Md. House votes to end legacy admissions at colleges and universities

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ANNAPOLIS — As part of Maryland’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action last summer, the House of Delegates Thursday voted across party lines and in overwhelming support of prohibiting colleges and universities from considering legacy status in admissions.

If the state Senate passes and Gov. Wes Moore signs the measure in the coming months, schools would also be barred from making admissions decisions based on a prospective student’s relationship to a donor.

The policy would provide legal grounds to file suit for an applicant who believes a school denied them admission to accept a legacy student, said House Minority Whip Jazz Lewis, a Prince George’s County Democrat and bill sponsor, said in an interview.

Admissions at the state’s public colleges and universities, which include St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Morgan State University and the 11 public campuses under the University System of Maryland, and at private schools that receive state funding would all be subject to the policy.

After the Supreme Court in June 2023 reversed decades of precedent and revoked schools’ ability to consider race in admissions, the U.S. Department of Education issued a series of recommendations for states that included ending legacy consideration in admissions, Lewis said.

Maryland has more than 20 independent four-year colleges and universities, according to the State Archives. Private schools often rely on extensive alumni networks to recruit and attract students, according to the Maryland Independent College and University Association, of which 13 schools are members.

Four member institutions — Loyola University Maryland, St. John’s College, Stevenson University and Washington College — consider alumni relationships as part of a “holistic application process,” though no member schools use “legacy preference as a criterion for admission,” MICUA President Matt Power wrote to lawmakers in January.

Some private schools offer legacy scholarships endowed by alumni, and MICUA advised the state that a policy prohibiting the incentive could decrease schools’ tuition revenue. Lewis, though, said his proposal wouldn’t affect those scholarships.

“If you have an endowment by an (alumnus) who says that they want their endowment to go to legacy students, that’s private money and their business,” Lewis said during a hearing in January. “But, if public taxpayer money is going to these institutions that are paid for by all the people of Maryland, then their admissions should be fair to all the people in Maryland.”

Maryland doesn’t have a law stating what an institution may or may not consider for admissions, though schools receiving state funds generally cannot use an undergraduate application with questions about someone’s criminal history, according to the Department of Legislative Services.

The University System of Maryland’s policies state that schools must determine admission without unlawful discrimination based on race, religion, gender identity and other legally protected characteristics; that undergraduate student bodies should draw from all areas of the state and reflect its diversity; and that each institution must publish its own decision criteria.

Power wrote that, while some MICUA schools consider legacy status, none grants admission solely because of legacy status to a student who doesn’t meet admission standards, Power wrote to lawmakers.

“Even when alumni relationships are considered through a holistic admissions process, no student is denied acceptance because a student with alumni relationships is granted acceptance,” Power wrote.

The House of Delegates on Thursday voted 133-4 to advance Lewis’s bill.

State senators on Wednesday questioned whether the policy will have unintended consequences or go far enough in preventing legacy admissions.

Senate President Pro Tem Malcolm Augustine questioned whether the measure might undo some progress that minority groups made during decades of affirmative action.

“There were a number of formerly disenfranchised groups — African Americans, Latinos — who were able to go to college, who now have children who are legacies,” said Augustine, a Prince George’s County Democrat. “It does take multiple generations to close things like the wealth gap.”

Under the proposal, institutions could still ask applicants about their relationship to alumni “for the purpose of collecting data.” State Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, questioned whether the allowance could provide schools a loophole for considering legacy status.

“That just seems awfully disingenuous,” Kagan said.

The Education, Energy and the Environment Committee is expected to vote whether to advance the Senate’s version of the bill to a vote of the full chamber.