Now a lead organizer for the nonprofit, he mentioned his analysis confirmed colleges like Stanford settle for “extra college students from the highest 1% of the earnings distribution than all the backside 50%.”
His fellow Stanford organizers traveled to Sacramento 3 times to testify earlier than the state Legislature when AB 1780 was nonetheless within the means of turning into legislation.
“These are the varied college students whose youngsters stand to learn from legacy admissions sooner or later,” Cieslikowski mentioned. “Even the individuals who stand to learn from it disproportionately don’t assume that their establishment ought to observe it.”
He mentioned that whereas the Trump administration is “exploiting America’s distrust” of elite schooling for political functions, universities must be striving to reveal that they serve the general public curiosity, however “Stanford’s choice to proceed legacy and donor choice does the precise reverse of that.”
The college’s legacy admissions assertion was posted simply two days earlier than it introduced sweeping layoffs of over 350 staff and a $140 million finances minimize.
“Stanford has determined that accepting the disproportionately privileged youngsters of Stanford alumni and Stanford donors is extra necessary than taking free cash from the state of California with the intention to present monetary assist for his or her low-income college students,” Cieslikowski mentioned. “Particularly within the face of large layoffs.”
The Stanford spokesperson didn’t reply to a follow-up query in search of to specify whether or not the choice to substitute college funding for Cal Grant was an element or level of debate within the finances minimize.
Cieslikowski referenced Leland Stanford’s quote upon founding the establishment in 1885: that “The kids of California shall be our youngsters.”
“By clinging to legacy choice, the college is sending the precise reverse message,” he mentioned. “Saying that the youngsters of rich alumni and donors come first, they shall be our youngsters.”
