy admissions process gave unfair preferential treatment to the

00:37predominantly white children of former graduates. The nonprofit argued that legacy admissions at

00:42Harvard discriminated against Black and Latino applicants, therefore violating the Civil Rights

00:46Act. The NAACP backed the civil rights complaint, urging more than 500 public and 1,100 private

00:52universities to do away with legacy admissions practices. Harvard has not publicly addressed the

00:57complaint.