The stupid sons of rich men

After the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down affirmative action in higher education admissions in a case against Harvard University, President Joe Biden took aim at the old boys network of giving a boost to the kids of alumni, saying "Today, I'm directing the Department of Education to analyze what practices help build a more inclusive and diverse student bodies and what practices hold that back, practices like legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity."

Last week advocates in Boston filed a complaint with the feds that Harvard's system of legacy admission advantage for Junior violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Our headline, "the stupid sons of rich men," comes from Charles Eliot, the president of Harvard for 40 years, until 1909. He wanted to open the university's door to scholars with brains, be they Jews, women or Blacks and not just rely on the gene pool of alums.

Legacy admissions demean students they purport to help and perpetuate a parent-to-children inheritance that excludes talented strivers trying to get in.

A few top colleges have banned legacy admissions, namely, Johns Hopkins and Amherst. With the end of affirmative action and legacies the next target, schools shouldn't wait until they are forced to end it.