Should Colleges End Legacy Preferences?

1. Set Focus
Frame the inquiry with these essential questions: What is the role of colleges and universities in a society? How do we ensure that institutions of higher education fulfill that role?

2. Read and Discuss
Have students read the debate and then answer the following questions:

• What is the issue being debated? How does it relate to current events? (The issue is whether public and private colleges should end the practice of legacy preferences. The issue is timely because admission rates at the country’s most selective universities have dropped in recent years.)

• Evaluate why these two authors might be interested in and qualified to comment on this issue. (Matthew L. McGann is the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at a college. Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is the former president of a university.) 

• Analyze McGann’s view. (McGann argues that colleges should end legacy preferences. He says that the practice began as a way of keeping Jewish applicants out of elite colleges and today works to limit social mobility. He also says that the practice gives an advantage to students who are already advantaged.)

• Analyze Trachtenberg’s view. (Trachtenberg argues that colleges should keep the practice. He says it’s just one factor in a complex admissions process. He also says that legacy students help create a sense of school spirit and community, and that as student populations become more diverse, the legacy student population has also become more diverse.)

4. Writing Prompt
In an essay, evaluate one of the debaters’ arguments. Assess whether the reasoning is valid and whether it’s supported with evidence. Point out biases or missing information.

5. Classroom Debate
Should colleges end legacy preferences? Have students use the authors’ ideas, as well as their own, in a debate. 

6. Vote
Go online to vote in Upfront’s poll—and see how students across the country voted.