Student activists are taking the fight over legacy admissions to the State House.
The student group Students for Educational Equity plans to reintroduce a bill to ban legacy admissions statewide. A prior version of the bill died in committee during the last legislative session.
SEE and State Representative David Morales (D-Providence) introduced a first version of the bill in April to ban legacy preferences in university admissions statewide. Similar measures are picking up across the country.
The bill was first introduced relatively late in the January to June legislative session, Morales said — legislators typically introduce legislation before the end of February for full consideration. Each legislator is allowed to introduce three bills after the deadline, but those bills are not guaranteed a committee hearing to be formally considered.
“Considering this is a conversation I had started with SEE during the spring, I wanted to make sure this was one of my post-deadline bills,” said Morales, despite the lower chances of getting a hearing. The bill died in committee.
SEE and Morales plan to reintroduce the bill at the beginning of the upcoming legislative session — and advocates are optimistic.
“This isn’t going to be a bill that dies this year,” said Nick Lee ’26, co-president of SEE and co-leader of the Admissions and Access team. “We are going to reintroduce it next year when we’re not working on a delayed, shortened timeline.”
Using legislation to end legacy admissions isn’t an idea unique to Brown.
California lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban legacy admissions at public and private institutions. Virginia and Colorado passed legislation to ban legacy admissions at public institutions. President Joe Biden has also publicly criticized legacy preferences.
University Spokesperson Brian Clark did not respond to a request for comment
In March, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 announced that the University will consider community input on the use of familial preferential treatment in the admissions process.
The University has yet to lay out a formal plan for collecting student input. Paxson previously told The Herald that if the University was “concerned primarily with socioeconomic diversity, it would make sense to eliminate this practice,” referring to legacy admissions.
She has also highlighted the benefits of familial preferences, saying that well-connected applicants are as qualified to be admitted as other applicants with no family connection. Paxson also said the practice “lets alumni know that we really want their students at Brown” which helps “build a sense of community.”
Talia LeVine is a senior staff writer covering admissions and financial aid. They study Political Science and Visual Art with a focus on photography. In their free time, they can be found drinking copious amounts of coffee.
