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SALT LAKE CITY — Following a recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively eliminates the use of affirmative action in college acceptance, legacy admission practices at highly selective universities are under intense scrutiny.
A civil rights group has filed a lawsuit challenging legacy admissions at Harvard University, alleging the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair advantage to the mostly white children of alumni.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights is investigating whether Harvard racially discriminates by favoring applicants with ties to donors and alumni in its admissions process, according to a letter from the agency .
When asked about giving legacy students preference in college admission, 70% of Utahns responding to a recent Deseret News/University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics poll said they oppose the practice. Slightly more than a quarter — 26% — said they approve while 4% said they did not know.
In Utah, where the vast majority of college students attend public universities or colleges, legacy admissions are not a significant factor because none of the campuses are highly selective in their admission practices.
Even the state's flagship university, the University of Utah, admits some 89% of students who apply, according to its Common Data Set for 2022-2023. A smaller subset elects to enroll.
The state's most selective university is Brigham Young University, with a 59% acceptance rate, according to U.S. News and World Reports' latest college rankings, a figure confirmed by the university. Westminster University's acceptance rate is 76%, according to the college rankings. Both are well above those of Ivy League schools, most of which have single-digit acceptance rates.
Dayanara Zarate, a first-year student at the U. studying pre-nursing, said she believes the university makes significant efforts to make admission accessible to a wide array of students "but I've definitely felt the pressure and the hardness of just trying to compete with other people who come from a background that has a college education."
Zarate said she relied on her older sister, first in their family to attend college, to help her apply, navigate the financial aid process and enroll at the U.
"She is six years older than me, so she actually was the first to go to college and I'm following her. ... She had to grow up pretty fast, filling out a bunch of forms for my mom, who doesn't speak English and all that. Since she had to experience that on her own and figure it out, she was really helpful in helping me out," Zarate said.
While the poll revealed widespread opposition to legacy playing a role in college admission decisions, those most opposed were respondents ages 24-40, those who identified as somewhat liberal, women and those earning $25,000 to $49,000 annually.
Seventy-five percent of Utahns polled with "some college" were either somewhat opposed or strongly opposed, while 82% of people who described themselves as "somewhat liberal" were opposed.
The least amount of opposition was among Utahns age 57 and up, although 65% said they strongly or somewhat disapproved of legacy admissions.
Along partisan lines, 68% of Republican respondents said they were somewhat or strongly opposed. Among Democrats, a combined 75% were opposed.
The poll of 803 Utahns was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates from Aug. 7-14. It has a 4.46% margin of error.
According to the New York Times, many selective colleges and universities give a leg up during the admissions process to the children or grandchildren of alumni, making them more likely to gain admission.
Legacy preferences appear to be a more common practice among private universities but a 2018 survey by Inside Higher Ed found 6% of public colleges used the strategy as well.
College officials say legacy preferences help create an intergenerational community, which can aid fundraising, according to the New York Times.
