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[Abe Kohen]

No More Boost for 'Legacies' At Texas A&M University

By DANIEL GOLDEN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


Frank Sheffield attended Texas A&M University. So did all three of his
children, nine nephews and five other relatives.

"Legacy has meant a lot to A&M," said Mr. Sheffield, a 74-year-old retired
engineer who goes to every A&M home football game, has endowed a scholarship
to the school and sits on the board of the 12th Man Foundation, an alumni
booster group.

"If it comes down to people of equal merit, someone who has the family ties
should be given preference" in admittance, he said.

But that won't happen any longer.

A&M, one of the nation's biggest colleges, is eliminating admission
preference for alumni relatives, yielding to criticism that the practice
discriminates against minorities.

A&M becomes the third public university in recent years to drop what is
known as "legacy" preference, following state universities in Georgia and
California. Its decision, announced Friday, may add momentum to proposals in
Congress and on the presidential campaign trail to curb so-called white
affirmative action.

The move reinforces the notion that it is no longer politically acceptable
for universities to give preference to alumni relatives -- who tend to be
predominantly white at most institutions -- unless their criteria also favor
minority applicants. Most selective universities, such as the University of
Michigan, give an edge to both groups. The University of Florida, which does
not consider race in admissions, does give a tie-breaker edge to legacy
applicants, says Wayne McDaniel, executive director of its alumni
association. He says legacy preference has drawn little scrutiny there.

At Texas A&M, legacy preference had come under increasing fire from
civil-rights groups and several Texas legislators after the college's
president, former Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert Gates,
announced last month that the university won't give admissions preference to
minorities.

"When we decided not to take race into account as a factor, then it seemed
to us -- to be consistent -- we had to eliminate legacy at the same time,"
Mr. Gates said in an interview. "Either you have an admissions process based
on individual merit and personal qualities, or you don't."

Mr. Gates said the move was greeted with some grumbling by alumni, but "not
as much as I expected." The university, located in College Station, Texas,
is in the midst of a $1 billion capital campaign, and has raised nearly $700
million, he said.

No selective private universities have dropped legacy preference, which they
regard as essential to luring donations from wealthy alumni. Because they
receive state money, public universities are less dependent on such
donations.

Legacy preference is "completely indefensible for public universities,
particularly one like A&M that doesn't practice affirmative action," said
Michael Olivas, a University of Houston law professor who has testified in
the Texas legislature for proposals to prohibit legacy preference. "At least
affirmative action is a proxy for disadvantage. Legacy preference is a proxy
for white privilege."

A&M's undergraduate admissions system awarded a maximum of four points on a
100 point scale to alumni children, grandchildren and siblings -- one point
for each parent, grandparent and sibling who attended the university up to
four. Of 10,271 students admitted in fall 2003, this edge was decisive in
admissions of 312 whites, 27 Hispanics and six blacks, according to a
university spokesman. The university, which specializes in engineering, is
the second most-selective public university in the state, behind the
University of Texas at Austin.

A&M's student body of 37,000 undergraduates is 82% white, 9% Hispanic, 3%
Asian-American and 2% African-American. A&M didn't admit its first black
student until 1963.

A 1996 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had
barred Texas public universities from using affirmative action in selecting
students. That decision was superseded by the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark
ruling this past June upholding affirmative action at the University of
Michigan law school.

Nevertheless, Mr. Gates announced in December that A&M wouldn't resume
considering race in admissions. Instead, he said, it will seek to boost its
minority representation through aggressive outreach and scholarships for
low-income students.

The University of Texas at Austin has said it will return to considering
minority status as one factor in admissions. It doesn't grant legacy
preference.

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