Legislating an End to Legacy Preferences

As scrutiny over legacy admissions intensifies in the wake of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ban, lawmakers have been emboldened to target the practice through legislation designed to prohibit it or penalize colleges that use it. Proposals from Democratic state legislators in New York and Connecticut seek to ban the practice outright at public and private institutions in their states. Legislators in other states, including Pennsylvania and California, have promised to introduce similar legislation in upcoming sessions.
A bill currently moving through the Massachusetts statehouse takes a less direct approach. Rather than ban legacy admissions, it would establish a tax for institutions that use it, channeling the revenue to a public trust fund for community colleges.