Colleges across the U.S. are selecting students for their incoming classes. It's the first time they've done so since the Supreme CourtBut on many campuses, another controversial admissions practice remains in effect: “legacy preferences,” or an admissions advantage given to the children or relatives of their alumni.A bill this session sponsored by state Sen.
And the brief bill doesn’t provide much detail about how the state could enforce the ban against institutions with billion-dollar endowments and considerable political influence. “I thinking, ‘I’m just not smart enough, my grades aren’t good enough’ — no. They didn’t even have to get in line," Edwards said."The rest of us are in line."When it comes to enforcement, Edwards’ bill suggests the legacy ban could be enforced by the use of the state's existing powers over degree-granting authorities.
“The trustees would just look at me and say, ‘How could you not admit these students? They're incredible,’ ” Perez said. “And I would say, ‘Because we can't afford to do that — because we need a certain number of students who can pay the tuition so that we can meet our operating budget.’ ”