A court case reveals the preferential treatment given to white and wealthy 'legacy' applicants to Harvard
most prestigious universities are primarily in two countries: America and Britain. Strangely, though, the more aristocratic, less meritocratic system of admissions is found not in the country with a House of Lords and a hereditary monarchy, but in the land of rugged individualism. The American system is under attack, however. In a closely watched case that began in 2014, a group of Asian-American students are suing Harvard, claiming discrimination relative to whites.
Many of the disclosures, such as the preferential treatment given to mostly white and wealthy “legacy students” , look embarrassing. Yet on October 1st a federal judge in Boston ruled in the university’s favour. This will be merely the prologue to a protracted legal battle.Most of the interest in the case stems from the possibility that it could up-end the system of affirmative action for “under-represented racial minorities” at elite American universities.
The most interesting thing that has come out of court documents is detail on the programme of affirmative action for wealthy students maintained by Harvard and other universities of its stature. A recent working paper by three economists, one of whom was an expert witness for the plaintiffs, shows that 43% of white students attending received some sort of preferential treatment in admissions . They estimate that most of these would not have got in otherwise.
The boost for these applicants is as high as the one given to blacks. Asian-Americans, who receive the fewest admissions preferences, are squeezed as a result. A white student who is in the middle of the pack academically, but has legacy status, has a higher chance of getting in than a typical Asian applicant in the top tenth.
Race-conscious admissions programmes are constitutionally valid only if they are the least obtrusive means to attain diversity. Allison Burroughs, the judge in the case, acknowledged that removing the preferences would increase the number of non-white students.
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