Legacy students no longer have an advantage at Stanford and other private California colleges

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a ban on legacy preference in admissions at private colleges in the state.

REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach/File Photo

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a ban on legacy preference in admissions for private colleges.It’s the second state to ban the practice at private schools, and other states have done the same at public institutions.Following the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision last summer, legacy preference has been under heightened scrutiny.

Students can no longer use their legacy connections to help them get accepted to prestigious California schools like Stanford.

On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a ban on legacy and donor preferences in admissions at private universities in the state, including Stanford and the University of Southern California.

The announcement makes California the second state after Maryland to ban legacy preference in admissions at private universities.

“In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work,” Newsom said in a statement. “The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly.”

Following the Supreme Court decision last summer that struck down affirmative action, prohibiting schools from considering race in admissions, the admissions practices of colleges across the country fell under increased scrutiny, with legacy preference — and fairness of the practice — at the center of the conversation.

As Business Insider previously reported, the admission of legacy students was a central way colleges could ensure continued donations to support their endowments. Ethan Poskanzer, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, previously told BI that legacy students “are more likely to attend the college if they are admitted, so they’re more likely to accept their offers, which means a stabler stream of tuition for the college.”

However, some colleges have pushed back against that idea over the past decade and banned legacy preference in their own admissions practices. Wesleyan President Michael Roth, for example, told CNN last year that the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision “made it even more clear to me that it was indefensible to give preference to the children of alumni.”

Similarly, Gabrielle Star — president of Pomona College, which got rid of legacy admissions in 2017 — said that “for every person who may be disappointed that legacy status isn’t considered there are other people who are really proud that we don’t consider legacies.”

While California’s ban is specific to private universities — the public schools in the University of California system banned the practice in 1998 — other states like Illinois and Virginia did away with a preference for legacy students at public universities in their states.

“If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field,” California Assemblymember Phil Ting said in a statement. “That means making the college application process more fair and equitable. Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded background should earn you a spot in the incoming class – not the size of the check your family can write or who you’re related to.”