California bans recording of bequests and donors – The Williams Record

California will ban private universities and colleges from considering applicants' heritage and donor status in the admissions process starting September 1, 2025. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the bill Monday, said the ban is aimed at promoting equal educational opportunities in California.

Six institutions in California, including Stanford and Claremont McKenna, use legacy and donor admissions. The University of California System abandoned the practice in 1998 and Pomona College ended legacy admissions in 2017.

“In California, everyone should be able to advance through merit, skill and hard work,” Newsom wrote in a news release Monday. “The California dream shouldn’t be available to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone and fairly.”

The California law follows the Supreme Court's decision to eliminate race-based considerations in college admissions last year. In May, Maryland became the first state to ban private universities from considering legacy and donor status in admissions.

Many selective colleges consider legacy and donor relationships during admissions to create an intergenerational alumni community and encourage donations that can be used to support financial aid.

Opponents of legacy admissions say the practice disproportionately helps wealthy white applicants and reduces equity in college admissions. A 2023 Harvard study of legacy admissions at “Ivy Plus” colleges, a category that includes Stanford, found that eliminating legacy admissions reduced the share of enrolled students who come from the top 1 percent of the parental income distribution , would decrease by about two percentage points and increase the share of the bottom 60 percent by about one percentage point. But some experts say eliminating legacy licenses would not significantly improve fairness.

“If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field,” said California Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who authored the bill. “That means making the college application process fairer and more equitable. Hard work, good grades and a diverse background should secure you a spot in the new class, not the size of the check your family can write or who you are related to.”

The law requires universities in California to publicly submit data comparing admission rates for legacy and non-legacy applicants. While previous bills included a penalty for noncompliance, the law signed by Newsom will not penalize violations.

At Stanford, numerous campus activists campaigned for the bill in the spring. The Stanford Daily reported in May that student organizers from Class Action, a national organization that opposes legacy legislation, traveled to the Capitol in April to advocate for the bill while it was still in the Assembly.

While Amherst eliminated legacy preferences in fall 2022 and Wesleyan did the same in July 2023, Williams continues to consider legacy status in admissions decisions—despite Liz Creighton, dean of admission and financial aid '01, saying so Record in 2021, it is not crucial to an applicant's admission decision.