Harvard’s Legacy Admissions Faces Investigation From Department of Education
Harvard’s legacy admissions — also known as affirmative action for privileged white kids — has been challenged by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Harvard University’s preferential treatment for the relatives of donors and alumni during the admissions process, according to lawyers representing three Massachusetts-based organizations serving Black and brown communities.
On Tuesday, the department confirmed that it launched the probe this week in response to a separate complaint filed last month on behalf of the Chica Project, ACEDONE, and the Greater Boston Latino Network, per Wall Street Journal.
The complaint alleges that admitting applicants based on whether their relatives attended the university violates the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and points out that both 70 percent of applicants with relatives at Harvard and applicants whose relatives are Harvard donors are white. “The results of this preferential treatment are substantial,” the complaint reads. It alleges that from 2014-2019, donor-related applicants were seven times more likely to be admitted, and legacy applicants were six times more likely to get into the nation’s most prestigious higher-learning institution.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for Harvard University said that the school is “in the process of reviewing aspects of our admissions policies to assure compliance with the law.”
“Our review includes examination of a range of data and information, along with learnings from Harvard’s efforts over the past decade to strengthen our ability to attract and support a diverse intellectual community that is fundamental to our pursuit of academic excellence,” read the statement.
The investigation arrives a month after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that race-conscious admissions programs are unconstitutional. The Court’s decision means that higher-learning institutions will have to overhaul efforts to cultivate a diverse student body, and the number of Black and brown students admitted to elite universities like Harvard is expected to decline.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a former public school teacher and principal, previously called the devastating decision for diversity an “infuriating, exhausting, and another body blow to our continued fight for justice and equality in America.”
“The Supreme Court just upheld white supremacy,” Bowman told Rolling Stone at the time, noting that legacy admission policies allow “big donors, the wealthy elite, and those who were able to attend certain higher education institutions” to secure admission spots for their family members, while simultaneously shutting “poor people and people of color out of the most prestigious institutions. … That is un-American. That is undemocratic. And that is unacceptable.”
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