Critics say Trump's push for fairness in college admissions is leaving out legacy preferences

Source: AP

Updated 9:57 AM EDT, August 15, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump attempts to reshape college admissions, he’s promising a new era of fairness, with an emphasis on merit and test scores and a blind eye toward diversity.

Yet the Republican president’s critics — and some allies — are questioning his silence on admissions policies that give applicants a boost because of their wealth or family ties. While he has pressed colleges to eliminate any possible consideration of a student’s race, he has made no mention of legacy admissions, an edge given to the children of alumni, or similar preferences for the relatives of donors.

Trump often rails against systems he describes as “rigged,” but he has overlooked a glaring instance in higher education, said Richard Kahlenberg, a researcher at the Progressive Policy Institute think tank who has written about admissions. “It’s hard to think of a more flagrant way in which the system is rigged than legacy preferences,” Kahlenberg said. “Rarely is a system of hereditary privilege so openly practiced without any sense of shame.”

In recent weeks, Trump has taken several actions to scrub any vestiges of race from admissions decisions, suggesting that some schools are ignoring a 2023 Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action. His administration negotiated settlements with Brown and Columbia universities that included provisions to share admissions data. Last week, Trump issued a call for colleges nationwide to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-legacy-admissions-status-affirmative-action-ad4ab9b2cc2f16730685076c07aa2146