Activists spurred by affirmative action ruling challenge legacy admissions at Harvard

From an equality point of view, the legacy program offends most people (who aren’t legacies).

I posted elsewhere that looking at the SFFA v Harvard case, it was shown that Harvard’s admitted class is more than 20% comprised of "children of donors, alumni, and faculty" – how much of the 20% exactly are from “alumni” (legacies) it doesn’t break out, but I believe a correct assumption is that it would make up the majority of the figure.

The cases against Harvard and UNC were “that their race-based admissions programs violate, respectively, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” which the Supreme Court found they did.

That brings it to the crux of the situation regarding legacies. While there is no doubt that race is a “suspect classification” (think “protected category”) that is covered by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, how will “legacies” be viewed? Likely “legacies” would be viewed under the “rational basis review”* where it has to be shown that discrimination is allowed because it is related to a legitimate interest of the organization.

While they probably wouldn’t admit it publicly and would try to hide it ‘in the weeds’, it is absolutely in the self-interest of the institutions to admit legacy students. Their parents are usually more materially positioned and tend to be more generous donors than non-legacy parents.

The question that would probably be to a court is if the self-interest of the college/university is enough to overcome the equal protection. If it was evaluated under the same criteria of “strict scrutiny” that race was in PFFA v Harvard, it would be an obvious “No”. However, since it will likely be considered under the much looser “Rational basis review”, the decision could be markedly different.

* https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf
* https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/ [login to see] 1122889
* Courts have held that scrutiny of equal protection falls into three categories – strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and rational basis review. Strict scrutiny has to show a compelling interest and a narrowly tailored set of criteria to meet this compelling interest. This is what race, religion, national origin, etc. are viewed under. ‘Legacies’ would likely fall into the ‘everything else’ test of Rational basis review which means that a ‘legitimate interest’ must be shown.

Agreed. Admissions should be based on the individual's achievements and aptitude, not the pocketbook of the parents.

Lt Col Charlie Brown: The vast majority of us do, but Harvard said they will find divisive ways to circumvent the ruling. If our Congress has a backbone, they will suspend funding to every College that breaks the law, starting now, and the College must, unequivocally, prove their Admissions are merit based if they even want a penny of funding. Unless, those of you on the Left, prefer having a flunky doing open heart surgery on you rather than a brilliant scholar? Careful of what you protest for, it could come back to kill you!