Connecticut schools and universities are pushing again in opposition to a proposal banning legacy standing as a consideration within the software course of.
The Connecticut Legislature’s Joint Committee on Larger Training final week launched new laws that will finish the usage of legacy preferences in greater training, which give precedence to varsity candidates who’re associated to highschool alumni or present college students.
At a listening to on Thursday, officers from non-public schools mentioned it’s not acceptable for the state legislature to make coverage round their admission practices, whereas these from the College of Connecticut cited a slippery slope of legislative restrictions if the invoice had been to go.
Opponents of legacy preferences mentioned it perpetuates inequity alongside racial and socioeconomic strains based mostly on who had been historically the graduates of elite colleges, and by definition disadvantages first-generation school candidates with out household historical past at any establishment.
“My dad is a mailman, my mother cuts hair — I’m tremendously grateful to check at a spot like Yale College,” mentioned school scholar Logan Roberts, who testified in opposition to the follow.
Roberts mentioned that the strategy is rooted in discrimination and is a latest addition to Yale’s admissions inside the final 100 years.
“So this can be a comparatively new follow, and it actually solely serves to present a leg as much as college students who have already got a leg up within the admissions course of.”
It’s also a phenomenon that in components of the nation appears to be coming undone, Roberts advised. Unbiased schools, together with Johns Hopkins College, Pomona School and Amherst School, have discontinued the follow, whereas the state of Colorado has banned it in all public universities.
Of all school officers who testified concerning the invoice, Terrence Cheng, system president on the Connecticut State Schools and Universities, was the one speaker to not oppose it.
“In brief, CSCU establishments don’t use legacy desire in our admissions course of, so we don’t oppose this invoice,” Cheng mentioned. “Our colleagues at different establishments throughout the state could have totally different opinions.”
These colleagues included representatives from UConn, who spoke and submitted written testimony in opposition to the act.
“Let me be clear to the committee, the College of Connecticut doesn’t contemplate legacy standing as part of admission selections,” mentioned Nathan Fuerst, vice chairman for enrollment planning and administration. “So to this finish, we truly agree with the spirit of the laws that components equivalent to first-generation standing, college students’ grades, their background, how they do in and outdoors of the classroom are much better indicators for potential for fulfillment.”
Nonetheless they suggested in opposition to codifying an outright rejection of the follow.
“By passing this invoice, we consider it will be troublesome to keep away from the slippery slope of further laws over time that will govern admissions,” Fuerst mentioned.
Different Connecticut establishments to offer written testimony included Sacred Coronary heart College, Connecticut School, Fairfield College and Yale College, lots of whom shared their efforts to diversify their scholar populations with out ending legacy preferences.
“We might ask the committee to not transfer ahead with this invoice, and contemplate taking much less intrusive and extra impactful motion in the direction of engaging in the aim of selling entry and variety in post-secondary training by reinvesting in need-based assist,” mentioned Jennifer Widness, president of the Connecticut Convention of Unbiased Schools.
Amy Dowell, the state director of Democrats for Training Reform Connecticut and Ed Reform Now Connecticut, has advocated for the invoice that will ban the follow at each private and non-private establishments — which might make the state the primary to take action within the nation.
“Connecticut has among the absolute best colleges within the nation,” Dowell mentioned. “It’s solely pure for us to take the lead on selling accessibility to those nice establishments.”
Dowell mentioned greater than 1 / 4 of Connecticut college students who took the SAT final yr indicated they’d be first-generation school candidates — placing them at an obstacle at schools that use legacy preferences in admissions.
“We’re going to look again on this in 4 years and say that is the common approach to be now,” she mentioned, “as a result of it’s the correct factor to do.”