California governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law yesterday banning legacy and donor preferences for admissions at private nonprofit institutions. In a statement, the governor said that “in California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work. The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly.”
The law, Assembly Bill 1780, was written by Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco, who had originally tried to pass a similar bill in the wake of the “Varsity Blues” scandal of 2019. At that time, it was revealed that parents had paid bribes and falsified their children’s accomplishments in order to secure admission to private institutions like the University of Southern California. Ting’s attempt to pass the reforms of AB1780 fell short, however he did manage to institute a reporting system requiring private colleges to share data with the Legislature regarding admissions based at least in part on alumni or donor connections. The data that emerged was damning for some of the most storied institutions in California, like Stanford and USC, which both reported that 14% of students were admitted based on such connections.
The reporting system paved the way for the further reforms obtained by Mr. Ting yesterday. In a statement after the bill’s passage, the assemblyman expounded on the values behind this new bill: “If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field. That means making the college application process more fair and equitable. Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded background should earn you a spot in the incoming class – not the size of the check your family can write or who you’re related to. I thank the Governor for agreeing with me and supporters of AB 1780 – that every student deserves a fair shot at their dream school.”
While the bill is being lauded as a major reform, it has been watered down through numerous revisions. The first version of AB1780 offered a strong penalty, prohibiting the state’s universities from taking advantage of the state’s Cal Grant funding if they were found to be giving preferential treatment for legacy and donor-linked applicants. That penalty was negotiated down to a civil fine equal to the Cal Grant funding the institution had received the previous year. The final version does not include any financial penalty at all, instead publishing the names of institutions in violation of the law on the California Department of Justice’s website.
New York State is one of the handful of states that is also considering a ban, with its own bill, Senate Bill S4170A, currently in the Senate’s Higher Education Committee, where it must pass before going to a floor vote.
