Harvard Targeted by Massachusetts Bill on Legacy Admissions (1)

A bill in Massachusetts seeks to tax rich colleges that favor families of alumni and donors in admissions policies — namely Harvard University — and give the money to poorer community colleges.

The legislation targets Harvard, Williams College and a half-dozen other schools that use preferences for students whose parents attended the college, called legacies, and meet a threshold of current endowment value per student. Cambridge-based Harvard, the richest US college with a $50.1 billion endowment, would be assessed an estimated $103 million a year, the largest fee, according to sponsors.

The measure is another salvo in the attack on ...