“The revolution was fought in large measure to rid ourselves of aristocracy and inherited privilege, so each individual would rise or fall on her own merits in the United States,” said Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. “The notion of providing a leg up in admissions to a group of students who ... are fairly advantaged to begin with is profoundly unjust.” Kahlenberg attended Harvard for college and law school as a legacy student and is the author of four books about education, equal opportunity and civil rights.
Kahlenberg explores the validity of conventional defenses of preferential policies for legacies in “Affirmative Action for the Rich,” a compilation of research articles by scholars, journalists and lawyers.
Released on Sept. 22, the book cites data compiled by notable figures such as Bloomberg News Editor-at-Large Daniel Golden, lawyer Eric Bloom and University of the District of Columbia professor John Brittain. Kahlenberg argues that the policies offer a bigger advantage than is often reported while having no substantiated effect on alumni giving. He also suggests that many alumni children would not be admitted to selective universities if preferential policies were not in place.
Kahlenberg spoke with The Daily Princetonian about the problems with preferential admission for legacies, his own experience as a legacy and the future of legacy admission policies.
Q: What kind of response have you gotten about the book?
A: I’d say the vast majority is supportive of my position.
Q: John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, has responded to some of the book’s premises by saying that alumni children may simply practice better self-selection in admissions and are thus better informed. Can you comment?
A: I don’t know of any evidence that suggests that that’s true.
Q: Do you think legacy students are generally qualified to be in the selective universities to which they are admitted?
A: Research by Princeton professor Thomas Espenshade GS ’72 suggests that legacy candidates are getting 160 SAT points added to their scores on a scale of 400–1600. Research by former University President William Bowen GS ’58 finds your chances of admission increase by almost 20 percent, so that a student whose academic record suggests she has a 20 percent chance of getting in then has a 40 percent chance just based on who her parents are.
Q: But some argue that it is actually very hard for even legacy students to get in today, given the huge competition in admissions, and so unqualified students are not getting into selective colleges whether or not they are children of alumni. What do you think?
A: Under that theory, there are probably many thousands who are minimally qualified in the sense that they are likely to graduate, for example, at a place like Princeton. But that’s not really the question, because then a university has to decide between this very large pool of minimally qualified students.
Q: Can you comment on the argument in your book that, contrary to popular opinion, the preferential admissions policy for legacies has little impact on alumni giving to universities?
A: No evidence has ever been presented to suggest that the existence of a legacy preference increases giving. It’s always just been assumed, which is kind of ironic, given that we’re talking about universities where research is conducted every day on various topics. When you control for the wealth of the alumni and institutions, there is no evidence that the existence of alumni preferences increases the donations of alumni [to the top 100 national universities ranked by U.S. News & World Report]. Furthermore, there was no substantial drop in alumni giving at seven institutions that dropped legacy preferences.
Q: Did the legacy preference in admissions impact your own college experience?
A: That’s an interesting question. I went to Harvard, and my father went to Harvard. When I applied to college, I was aware of the legacy preference issue. I made sure to apply to a number of different colleges, including Princeton and Yale. I was reassured when I got in elsewhere. My personal experience suggests that there may be some feeling on the part of legacies that they need to prove themselves in areas where they’re not getting an advantage.
Q: Do you think legacy preferences in admissions will ever be eliminated?
A: I don’t think they will be around forever. I think there are three reasons why they’re vulnerable today. One is that we are living in a populist moment when people are angry about elites manipulating the system. The second reason is that there are sharp attacks on race-based affirmative action. It becomes even harder to justify [legacy preference] when you’ve gotten rid of preferences for underrepresented minorities. And the third reason is that there are some new legal theories being floated to suggest that legacy preferences at public institutions are unconstitutional, and in private institutions they are a violation of the 1866 Civil Rights Act that prohibits discrimination based on ancestry and race. So it may be that a lawyer will pick up on these new legal theories that have come out in recent years and litigate the issue.
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Tara Thean.
Take a look at our three-part series, “The Legacy Factor,” that discusses the experience of current legacy students, the history of legacy admissions at the University and alumni loyalty.
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