Thursday, October 3, 2024

California Bans Legacy Admissions

Download (38)The ink was barely dry on the Supreme Court's 2023 affirmative action decision when both the U.S. Department Education and a prominent civil rights nonprofit started questioning legacy admissions at Harvard because of their racial impact. And Lauren Rogal (Vanderbilt) has written an article highlighting federal tax issues raised by legacy admissions (Legacy and Largesse: The Tax Law of College Admissions, 43 Va. Tax Rev. 169 (2023).

Now California has moved to prohibit legacy and donor preferences in admissions by private higher education institutions that are formed as nonprofit corporations in California, accredited by the U.S. Department of Education, and receive or benefit from state-funded student financial assistance or enrolls students who receive such assistance.  (The public University of California system eliminated legacy preferences more than 25 years ago.) This category apparently includes schools such as Stanford (pictured), USC, Claremont McKenna College, and Santa Clara University, The Governor approved Assembly Bill No. 1780 this week, which is effective as of September 1, 2025. The law also requires covered institutions to report on their compliance to the Legislature and the California Department of Justice.Coverage: AP; L.A. Times (subscription required).

See also: Politico, Why Legacy Admissions Have Exploded in the US (hat tip: EO Tax Journal). The article notes that four other states also currently ban legacy admissions, three only for public institutions (Colorado, Illinois, and Virginia) and one for private institutions as well (Maryland).

Lloyd Mayer

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/nonprofit/2024/10/legacy-admissions-california-first-up-to-ban-them.html

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