California bans legacy admissions at private colleges, including USC, Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd

California’s private nonprofit colleges will no longer be able to grant students an admissions advantage if their parents donated to or went to the same college after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Monday morning banning the practice. The state joins a rarefied group of four others that have passed laws banning legacy admissions. Colleges will still be allowed to admit students with alumni or donor ties, but they’ll no longer be able to grant preferential treatment to those applicants in the admissions process. “In California, everyone should be able...