BILL REQ. #:  S-1390.1 

Read first time 02/05/09.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education & Workforce Development.

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Legacy preferences in college admissions are benefits given to alumni children based not on merit, but on the identity, status, or accomplishments of their parents; and
     WHEREAS, Inherited preferences for publicly available goods infringe upon fundamental American values and are appropriate only in status-based feudal societies; and
     WHEREAS, The United States of America was founded on equality and a commitment to social and economic mobility based on talent and merit; and
     WHEREAS, The legacy preferences in college admissions offend the American egalitarian tradition and should be neither tolerated nor enabled;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that no federal moneys, grants, student aid, or other financial benefits accrue to colleges or universities that use legacy preferences in their admissions decisions.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each member of Congress from the State of Washington, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Education.