Here’s the good news: More college and university admissions offices across the United States are finally focusing on bringing fairness to the college process and are actually rewarding students’ academic achievement.
In a recent analysis by Education Reform Now, 92 colleges across the country stopped considering legacy status, a policy rooted in racism, in their admissions process. That’s a drop of 18% since 2022. The problem: New York, the supposed liberal bastion of America, is woefully behind the rest of the country. As a result of inaction, New York has more colleges and universities that consider legacy status than any other state does. That’s not good enough and I’m hoping this will be the year that merit prevails over money.
Legacy admission policies date back to the 1920s, when Harvard University determined it had to reevaluate its approach to admissions, after they realized that 20% of their student body was Jewish. That’s right, legacy admissions have its roots in antisemitism.
Harvard’s administration developed new criteria, which it claimed was based on character, to counteract what they believed was too many Jewish applicants’ merit-based acceptance. Their new rules provided the children of alumni an admissions boost that increased the likelihood of admissions by up to 33% at certain schools. To make matters worse, this policy grew into obstacles specifically placed in front of students of color. Legacy admissions is inherently unfair and should be eliminated from New York State.
We must level the playing field for New Yorkers seeking higher education by eliminating this privilege for the privileged.
This is a personal issue because education was the great equalizer for me. Coming from Brownsville, Brooklyn, I grew up in one of the most economically disadvantaged communities in our state. Education was one of the things that helped build my confidence.
Thanks to hard work and dedication to my studies, I was accepted to and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School, one of the top schools in New York City. I went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Purchase and a law degree from Pace University.
Since being elected to the state Assembly in 2014, I’ve made it my mission to ensure that the Black and Brown families I serve in Albany receive equal access to a college education in New York, because that’s what they deserve.
Right now, New Yorkers across the state are not getting what they deserve, and we must change that. An astounding one out of seven colleges in the United States that use legacy preferences are in New York. It’s bad enough that 55% of our private four-year institutions consider legacy status, the fifth highest percentage in the nation. What’s even worse is that public universities still consider legacy, which is indefensible.
One hint of progress: Eight New York colleges and universities dropped legacy after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, including Gov. Hochul’s alma mater, Syracuse University. That’s a start, but we won’t rest until every higher education institution ends this inherently racist policy that only benefits the 1%.
For the past four years, I’ve worked diligently with my Senate co-sponsor, Andrew Gounardes, along with advocates like Education Reform Now New York to ensure the doors to college in New York State swing open with opportunity and not be slammed shut to any student seeking to better their lot in life. We’ve added important co-sponsors to our legislation and partners like the NYCLU and NAACP.
The new ERN analysis shows momentum is building and, last year, the governor of California — the state with the most colleges and universities in the country — signed legislation banning legacy. Our bill, the Fair College Admissions Act, is about common sense and rewarding students based on their academic achievement.
When people ask me why I refuse to give up on this fight, I ask them to imagine lining up to run a 100-meter race, but first, your legs are tied together and a boulder is strapped to your back. Then your competitors get to start the race 15 meters ahead of you.
The starting gun goes off, and despite your best efforts and years of training, you have no chance of winning the race. That is just plain wrong. In 2025, let’s eliminate the structural barriers imposed by legacy status once and for all. Take the boulders off the backs of our young people and let them compete for admissions to the colleges of their choice and, in turn, have every opportunity to pursue the lives they deserve.
Walker, a proud graduate of New York City public schools, is a state Assembly member serving the 55th District in Brooklyn.