“Legacy Admissions” are banned at California colleges and universities from now on.
Legacy admissions and donor preference, which favors alumni children and donor-related students in admissions, have raised equity concerns for years.
On September 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill (AB 1780) that bans legacy preference policies that give admission priority to children of donors or alumni in the review of college applications.
Newsom has been currently working on signing or vetoing bills before the September 30 deadline.
“The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to only a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone,” Newsom said in a statement.
While the state has made legacy admissions policies unlawful, there have been no penalties for universities that violate them.
Starting September 1, 2025, colleges and universities will be required to submit annual reports to the California Department of Justice regarding their compliance with AB 1780. If violations are found, the justice department can charge the universities.
Last year, USC admitted a total of 1,791 undergraduate students under the legacy admission. That’s 14.5% of the total enrollment. At Stanford University, 295 students (13.6% of the total enrollment) were admitted through the policy.
BY YEOL JANG, HOONSIK WOO [jang.yeol@koreadaily.com]
