Wesleyan University is joining a select group of colleges that is ending preferences in admissions that favor children of alumni.
The college in Connecticut said Wednesday it would stop considering legacies in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court decision, which effectively ended affirmative action.
Legacies have played a negligible role in its admission process for many years, Michael Roth, the school’s president, said in a statement, but its now formalizing the end of the practice.
“We still value the ongoing relationships that come from multi-generational Wesleyan attendance, but there will be no “bump” in the selection process,” Roth said.
Only a small number of colleges have stopped the preferences, including Amherst College and Johns Hopkins University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has for at least a decade not considered the practice.
Colleges are now under increasing pressure in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling as they consider how to keep campuses diverse. Harvard University was accused this month in a complaint of violating federal law by giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to legacies.
About 3,600 students attend the college in Middletown, Connecticut, according to Education Department data. The cost of attendance for first-year students is about $85,000.
Alumni include economist Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, head coach of the New England Patriots Bill Belichick and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony-award winning creator of the musical “Hamilton.”
(Updates with cost of college in the seventh paragraph.)
