But whatever the outcome of Texas A&M’s decision, Duke administrators say the children of
Blue Devils will continue to receive special consideration during the admissions process. [Chronicle of
Higher Education Onlline, by Cindy Yee, Jan. 22, 2004.]
A few more paragraphs clipped
below…
“As a broader educational or public policy issue, this is a fairly new subject,” [Duke
director of undergrad admissions Christoph] Guttentag said. “In the Texas A&M case, a tie was made
between legacy admissions and affirmative action. I’m not sure that they should be so closely tied,
but I think that the reason some people are paying greater attention to legacy admissions now is that
it has to do with a renewed interest in issues of affirmative action.”…
In fact,
[Provost Peter] Lange said, by establishing alumni loyalty through policies like the legacy admissions
policy, the University is able to fund other programs that actually increase diversity. “Among private
universities, the loyalty of alums is very important to a whole range of things we can offer, including
the kind of funding that makes Duke a great university and offers substantial amounts of money for
financial aid,” Lange said. “You can’t pull out one thread and ignore other ways of promoting
diversity. Need-blind financial aid is one of the biggest ways to achieve this
goal.”…
Even after Texas A&M announced its decision to abolish legacy admissions
preferences, some complained that taking this step to diversify the student body was like treating a
broken bone with a Band-Aid–the concept, they said, was admirable, but the decision will ultimately
have a negligible effect.
MoPress 