Yale University is being asked to consider scaling back legacy admissions, implementing clearer grading standards and limiting laptops in classrooms, as part of a slate of recommendations made by a faculty committee assigned to examine the decline of trust in higher education.
The committee, appointed by President Maurie McInnis, focused on concerns over admissions, the cost of college, what's taught in classrooms and uncertainty about the purpose of higher education. Students and families nationwide are increasingly questioning the value of a college degree as entry-level jobs disappear.
Among 20 recommendations, the group called for reducing admission preferences for athletes and children of alumni, faculty and donors.
"The current system of preferences for certain groups of applicants distorts the admissions process by reducing the number of slots available to high-achieving applicants who do not fit into one of the favored categories," the report said. "We recommend that Yale reduce preferences for special classes of applicants."
The committee also suggested adopting a minimum SAT score or a Yale-specific entrance exam that would ensure that no student is admitted without the requisite academic preparation and ability.
"Under the current system, Yale informs potential students that everything matters, leaving applicants scrambling to second-guess what the university wants," the committee wrote. "It would also spare a meaningful number of applicants time and emotional investment in an application that will not succeed."
Elite US universities have drawn the ire of President Donald Trump, who since taking office has hammered the schools over support for diversity programs, perceived political bias and academic rigor. Some of the issues addressed by the Yale committee -- making college affordable, protecting free speech and grade inflation -- coincide with critiques from the administration.
"Today, universities nationwide are facing a historic wave of calls for change," McInnis wrote in a letter Wednesday to address the recommendations. "Trust in institutions is waning, and that's not a problem we can brush aside. For higher education to serve the public good, we need the public's trust."
The list of recommendations also includes instituting a device-free policy that would limit phones, laptops and tablets in classrooms.
The recommendations offer a roadmap, said McInnis, who became Yale president in July 2024. She previously served as president of Stony Brook University in New York and provost of the University of Texas at Austin.
"There are some that are easier to act on quickly, and others that I think will require longer and ongoing and sustained effort," she said in an interview.
The admissions recommendations were shared with a Presidential Council on Yale College Admissions, a group McInnis appointed to review policies that is expected to release its own recommendations by the end of the school year.