Virginia will end older college admissions at its public universities

Virginia is on track to ban legacy preferences at its public universities, giving a boost to children of alumni applying for admission.

The state House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that would eliminate the preferences; the Senate did so last week.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin's office signaled he would sign the legislation, saying in a statement that he “believes that admission to Virginia's universities and colleges should be based on merit.” The law would come into effect on July 1, after admission decisions for the fall of 2024 have been made.

The ban, which would affect two of the nation's most selective public universities, the University of Virginia and William & Mary, is another indication that older college admissions tests, which mainly benefit students who are white, wealthy and well-connected are declining all over the world. country. Virginia Tech, another prestigious public university in the state, announced last year that inheritance status would no longer be taken into account.

Legacy recordings became a target last year, shortly after the Supreme Court banned race-conscious recordings. President Biden said old preferences “increase privilege rather than opportunity.”

After the Supreme Court's ruling in June, several highly selective private schools, including Wesleyan University and New York University, announced they would eliminate old preferences.

They joined several selective colleges that had already eliminated or never used old preferences, including MIT, Johns Hopkins, Amherst College and the University of California system.

The state of Colorado has banned legacy preferences at its public universities, and similar legislation banning the practice has been introduced Congress and in states such as Connecticut and New York.

But many elite private universities – including Harvard, Yale and Brown – continue to give preference to the children of alumni. Data recently released by the Department of Education shows that nearly 600 colleges and universities consider legacy status in admissions.

Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania are the subject of federal Department of Education investigations into their use of legacy preferences and whether the practice violates civil rights. The Harvard investigation began after a complaint from three advocacy groups.

The bill in Virginia, which must undergo more legislative maneuvering before going to the governor for his signature, would also ban the consideration of “donor status” in admissions to state institutions. In this practice, wealthy parents or other family members could secure access for their children by donating money for new buildings or programs.

Dan Helmer, a Democrat who sponsored the bill in the Virginia House, said the time had come to level the playing field.

“The vast majority of Virginians, whether Democrat, Republican or Independent, want a university system that admits students based on who they are and what they have done, and not based on who their parents are,” said Mr. Helmer.

Mr. Helmer, a West Point graduate, said none of the state universities had taken a public position against the legislation, although he suggested they may have lobbied privately. “A few universities may have come by,” he added, “and I said, 'If you want to come on the record publicly, you can.'”

The University of Virginia, where old admissions sometimes make up as much as 14 percent of the enrollment, recently amended its admissions application to eliminate a checkbox for old status, but said students could still indicate in their admissions essays whether they were legacies.

Brian T. Coy, a spokesman for the University of Virginia, said in a statement Tuesday that it is the university's policy not to comment on pending legislation. “For decades, U.Va. has assessed each applicant for undergraduate admission as an individual with a unique story and combination of strengths,” he said, “rather than through weighted methods and checkboxes.”

An organization of conservative Virginia alumni known as the Jefferson Council has not taken a position on the legislation, according to its executive director, James A. Bacon.

“We believe so,” Mr. Bacon wrote in an email. On the one hand, he says, intergenerational families tend to be more loyal, committed and generous toward college. “On the other hand, we support merit-based admission based on character and academic performance,” he wrote.

The College of William & Mary also considers inheritance withdrawals. In a statement, the university said it would comment on the potential impact of the bill after its final passage. In the statement, a university spokeswoman, Suzanne Clavet, said the school's data showed that accepted applicants who were legacies were more than twice as likely to enroll at the school as other accepted applicants.