Legacy admissions reveal power, privilege at college

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We are all dealt cards at birth. Some will set you ahead in the great race known as life, and others will hold you back, despite your other qualifications. That is how life works.

The unfortunate reality is that those with privilege, whether it be in regard to their race, gender, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic status or other defining characteristic, are frequently unaware of it. They are oblivious to the systematic and cultural barriers that hold their just-as-qualified peers back.

There needs to be a greater awareness about how privilege sets some people apart from the rest of society.

The discussion of privilege in American society has recently risen to new heights, with a significant portion of online users taking the time to discuss the topic of “nepotism babies.” These are individuals who were born into affluent families, such as celebrity parents, and therefore have their lives set for them from the moment they are born. They have drawn criticism for not having to experience the everyday challenges most have to face in order to reach their goals.

The world of college admissions is another prime example of how privileges, handed out to individuals for no reason other than being born, play out in the real world. Many institutions, including Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Southern California, place emphasis on admitting students known as legacies — or those who are the children of alumni.

These individuals are admitted at higher rates than the average applicant. Furthermore, the acceptance rate at Harvard between 2014 and 2019 for legacy applicants was 34%, while it had been 6% for students following the standard admission process. And the majority of those admitted to universities who place legacies as a higher priority are white.

Outside of the realm of college, examples of privilege in all areas of life continue to prevail. Straight individuals have always been able to marry one another in the United States of America, a right only granted to same-sex couples nationally following the 2015 ruling of Obergefell v. Hodges. And the gender pay gap continues to be harmful, with women making 84% of the earnings of men in 2020.

It is clear that modern American society has been designed for the benefit of one type of individual: the straight, white, cisgendered man — a tale as old as time itself. For those of us who do not fall within this classification, the obstacles placed before us are abundantly clear. However, they are not always apparent to our privileged counterparts.

There needs to be further education regarding the impact of privilege in our society — on both systemic and cultural levels — that is specifically targeted toward individuals who are most ignorant to its benefit. Without such education, the problems resulting from this lack of awareness will only continue to grow.

Efforts by universities to educate their student bodies on the effects of privilege in our society, such as Syracuse University’s First Year Seminar, have the right intention, but this course alone is not enough.

When a student is in a classroom lecture, it is far too easy to dismiss these problems as something that involves other people and not the students themselves. Instead, there should be a more real-world approach that allows individuals to reconsider their own lives and the privileges they hold, the abundance of cards they were dealt.

The conversation surrounding privilege is complex and consists of more layers than can possibly be unpacked in a singular article. Proposing a foolproof solution in the same piece is almost equally as challenging. But it is clear the problem needs to be addressed in some capacity.

Allow this piece to be a part of the solution – a call to re-examine the cards you were dealt at birth. Once you do so, take advantage of them to uplift the voices of those who are struggling to be heard and further educate others around you when they may be abusing a privilege, whether consciously or not. Everyone must do their part in evening the imbalance.

Grace “Gray” Reed is a Sophomore magazine, news and digital journalism major. Their column appears bi-weekly. They can be reached at greed04@syr.edu.