On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said that legacy admissions have to be examined in light of the Supreme Court’s decision on racial preferences in higher education and acknowledged that the ruling has undercut the popularity of legacy admissions because, in the wake of the decision, many people wonder “how we can’t look at race as a factor, but other things like legacy are still looked at.”
Cardona stated, “Well, in many cases, they expand privilege, not opportunity. So, while — for those who are listening and not sure what legacy means, it’s if your family went to that college, you have access to that. That still exists. And we need to recognize that if we’re going to look at the tools that are being used for college admissions, we have to look at all of them. So, right now, our focus is on providing information to colleges around the SCOTUS decision, and what tools they still have available. But I think you bring up a point that many across the country are also wondering, how we can’t look at race as a factor, but other things like legacy are still looked at.”
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