About 10 to 15 percent of students at Ivy League universities are the children of alumni. [1] Commonly known as “legacies,” they are often favored in the application process to encourage alumni ties and donations. [2] Between 2014 and 2019, Harvard accepted legacies at a rate of 33 percent, more than five times its overall acceptance rate. [3] In addition, 70 percent of Harvard’s legacy applicants are white. [4] This is hardly surprising: historically, the alumni of selective American universities like Harvard have been disproportionately white. [5] Yet, this racial disparity reveals the discrimination underlying legacy admissions that preserves and perpetuates historical inequalities in higher education.

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