Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs bill banning legacy admissions in state's public universities

Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed legislation on March 8 banning legacy admissions from being used at state-funded public colleges and universities.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the bill states that public universities in the state cannot give a leg-up to applicants based on legacy status or “familial relationship to any donor to such institution.”

The bill was passed unanimously by both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly.

Democrat State Senator Schuyler T. VanValkenburg, who sponsored the bill, told the New York Times that legacy admissions are “kind of an indefensible policy.” 

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“There’s a lot of ways you can measure merit, but we know that legacy admissions is really not about merit at all,” VanValkenburg said.

Meanwhile, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IN) proposed federal legislation in November 2023 that would ban legacy admission policies on the federal level. Its being considered by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Kaine and Young were quick to praise Virginia’s bill after it became law.

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“When we introduced the MERIT Act, we hoped the legislation would encourage states and higher education institutions to take the initiative to ban legacy and donor admissions too. We’re happy to see Virginia make this move. Now let’s build off this success and get our bill passed to end legacy and donor admissions preferences nationwide. This will promote upward mobility and fairness in the admissions process,” they said in a statement on March 9.