Colleges and universities in California will be banned from considering applicants status as the relatives of school alumni or donors in the future after Governor Newsom signed a law barring the practice on Monday. Activists say legacy and donor preferences, like racial preferences, are also unconstitutional in the wake of two Supreme Court decisions last summer. 

Supporters of the legislation say that it is meant to “ensure that factors like wealth or personal relationships do not unduly influence admissions decisions.”

“In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work. The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement Monday. 

The governor’s office said explicitly that the ban on legacy and donor preferences are a result of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina — the 2023 Supreme Court cases that resulted in the end of affirmative action in higher education. 

The state assemblyman who sponsored the legislation — Assembly Bill 1780 — Phil Ting says that the ban on legacy and donor preferences will help alleviate the decrease in student body diversity at universities that has taken place in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decisions. 

“If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field. That means making the college application process more fair and equitable. Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded background should earn you a spot in the incoming class — not the size of the check your family can write or who you’re related to,” Mr. Ting said Monday. 

Calls to end legacy and donor admission preferences sprung up shortly after the Harvard and UNC decisions from the high court. In July 2023, just days after those decisions were handed down, the legal group Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a complaint with the Department of Education, saying that the Supreme Court’s rulings against affirmative action had also implicitly banned legacy and donor preferences, not just racial onces. 

“Your family’s last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure of merit, said an activist who was signed on to the Education Department complaint at the time, Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal.