Activists Spurred By SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling Sue Harvard Over Legacy Admissions

[babylonsister]

Activists Spurred By SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling Sue Harvard Over Legacy Admissions
It’s the latest effort in a growing push against the practice of giving admissions priority to the children of alumni.
Collin Binkley
AP logo
Jul 3, 2023, 10:30 AM EDT


WASHINGTON (AP) — A civil rights group is challenging legacy admissions at Harvard University, saying the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair boost to the mostly white children of alumni.

It’s the latest effort in a growing push against legacy admissions, the practice of giving admissions priority to the children of alumni. Backlash against the practice has been building in the wake of last week’s Supreme Court’s decision ending affirmative action in college admissions.

Lawyers for Civil Rights, a nonprofit based in Boston, filed the suit Monday on behalf of Black and Latino community groups in New England, alleging that Harvard’s admissions system violates the Civil Rights Act.

“Why are we rewarding children for privileges and advantages accrued by prior generations?” said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, the group’s executive director. “Your family’s last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure of merit, and should have no bearing on the college admissions process.”

more...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/affirmative-action-education-legacy-admissions-lawsuit_n_64a2d94be4b0dcb22c46b63e

[FBaggins]

1. Yeah... that won't fly. But it might not have to.

It can easily be argued that it’s bad policy - but bad policy doesn’t make for legal liability.

But that might not be the point. It may be that Harvard wants to end the practice to offset some of the diversity losses from this recent ruling. But that would tick off the alumni (of all colors).

So perhaps the strategy is to get sued and then settle out of court with a promise to end the practice. Then they can tell the alumni that it isn’t their fault.

[spooky3]

2. I think it has a good chance of flying under the "adverse impact" theory.

It won’t be hard to show that legacy and donor-related preferences create adverse impact on underrepresented groups. The question would be whether the practice is justified by “business necessity” and if it is, is there a less discriminatory alternative?

[malaise]

4. Not necessarily true in all cases

Like my sibling’s kid, Joy Reid’s children would also be legacy admissions.

[spooky3]

5. "Adverse impact" is determined on a group basis. For example if a decision rule

(Such as donor-related) results an acceptance rate of 30% for white applicants but 10% for underrepresented groups, it is said to create adverse impact on those groups.

Adverse impact is also known as disparate impact:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disparate_impact

[malaise]

6. Thanks for the clarification

[spooky3]

10. YW!

[LiberalArkie]

14. And if you just look at it mathmaticly...

Let's say 100 original white rich founding graduates, they have 2 children. that its 200 for the school, and 400, and 800, etc

And if only 1 of each descendant was a dumb as a fucking rock, you end up with a lot of dumb fucking legacies that no one questions because they are Ivy League graduates.

[malaise]

15. Sop much for merit

Ah well - it’s an effin mess everywhere

[Snackshack]

18. Dan Carlins

“Roll of the Dice” theory from the “Thor’s Angels” pod cast.

If history interests you if have not heard of Dan Carlins Hardcore History it is pretty good.

Example above Carlin used was Queen Victoria’s descendants. A lot of them ended up monarchs some were good. The King of England was pretty decent by all accounts some were horrible like the Kaiser.

[FBaggins]

8. A reasonable theory - but with this court?

I just don’t see how. A number of them are Harvard alumni themselves. And there are clear benefits to the school from the preference.

Just guessing - but I’m pretty confident that legacy admits are more likely to graduate, more likely to be active members of the campus community, more likely to be active (and paying) members of the alumni association later, and probably average a higher amount paid for their degree after scholarships. And, of course, those alumni parents are a big part of Harvard’s mission themselves (even if you just consider their contribution to the endowment).

[spooky3]

11. They may agree that's "business necessity", but is there a less

Discriminatory alternative (see Griggs v Duke Power, among other cases)?

And it’s good to file the suit and get these questions answered.

[FBaggins]

16. Can you think of one?

I can't and I enjoy playing this game.

Other schools are different, but I think Harvard alumni donate hundreds of millions of dollars each year. What alternative could there be that would keep them as happy? And, to the extent that having lots of legacy students around is a benefit in and of itself... there couldn't be an alternative.

[MichMan]

19. So would athletic scholarships and admissions, wouldn't they

For example, I don't see hardly any Asian players represented on major college sports teams compared to their percentage of the student body.

Wouldn't that make athletic admissions also proof of adverse impact in virtually any college?

[malaise]

3. Good although not all legacy admissions are

wealthy white people.
One of my siblings attended a prestigious business school after placing 11th in the world in the GRE test. He topped his class. His first daughter attended that business school decades later. She would have made it on her grades but she was still a legacy admission.

[cilla4progress]

17. Eleventh in the WORLD?

Wow!! Very cool. Must have been almost more than a perfect score? Do they teach others how, now? I want what they are having!!

[CaptainTruth]

7. Not a lawsuit, a complaint, article has been corrected.

Mark Joseph Stern:
This article is based on a misunderstanding. The group didn't file a lawsuit; it filed a complaint with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, a fundamentally different kind of challenge.

Link to tweet

?t=LbhIIKN7t6MxcvWdGhpj1w&s=19]

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Following high court ruling, Dems take aim at 'legacy admissions'

If the goal is solely to have merit based admissions, thne it is only fair to get rid of legacy admissions

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/high-court-ruling-dems-take-aim-legacy-admissions-rcna91983

As the editorial board of The New York Times explained today, many schools continue to engage in a “particularly insidious form of wealth-based affirmative action: legacy admissions.”

The children of alumni — who are overwhelmingly white — enjoy a far better chance than other applicants of getting accepted to the nation’s top colleges and universities, which, as this board has argued, constitutes “a form of property transfer from one generation to another.” It has a far larger impact on the racial and socioeconomic makeup of student bodies than race-based affirmative action ever has.

The editorial went on to note that roughly one-in-seven students at Harvard are there at least in part because of a legacy, adding, “Reducing or eliminating this practice could create new opportunities for all kinds of students who normally don’t have a chance of getting into a top school.”

Or put another way, if the country is going to have a conversation about creating an “all merit-based” system, then that conversation should be honest and comprehensive.

It was against this backdrop that Punchbowl News reported last night that several congressional Democrats called on the Justice Department to respond to yesterday’s ruling by filing “legal challenges against any college or university that engages in discriminatory practices — including legacy admissions.”....

I don’t seriously expect a groundswell of GOP support for the idea, but if some prominent voices on the right are sincere about an “all merit-based” system, perhaps this could be an area for bipartisan cooperation?

[Martin68]

12. YES!

[Warpy]

13. Having met quite a few of those "legacies," I'm seriously loving this

End affirmative action for rich white boys without a brain in their heads! Yeah! Now this is an anti affirmative action movement I can really get behind! Where do I contribute?

And after Harvard, they can work on Yale and Penn. Met a couple of their legacies, too, and they're just as witless.

Jeez, live in a place like Boston for a while, you see how the world really works and how super smart, enthusiastic 20 somethings who weren't born rich are fucked right out of the gate. The world is ruled by legacies in various countries, which is why it's always such a godawful mess.