Legacy Admission Should Not Be Allowed Since World War I

Legacy Admission As Peter Schmidt of the chronicle says, legacies originated after World War I to support the immigrant students, particularly Jews. When it became harder to control Jewish enrollment, in 1920’s most respected universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton considered legacy status. Since then it has raised the concerns for lower class families who did not attend good universities and their children wanted to attend but ended up not getting admission. In 2003, Senator Edward Kennedy sought legislation to compel colleges to make public their data on legacy admissions. It didn’t pass due to higher education’s powerful lobbying. Legacy admission†¦show more content†¦It shows how ivy colleges prefer legacy admissions. Although it is not illegal, but recently â€Å"two legal theories† are offered under which â€Å"legacy preferences could be challenged at both public and private institutions under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Eq ual Protection Clause (Ladeswki-578).† The civil act of 1866 prevents the states from giving titles of nobility. Minorities since most of elite university’s alumni belong to upper class families. Americans are concerned about such type of practices as â€Å"it creates doubt about institution’s commitment to meritocracy and equal opportunity (Mullen-47).† On the contrary, three out of four Americans oppose ancestry based discrimination so they can create equal opportunities for lower class families to get into elite colleges. According to Mullen research shows that a candidate has a 30% chance of admission, an applicant with the exact same academic record and extracurricular activities, but also a parent who attended the school as an undergraduate would have 75% chance. This shows that due to legacy admission, there’s less academic competition. Moreover, many colleges claim that legacy status is just use as a â€Å"tie breaker† in a very close admission call. However, according to the book affirmative action for the rich informs that the weight of legacy preference is noteworthy, adding 160 points to candidate’s record. Samuel G.