A data trove released during the lawsuit against Harvard University’s race-conscious admission practices gave an unprecedented look into how the country’s wealthiest college vetted prospective students.
One fact that was unearthed: Harvard applicants whose family members attended the Ivy League institution were nearly six times more likely to secure admission than those without a parent who went to Harvard.
Heavy criticism against Harvard ensued, as legacy admissions favor White and wealthy applicants and harken back to a racist campaign by the nation’s most prominent colleges that began around the 1920s to give preference to children of alumni and thereby diminish Jewish and immigrant enrollment.
