Education Dept. investigating Harvard’s legacy admissions policy

Just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, the Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard University’s legacy admissions policy. The practice of giving preferential treatment to the children or other relatives of alumni in college or university admissions has come under scrutiny since the affirmative action decision came down.

Lawyers for Civil Rights, a nonprofit based in Boston, filed a civil rights complaint saying Harvard “discriminates on the basis of race by using donor and legacy preferences in its undergraduate admissions process.” The Department of Education wrote a letter to the nonprofit on Monday, July 26, confirming the launch of an investigation.

“As our complaint outlines, these unfair and undeserved preferences are bestowed overwhelmingly on white applicants and systematically harm applicants of color, in violation of federal anti-discrimination law,” the nonprofit said in a news release. “We are gratified that the Department of Education has acted swiftly to open this investigation.  Harvard should follow the lead of a growing number of colleges and universities — including Amherst, MIT, Johns Hopkins, the University of California, and most recently Wesleyan — and voluntarily abandon these unfair and undeserved preferences.”

The nonprofit argued in the complaint that students with legacy ties are up to seven times more likely to be admitted to Harvard and are about 70% white. For the Class of 2019, about 28% of the class had a parent or other relative who went to Harvard.

On Tuesday, July 25, a spokesperson for Harvard said the university has been reviewing its legacy admissions policy to ensure compliance with the law.

“As this work continues, and moving forward, Harvard remains dedicated to opening doors to opportunity and to redoubling our efforts to encourage students from many different backgrounds to apply for admission,” the spokesperson said.

A study led by Harvard and Brown researchers published Monday found wealthy students were twice as likely to be admitted to elite schools compared to their lower- or middle-income counterparts who have similar standardized test scores. The study found legacy admissions policies were a contributing factor to the advantage. Athletic recruitment and extracurricular credentials, which are stronger when students attend affluent private high schools, were the other two factors.