Affirmative action

Legacy admissions, the practice of giving preference in college admission to the children of alumni, was begun in the 1920s as a reaction to the increasing number of Jews, Catholics and Asians applying to college. Since a child of alumni in the 1920s was almost certainly white, legacy admission assured Anglo-Protestant dominance. It was affirmative action for whites.

The use of affirmative action criteria that results in class balance for race and ethnicity has long been a whipping boy of the right, and now the right-wing SCOTUS looks to strike down affirmative action for underrepresented minorities. Of course, you may be certain that the SCOTUS will ignore affirmative action for legacies and for children of wealthy donors.

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