California law bans legacy and donor admissions at private universities including Stanford, USC

The new law which bans the legacy and donor admissions at private universities such as Stanford and USC will come into action next September.

Study in US: While joining an ongoing movement to stop the practice of offering alumni and donors children preference in the college admissions process, California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law which bans such preferences at private universities.

The signing of the new law in California makes it the fifth state to stop such legacy admissions at private colleges. This law will be applied to the University of Southern California and Stanford University starting next September. Earlier, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Colorado also stopped such admissions.

Newsom said in a statement, “In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work. The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly.”

This law follows the US Supreme Court's verdict of stopping public and private universities from giving preferences to students as per race during admissions to elite colleges. The legal battles highlighted many advantages that the white students were getting in the admissions, especially in legacy admissions.

Students should get admissions based on merits and not family

Democratic state assembly member Phil Ting told The Guardian, "Student should earn their spot in the institute based on their grades and academic background and not their wealth and influence of family at the schools. Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded background should earn you a spot in the incoming class – not the size of the check your family can write or who you’re related to."

"The law will ban admissions offices from favoring applicants whose family members are graduates of or are significant donors to the school is an unfair practice which often results in a wealthier, less racially diverse student body," said Phil Ting.

Recently, the practice of giving preferences to students with influential families got heavy criticism in the US and there was a movement building against it. U.S. Department of Education announced its probe last year into, "whether the Harvard’s admissions process discriminates based on race by utilizing donor and legacy preferences in its undergraduate admissions."

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