This should surprise nobody. Ivy League universities (and many other selective universities and colleges) are above all elite instututions. Educating rich people and perpetuating their influence is their business model. They just try to shine it up a bit by adding a dash of meritocracy and a dollop of high-minded race discrimination to make it look less embarrassing. I don't get the indignation about it. In as big a country as ours, there probably should be a few elite instutions. And in any case they are private organizations who can do whatever they want so long as they don't break the law.
I'm highly amused by the chest-pounding and lawsuits against "affirmative action for white people". Harvard was already letting in the maximum number of qualified black students, and then some (which is what got them in trouble). Getting rid of legacy preferences isn't going to make more of them magically appear. Rather, the legacies will simply be replaced by more highly qualified, but unconnected, white and Asian students. Indeed, this might give an entry to middle-class white students who (by my calculations) had essentially no chance of admission under the old regime.
This should surprise nobody. Ivy League universities (and many other selective universities and colleges) are above all elite instututions. Educating rich people and perpetuating their influence is their business model. They just try to shine it up a bit by adding a dash of meritocracy and a dollop of high-minded race discrimination to make it look less embarrassing. I don't get the indignation about it. In as big a country as ours, there probably should be a few elite instutions. And in any case they are private organizations who can do whatever they want so long as they don't break the law.
I'm highly amused by the chest-pounding and lawsuits against "affirmative action for white people". Harvard was already letting in the maximum number of qualified black students, and then some (which is what got them in trouble). Getting rid of legacy preferences isn't going to make more of them magically appear. Rather, the legacies will simply be replaced by more highly qualified, but unconnected, white and Asian students. Indeed, this might give an entry to middle-class white students who (by my calculations) had essentially no chance of admission under the old regime.