As we all know, affirmative action is a highly-charged and emotional debate in American society. In the midst of this controversy, educators like myself try to interject some valid research to help better inform the issues. We can certainly still have our own personal views for or against affirmative action, but the research we present is still valid. With that in mind, as Diverse Education reports, a new study notes that in many ways, students admitted as legacies (based largely on their parent being an alumnus) often do worse than students admitted under affirmative action:

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. . . .

Overall, legacies had the best grades, earning a GPA of 3.26 over their first two years, followed by athletes at 3.12 and minorities at 3.05. Although they earned lower grades, Blacks who received admissions preferences did not have unusually low grades and were as likely as other Blacks to stay in college and earn a degree.

However, legacies who enjoyed a greater admissions bonus earned lower grades. The greater the gap between a legacy’s SAT score and the institutional average, the lower grades they received. The odds of a legacy admit leaving school were higher when they posted lower grades than their schoolmates. The gap between the SAT scores of Blacks and other non-affirmative action students did not mean Blacks would do poorly in school.

Affirmative action is a very complex and multifaceted issue, and a single article like this isn’t likely to lead to a paradigm shift either way any time soon. Nonetheless, studies like this help us to get separate facts from mere ideological rhetoric. The bottom line is, contrary to what many anti-affirmative action critics argue, students admitted under affirmative action are no less likely to succeed than other “special” admits, including legacy admits.

In an ideal world of course, we wouldn’t need special admits of any kind. But until that day comes, I still believe that there is a place for affirmative action, although I also support exploring more “holistic” approaches to ensuring racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in our educational institutions.