For generations, Americans have told themselves a simple story: In this country, talent, character, and hard work — not birth — should shape our future, determining how far someone can rise. That principle has guided our republic since its founding. Yet in elite higher education, admissions policies too often contradict it. Preferences for the children of alumni and major donors have become a quiet, but consequential, form of advantage. They have become the “artificial aristocracy” that Thomas Jefferson warned against.
Congress now has an opportunity to phase out these unfair “legacy” and donor preferences. Lawmakers should require transparency from colleges that benefit from federal funds and tax advantages. Public subsidies ought to align with public values, and fairness in access to elite institutions should be among them.
Comments