Affirmative Action Admits Tend To Be More Successful Than Legacy Admits, Says Study
Researchers at Princeton University have found that students who received legacy admissions are more likely to face academic challenges than Blacks who were admitted under affirmative action admissions programs.
Despite their findings, the programs remain a target of critics, as anti-affirmative action groups look to duplicate the success of Michigan’s voter-approved ban on race-based preferences in college admissions. Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Oklahoma are the next battlegrounds.
In a study published in the February 2007 journal Social Problems, Princeton sociologists Douglas S. Massey and Margarita Mooney used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen to compile a sample of nearly 4,000 students at 28 colleges and universities. They found that 77 percent of the Black students surveyed were the beneficiaries of affirmative action. By comparison, 48 percent of all legacies benefited from admissions preferences.
