Legacy Preferences
The figures are truly astounding. Between 10% and 15% of Ivy League schools’ entering classes are “legacies.” As one can tell, this is quite controversial and there has been much debate over whether this process should be continued.
One on side of the spectrum, colleges defend this policy, saying that legacy applicants have been given greater opportunity by their parents and are therefore more apt in academics. However, there are also many cons condemning this practice. For example, some argue that this is essentially an indirect way of “selling” enrollment in colleges, as private universities rely on private donors for their funds. This would also mean that the weight of academic excellence in the application process is being substituted for financial success, something that is difficult to achieve by most especially in today’s economy. Also, on a grander scale, if the wealthy are given an advantage as great as this, societal economic mobility is altered.
It is also frowned upon in public universities, as there is a Nobility Cause in the Constitution that prohibits hereditary privilege of any sort.
Sororities and Legacy
Sigma Delta Tau logo
Interview with Melissa Barry, member of Sigma Delta Tau
1. What is a legacy in a sorority?A legacy is someone who has a mother, sister, grandmother, great grandmother, etc. who was also a member of the same sorority. My friend Danielle is a triple legacy in that her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother were all sisters of Sigma Delta Tau.
2. Does it bring advantages?Being a legacy during the recruitment process is advantageous because we try to pick girls who have a background and knowledge of SDT. It is also a nice because you can learn things from previous SDT pledge classes from when your mother or grandmother was a sister in the house and share them with the current events.
3. Describe what a family line is. In most sororities and fraternities you will have a family line. In each family line there is a person of each pledge class. The person in your family line who is a year older than you is your big and the person a year younnger than you is your little. Each year when the new pledge class joins the house the youngest member of the family line picks someone to be their little. This makes the family line grow and continue throughout the years. I have been lucky to have a very close family line and I know all the girls in my lineage all the way back from class of 2003! Each summer we all get together for an SDT family line dinner so we the newest member can meet the rest of the lineage.
1. What is a legacy in a sorority?A legacy is someone who has a mother, sister, grandmother, great grandmother, etc. who was also a member of the same sorority. My friend Danielle is a triple legacy in that her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother were all sisters of Sigma Delta Tau.
2. Does it bring advantages?Being a legacy during the recruitment process is advantageous because we try to pick girls who have a background and knowledge of SDT. It is also a nice because you can learn things from previous SDT pledge classes from when your mother or grandmother was a sister in the house and share them with the current events.
3. Describe what a family line is. In most sororities and fraternities you will have a family line. In each family line there is a person of each pledge class. The person in your family line who is a year older than you is your big and the person a year younnger than you is your little. Each year when the new pledge class joins the house the youngest member of the family line picks someone to be their little. This makes the family line grow and continue throughout the years. I have been lucky to have a very close family line and I know all the girls in my lineage all the way back from class of 2003! Each summer we all get together for an SDT family line dinner so we the newest member can meet the rest of the lineage.
