Our Campaign

What We Do

Legislative Action

We're committed to ending legacy and donor preference in DC by passing our bill, the Furthering Admissions Inclusion and Representation (FAIR) Act, in the DC City Council. We regularly engage in lobbying with DC elected officials to earn support. Read more about our bill and how it will end discriminatory admissions practices below.

Community Organizing

We work to raise awareness and build solidarity around admissions reform across the District. That's why our work includes outreach to organizations and individuals across DC, including the DC Democratic Party, Mayor's Office, Attorney General's Office, the DC chapter of the ACLU, and student organizations on other campuses.

Advocacy

We advocate for fair admissions by mobilizing students, alumni, and community members to show up and share why this issue is important to them. Campaign members have shared their stories by testifying at hearings, speaking to the media, and even contributing to the Washington Post. Click below to find student perspectives on the growing movement for admissions reform.

The Letter

Following the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action, we sent a letter to Georgetown's administration expressing concern about how the decision would impact our already abysmal diversity. In the letter, we cited research (including some by the university's own statisticians) warning that maintaining legacy admissions post affirmative action would not only prevent future growth in the number of underrepresented students, but facilitate a fall. We asked them to consider ending legacy admissions in order to protect and grow the diversity of our campus.

Campaign History

July 2023

August 2023

The Petition

After receiving no response to our letter, we pivoted to gathering community support for ending legacy admissions with our petition. Circulated among students, faculty, staff, and alumni, we received over 1,100 signatures, including from DC congresswoman and civil rights leader Eleanor Holmes Norton, a professor emerita at Georgetown.

February 2024

Community Letter

In order to demonstrate support for ending legacy admissions among the larger DC community, we created a community letter calling on the DC City Council to ban legacy and donor preference. The letter received the support of local leaders, elected officials, and student organizations, including Ankit Jain, DC's Shadow Senator, and Charles Wilson, Chairman of the DC Democratic State Committee.

The FAIR Act

When Georgetown's administration made clear they were not interested in ending the practice, we pivoted our efforts to legislative action. We wrote a bill to ban legacy and donor preference in admissions district-wide, the Furthering Admissions Inclusion and Representation (FAIR) Act, and began searching for a sponsor to introduce the bill in the DC City Council.

December 2023

July 2024

Strengthening support for our campaign, we worked to introduce a resolution calling on Council to end legacy admissions in the DC State Board of Education. After the tireless advocacy of student organizers, including many who testified at the hearing, the resolution received overwhelming support and passed with 8 votes in favor and only 1 opposed.

SR 24-16

February 2025

Introduction

At their February 19th public meeting, the DC State Board of Education will vote on utilizing their introduction power to send the FAIR Act to the DC City Council.