President Biden’s Education Department has notified Harvard University that it has opened a civil rights investigation into its policy of giving preferential admissions to the relatives of alumni and donors, known as “legacy admissions.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action, it’s hard to justify legacy admissions as anything but, in the words of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “affirmative action for the privileged.”

As President Biden put it, legacy admissions expand “privilege, not opportunity.”

Investigating Harvard is an important first step, but Harvard is not the only school that practices legacy admissions. We need every college or university to discontinue unjust admissions policies that favor the advantaged and well-connected at the expense of qualified students from less privileged backgrounds.

A 2019 study submitted by the Harvard complaint plaintiffs, Students for Fair Admissions, revealed that about 70% of Harvard’s admitted legacy students are white, further bolstering the argument that legacy admissions are racially discriminatory.

Like many schools, Harvard gives explicit preference to recruited athletes, relatives of donors, and children of alumni, faculty, and staff. Altogether, they represent less than 5% of Harvard applicants, but they make up 30% of each incoming Freshman class.

This discrepancy implies that as much as 25% of Harvard’s admissions each year are given to more privileged applicants, rather than to the most qualified.

Some other schools have already voluntarily given up the practice. Following the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision, Wesleyan University announced it has quit making legacy admissions. In the words of Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth, such policies are “a sign of unfairness to the outside world.”

The vast majority of Americans -- 75% -- agree that legacy status should not be a basis for university admissions, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center poll. And now, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Jamaal Bowman plan to reintroduce legislation prohibiting the practice.

It is time for us to extend educational opportunity while ending systems that perpetuate racial and economic inequality.

Special admissions policies for children of the rich and powerful cannot stand, especially with the end of affirmative action policies that were designed specifically in an attempt to dismantle this inequity in the first place.

Sign the petition to notify university presidents and boards of trustees that it’s time to level the playing field and eliminate legacy admissions by adding your name now.