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Connecticut lawmakers are considering banning the use of legacy and donor preferences in admissions to all colleges and universities across the state, including private ones like Yale University.<\/p>\n
A bill was advanced to the Senate floor on Thursday, days after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin\u00a0signed legislation<\/a>\u00a0barring\u00a0consideration of a student\u2019s familial ties<\/a>\u00a0to a public college or university when being considered for admission. The first such law was signed in Colorado in 2021.<\/p>\n There has been pushback to Connecticut\u2019s bill from some private institutions in the state, including Yale, which have argued the state should not be dictating how they make admissions decisions, just like it shouldn\u2019t dictate decisions on curriculum and faculty hiring. But proponents note how these schools, which receive substantial tax benefits for their non-profit status, have the power to provide all kinds of students with a ticket to an elite world.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at leaders of Fortune 500 companies, you look at members of Congress, United States Supreme Court justices, this really matters to how our society operates,\u201d said Democratic state Sen. Derek Slap, co-chair of the Higher Education.<\/p>\n An Associated Press survey of the nation\u2019s most selective colleges<\/a>\u00a0in 2022 found that legacy students in the freshman class ranged from 4% to 23%, though many schools declined to provide basic data in response to AP\u2019s request. The AP\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that at four schools \u2014 Notre Dame, USC, Cornell and Dartmouth \u2014 legacy students outnumbered Black students.<\/p>\n Slap noted how the U.S. Supreme Court\u00a0last summer<\/a>\u00a0struck down\u00a0affirmative action<\/a>\u00a0in college admissions, proving they don\u2019t have institutional freedom of make preferences based on race.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s egregious, though, that this preference, the one for wealthy folks, remains,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Republican Sen. Kevin Kelly said he has heard from private schools in his district, especially faith-based colleges, that are concerned about how they would be impacted by the legislation. He said the ability of institutions of higher education to \u201cexercise their freedom to teach how they are and what they are\u201d has helped to create \u201cAmerican exceptionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think when the state government starts to interfere in that process, we\u2019re not only interfering in private relations of institutions, but we\u2019re also interfering in that American excellence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid at Yale University, recently told state lawmakers that the school agrees with the \u201ccentral aim\u201d of the bill, which is to enroll more low-income and first-generation students. But in addition to the state overstepping its bounds, he said the bill doesn\u2019t address the key challenge of providing less advantaged students with the resources needed to prepare for college and graduate on time.<\/p>\n He also said Yale\u2019s undergraduate admissions office strikes to \u201cassemble a group of the most promising students from the most diverse collection of backgrounds.\u201d He said undergraduates from families that can\u2019t afford the full cost of attending Yale receive a need-based scholarship that covers tuition, housing, meals, travel, books and personal expenses.<\/p>\n Last year, Wesleyan University, another private school in Connecticut,\u00a0announced it was ending its policy<\/a>\u00a0of giving preferential treatment in admissions to those whose families have historical ties to the school.<\/p>\n The bill, which cleared the committee on a vote of 18-4, moves to the Senate for further action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the CEO Daily newsletter to get the CEO perspective on the biggest headlines in business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n