Having been personally impacted by this as well (my eldest was rejected despite having scores/grades in the top quartile of the class that was admitted his freshman year) I can personally tell you that despite my small donations over the years - they have been redirected to the schools that were/are kind enough to pay for all or most of my eldest two kids educations, despite me having no other ties to them.steel_hop wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:35 amFirst, the discussion about lax being grandfathered in to DI or moving all sports up to DI took place at least a decade ago. Lots of things have changed. At the time, the President was very active in the sports program and attended many games not just lacrosse. This was also at a time that Hopkins lax under DP was in its prime. You also had a very supportive AD in Tom Calder. He was the assistant AD when Bob Scott (who was alive at the time this decision was going on) was the AD so had a natural affinity to the program staying in DI. A number of big time supporters - guys like Larry Goldfarb, RIP, are long passed away. Sadly, many of the people that knew LG and others like him no longer work at Hopkins. He is just a name on a sign now.nyjay wrote: ↑Tue Mar 24, 2020 2:13 pm I don't believe any sensible person believes that the program is going DIII. Far off the deep end speculation that the Daniels administration doesn't like the program and wants to bring in in line with his view of the university.
As a I dislike Daniels and his identity politics BS (as an alum married to an alum, it there another university I ask for legacy status for my kids, since you guys decided to disenfranchise us?), this going DIII thing is from deep in the fever swamps.
Second, saying that. I doubt Hopkins would move to D3 but to think it wouldn't be discussed is misplaced. I'm sure there are discussions on this whenever long term planning about the Athletic Department take place. There is also likely a great deal of pressure from the faculty to reduce the emphasis on sports - see a school like Swathmore dropping football 20 years ago or Hofstra, St. Johns, or Boston U dropping football. Reducing the commitment (i.e. the cost) of high level sports is not unheard of.
Third, I am alum married to an alum who comes from an alum family. And the decision to discount legacy has meant the entire family has stopped giving. Some of them helped fund scholarships. So it isn't Bloomberg money but some years it was significant. If my kid isn't smart enough to get into Hopkins that is fine. But, if my kid was in the gray area that many decisions are made or equal to someone else who isn't a legacy, I see no reason why being a legacy shouldn't provide some small bonus. Note, Hopkins took a very broad view of legacy such that it was almost to the point that the school's janitor's cousin's kid would be considered a legacy but tightening that up would have made more sense than just dropping it all together.
I suspect that as legacy families disappear over the years, Hopkins will be losing a great deal of financial support and rely on the hope that there are a few Mike Bloombergs that pop up over the years.
I do agree with steel_hop in that if a legacy is underserving of admission by standards, then so be it. However, IMHO it almost seems that being a legacy has become a detriment, even when you have the gravitas to get in.