'Legacy' admissions and fairness

By Online Edition - The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re "Of Sheepskins and Greenbacks" (news article, Feb. 13):

Selective college admission has been a hot topic for many because the stakes seem so high and the process so mysterious.

Its elusiveness, lack of predictability and apparent lack of fairness fuel public frustration and fascination.

John M. McCardell Jr., the president of Middlebury College, is right when he says the admissions process entails "imperfect human beings' exercising their imperfect judgment in rationing a scarce commodity."

Like much in life, college admissions isn't fair and cannot be made fair.

There is no universal yardstick by which a rich and varied applicant pool can be judged.

Can formulas and goals help guide the selection process? Yes. Should they drive the process? Absolutely not.

That's where Mr. McCardell's implication of sensitively and professionally applied equal unfairness for all comes into play.

Dan Lundquist
Dean of Admissions
Union College
Schenectady, N.Y., Feb. 13, 2003