President Trump has repeatedly said he's pushing for "fairness" in the college admissions process, but his administration has done nothing to go after legacy admissions, despite their unpopularity along bipartisan lines.

Reforming the university application and acceptance process has been a key part of many of Trump's moves on higher education, including the deals to restore federal funding he's made with multiple schools.

But the practice of accepting applicants based on alumni or donor status, which some schools have sought to roll back independently, has been left alone by the administration.

"If the Trump administration was truly concerned about merit, legacy admissions would be one of the first policies they would challenge, and by ignoring it, it makes their rhetoric around meritocracy just hollow,” said Wesley Whistle, project director of higher education at New America.

Legacy admissions have been a bipartisan target for years, especially since the renewed push for racial equality in 2020 and since the 2023 Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action in college admissions.

Advocates argue legacy preferences unfairly boost white and rich........

© The Hill