On Tuesday afternoon, Stanford’s administration laid out its action map to compliance of Assembly Bill 1780, California’s new law prohibiting legacy and donor admission into private universities.,
In a private interview with the Flipside, President Levin, of Levin Field fame, expressed his excitement for the new plan. “Although we are aware that this new legislation goes into effect September 1, 2025, earlier is much better for getting a head start on our legacy issue. They are taking up all student enrollments from more deserving students, and while I am sure they’re people like the rest of us, in the eyes of the law, they are now illegal on campus. Now’s the time to be tough on legacies.”
He also commented that, “I was not super concerned before, but the problem is getting to the point where action has to be done… the emotional support cats and dogs of campus have been going missing and students are getting concerned. Enough is enough.”
Division amongst the student body has run rampant. In preparation for potential backlash, the university created a new task force, titled Identity and Connections-based Extraction (ICE), to seek out and remove legacies around campus. While many are enthusiastic about this plan to make campus more fairly populated by “real students,” others are advocating for more rights and support for the legacies, offering plans to make the path to legal student registration more common and accessible.
Legacy students are evidently fearful for their livelihood and safety. One legacy, who asked to remain anonymous for their safety and will only respond to the title “Her Majesty, Gwendolyn III” spoke to us about the vitriol on campus: “We can’t control who we are, who we were born to, or the fact that my last name is on eight of the buildings here—or, nine, as of this January. It’s not right: we need to stop the hate that is consuming campus and destroying the lives of 17% of the student population. We are all terrified of losing the lives that we have spent so much time building here. Please, we need help.” In her free time, Her Majesty, Gwendolyn III has been a staunch advocate for legacies, sharing her own experiences with having her friend group be separated at the campus border.
While no real answers have come from the debate so far, the ASSU student government has taken a stance, launching a platform promising to get legacy students off the streets of Stanford (starting with Mayfield Avenue and Lagunita Drive) and sending them back to where they came from—Cupertino.
