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Antitrust Suit Sets Stage To See If Yale, Columbia, And Others Are Institutes Of Higher Learning Or Higher Income

The first red flag was the frequent mentioning of their parent's deep pockets in their diversity statement.

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For decades now, elite colleges have positioned themselves as the gatekeepers of prestige and economic opportunity, and have stood as shorthand for a person being educated. Why mention a person’s diligence toward their studies, organizational skills, and blinding brilliance when you could just say “They went to Yale” instead? From SATs to LSATs and all the other acronym-heavy entrance exams these institutions use as bedrock evidence for the notion that entrance to these hallowed halls are based in meritocracy and not the amount of coin that you — or your parents — can line university coffers with, is that really the case? An antitrust case alleging price fixing is trying to get to the root of it, and the plaintiffs have just made some major progress toward finding out. From Reuters:

A Chicago federal judge has handed a key victory to students suing a group of elite U.S. universities and colleges over their financial aid practices, saying they can question school officials and search for records about whether “wealth favoritism” played into admission considerations.

In his ruling on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly rejected a bid from six schools — Brown University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame and Yale University — for an order barring the plaintiffs from accessing admission and development records, including details about donations. Brown and the other five schools must also allow senior university officials to sit for depositions on those matters, according to the court’s ruling.

Not too nice being on the other side of being rejected, huh, fancy schools?! And as for the depositions of the senior university officials, I wish I were a fly on the wall for that cold call.

Counsel: So here it looks like you call this student “Moneybags McStevens.”

University Official: Yes. Yes, I did.

C: And what is his government name?

UO: Brian

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C: Interesting. Now could you explain what you meant here by “Let’s admit Moneyboy over here — somebody’s gotta pay for the new gym!”?

UO: I was in a silly, goofy mood, sir.

All sides better be on their A game. The stakes of the questioning are nothing to scoff at. While these schools have denied taking a student’s financial need into account when meting out acceptances, there is a clear incentive to the schools just happening to go out of the way to make sure that the bestest and the brightest admitted are also the bankrolled-est.

The prospective class action filed last year against 17 schools alleged a price-fixing conspiracy in which schools restricted financial aid, causing a class of potentially more than 200,000 students to over-pay for tuition by tens of millions of dollars. The lawsuit survived an early bid by the schools to dismiss it.

The good news for the plaintiffs is that buying one’s way into the school a la… well, Yale actually, should stick out like a sore thumb; all they’ve gotta do is check the paper trail.

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Attorneys for the student plaintiffs are seeking among other records “documents and communications concerning the consideration of donor or legacy status in admissions,” including details about donations totaling more than $50,000.

“Records of donations of that magnitude in the President’s office or Development office should stick out like needles that can be tracked into the Admissions office,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers told the court.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said evidence of donation records linked to the admissions process would undermine the schools’ claims that a would-be student’s potential for financial aid was not weighed.

This is a juicy bit of higher education, if you ask me. I wonder how many legacy admissions will end up getting picked up on the radar? The only way to find out — besides continuing to read Above the Law, of course, is to search the case up yourself: Henry v. Brown University, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:22-cv-00125.

Students Suing Elite U.S. Colleges Seek ‘Wealth Favoritism’ Information [Reuters]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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