Virginia will end legacy admissions at public universities after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill Friday banning the practice that gives applicants with family ties to graduates a boost.
Under House Bill 48, the state’s public universities would be prohibited from giving preferential treatment to applicants based on their connections not only to alumni but also to donors. This means that universities can no longer give an advantage to applicants whose relatives donate to the school. Critics of such preferences have said for years that the centuries-old practice perpetuates privilege.
The ban would particularly affect the University of Virginia and William & Mary, which are among the most selective public universities in the country. Virginia Tech, another prestigious public university, already announced last year that it would no longer consider an applicant’s heritage status in the admissions process.
The law, which passed unanimously in the Virginia House of Representatives and state Senate this year, will go into effect July 1 after admissions decisions have been made for this fall. Mr. Youngkin, a Republican, said in a statement in January that he believed “admission to Virginia’s universities and colleges should be based on merit.”
Virginia is the second state to ban older imports, after Colorado, and similar legislation is being considered in New York and Connecticut, among others.
State Sen. Schuyler T. VanValkenburg, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, said he was pleasantly surprised by the bipartisan support for the ban. He said he hopes Virginia’s decision will lead other states to follow suit, which he said will help promote diversity in college admissions.
“It’s kind of an indefensible policy, especially in light of affirmative action being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court,” Mr. VanValkenburg said in an interview. “There are many ways you can measure value, but we know that legacy compensation is not about value.”
The University of Virginia did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.
William & Mary said in a statement that it does not expect the legislation to have a significant impact on the admissions process because the university does not have a separate standard for applicants with legacy status. However, data from the school showed that accepted applicants with the status were more than twice as likely to enroll at the school than other accepted applicants. The university did not comment beyond reference to the statement.
Legacy admissions have come under renewed scrutiny after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action at colleges and universities last June, banning the consideration of race in applications.
The movement to eliminate legacy pay has received support from both Republicans and Democrats at many levels of government. President Biden also weighed in, saying such preferences expand “privilege instead of opportunity.”
Senators Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, and Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, are pushing to ban the practice at the federal level. In November, they introduced the Merit-Based Education Reform and Institutional Transparency Act, which would set federal standards for evaluating college admissions processes and make it illegal to consider legacy and donor status. The bill is being considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
In a joint statement, the senators applauded the new law in Virginia. “Now let’s build on this success and pass our bill to end legacy and donor acceptance preferences nationwide,” Kaine and Young said. “This will promote upward mobility and fairness in the admissions process.”
However, critics of such measures argue that there are adverse effects of banning legacies and that minority students could actually benefit from having family connections in higher education. There are also concerns about the impact on alumni sponsor relationships if legacy salaries are no longer allowed.
This year, a conservative Virginia alumni organization known as the Jefferson Council expressed division over Virginia’s legislation.
“We are of two minds,” James A. Bacon, the group’s executive director, wrote in an email. On the one hand, he said, intergenerational families tend to be more loyal and generous to the university. “On the other hand, we advocate merit-based admissions based on character and academic achievement.” The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, many selective private schools, including Wesleyan and New York University, decided to do away with old-school preferences. But many elite private colleges, including Harvard, Yale and Brown, have not. The US Department of Education has launched investigations into Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania and their use of legacy preferences.
“Legacy admissions is inherently unfair,” Mr. VanValkenburg said, adding that universities that rely heavily on the practice “distort the appearance of a freshman class.”
Stephanie Saul and Vimal Patel contributed to the report.
