Lawyers for three advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against Harvard University on Monday alleging that the school’s practice of giving preferential treatment to relatives of alumni and donors to the school gives an unfair advantage based solely on the family they were born into, the same argument the Supreme Court supported in banning race-based admissions factors at universities in a decision announced last week.
Per CNN, the lawyers for Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England, and the Greater Boston Latino Network said the legacy admissions advantage, which can use up to 15% of available slots, unfairly advantages “overwhelmingly white” students.
“This preferential treatment has nothing to do with an applicant’s merit. Instead, it is an unfair and unearned benefit that is conferred solely based on the family that the applicant is born into,” the lawyers said in a statement. “This custom, pattern, and practice is exclusionary and discriminatory. It severely disadvantages and harms applicants of color.”