"Buying Diplomas with Money" US Government Launches Investigation into Harvard University

U.S. Department of Education Investigates Harvard Donations and Legacy Admissions
Earlier, Supreme Court Ruled Affirmative Action Unconstitutional

The donation-based admissions and legacy preference system at Harvard University, a prestigious institution representing the Ivy League, has come under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Education. This follows the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last month declaring the affirmative action policy unconstitutional. As concerns arose that the legacy admissions system, which passes down parents' academic backgrounds, favors white applicants, the Department of Education has launched a full-scale investigation.

Harvard University/Photo by Getty Images Bank

According to major foreign media including The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 25th (local time), the U.S. Department of Education announced that it began an investigation into Harvard University this week as a follow-up to a complaint filed last month by civil rights groups.

Previously, three civil rights organizations advocating for Hispanic and Black rights raised issues after the affirmative action ruling, claiming that donation-based and legacy admissions also benefit white students. They argued that Harvard’s preference for applicants with relatives who are alumni or donors violates Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, which prohibits all discrimination within schools.

The lawyers representing the three civil rights groups criticized, "The donation and legacy admissions system disproportionately favors white applicants," adding, "At the same time, it systemically disadvantages people of color, including Black, Latinx, and Asian Americans." They further stated, "Federal anti-discrimination laws are clear: institutions receiving federal funding must not implement unfair and unjust preferential policies against qualified students of color," urging Harvard to follow the precedent set by other universities that have abolished donation and legacy admissions. Recently, Wesleyan University and the University of Minnesota eliminated their legacy admissions systems following the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action.

Research also confirms that children from wealthy families are favored over those from ordinary households in admissions to prestigious U.S. universities. According to The New York Times (NYT) the previous day, a team led by Raj Chetty, an economics professor at Harvard, analyzed admissions results at elite universities and found that when SAT scores were equal, students from the top 1% wealthiest families had a 34% higher chance of acceptance compared to other applicants.

WSJ reported, "Legacy and donation admissions, mocked as affirmative action for the wealthy, are facing increased scrutiny following the Supreme Court ruling."