It confers benefits based on race. Legacy college preferences are fundamentally identical to the “grandfather clauses” enacted during Reconstruction, which created onerous barriers to registering to vote while exempting people whose grandfathers were registered. The intent and result was to disenfranchise Black voters. So too with legacy admissions — they are rooted in attempts to continue segregating the student body after de jure discrimination became untenable.

It’s true that not every white applicant has a legacy status to benefit from. But if you look at the racial breakdown of students who benefit from legacy preferences, I think you’ll find far more white students than the in the overall student body.