- Target:
- U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.reason.com
Legacy preferences in college admissions are detrimental to each and every student's opportunity for an equal education.
Legacy students are students that are admitted into a college or university that are a relative of an alumnus of said university. Legacy students make up 10-15% of most ivy league institutions, and 24% of Notre Dame students. Legacy students at the University of Virginia have a 4.3 times better chance of admission than normal applicants with the same scores. Thousands of students with perfect 2400 SAT scores were rejected from Yale, while legacy students were admitted at more than triple the rate of the normal applicant pool.
Legacy preference is an issue that is ruining America's equal opportunity education. How can we raise the bright, young students of America when there is no opportunity for those students, smart as they are, to attend a prestigious university?
Legacy preference is often times referred to as "affirmative action for the white." Is this the America that we were brought up to respect and love? The Constitution explicity states, "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States," and John Adams wrote in 1788 that, "Legal distinctions, titles, powers and privileges, are not hereditary.”
Now is the time to ban legacy injustices in college admissions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/us/15bar.html
http://www.house.gov/house/Constitution/Constitution.html
http://www.reason.com/news/show/123910.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/education/04colleges.html
We, the undersigned, are aware and shocked by the injustice of legacy preferences in college admissions.
We believe that education, be it private or public, should be an equal opportunity for all students in America.
Legacy preferences are extremely unfair to those who are more qualified but less privileged, and should be banned from all educational institutions in The United States of America.
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The Abolish Legacy Preferences in College Admissions petition to U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings was written by Alice Cheng and is in the category Education at GoPetition.