The Biden administration released new guidelines Monday that encouraged colleges and universities to rethink the practice of legacy admissions in order to achieve diversity and comply with the Supreme Court's ruling banning affirmative action.
The guidelines were jointly created by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education and are billed as resources for colleges and universities to "understand the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina," two cases in which the court ruled that race considerations in admissions violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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"This is a moment of great urgency in higher education," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said on a call with reporters Monday. "The Supreme Court's decision to end affirmative action has taken away a tool that colleges have used for decades to build diverse campus communities and create equitable opportunities for students of all backgrounds. ... When individual states have banned affirmative action in the past, fewer students of color applied and fewer students of color were admitted. We cannot afford that kind of backsliding on a national scale, not when our nation is more diverse than ever."
The new guidelines were released in the form of a Q&A document, alongside a "Dear Colleague" letter signed by Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon and Kristen Clarke, the assistant U.S. attorney general for the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.
The two officials urged colleges to "review their policies to ensure they identify and reward those attributes that they most value, such as hard work, achievement, intellectual curiosity, potential, and determination" and noted there are several ways that they can achieve a racially diverse student body, including by reviewing legacy admissions.
Legacy admissions, which take an applicant's family history with the school into consideration, have drawn increased scrutiny since the court's decision. Eliminating the practice, the Biden administration said, could be a means to help secure racial diversity by not advantaging "privileged" applicants who would otherwise take the place of a minority applicant.
"Colleges and universities can examine admission preferences, such as those based on legacy status or donor affiliation, that are unrelated to a prospective applicant’s individual merit or potential, that further benefit privileged students, and that reduce opportunities for others who have been foreclosed from such advantages," the two officials said in their letter.
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Multiple schools, including Virginia Tech, have announced they would no longer provide an advantage in admissions for legacy applicants. Meanwhile, the University of Virginia has said it would continue the practice.
The Department of Education recently announced it had launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard's practice of legacy admissions after advocacy groups complained that the practice hurt the prospects of minority applicants.