John R. Dorocak (Cal State-San Bernardino; Google Scholar), How Might a University's Tax-Exempt Status Not Be Revoked by the IRS for Legacy and Donor Admissions, Particularly after Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, and after Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo?, 56 U. Tol. L. Rev. 1 (2024):

Particularly after the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard University (“SFA”), holding admissions programs failed strict scrutiny by using race as a stereotype or negative, a number of law review articles have attempted to utilize the reasoning of the majority opinion particularly in a variety of settings.

Some have even attempted to use SFA in the area of taxation. One area in which SFA might be utilized is to attempt to revoke the tax-exempt status of universities for discrimination in admissions, particularly in granting legacy (close relatives of alumni) and donor (financial contributor) admissions.

It might be argued legacy and donor admissions violate explicit tax regulations for tax-exempt status by providing a private benefit and/or that such admissions violate a strong national policy against racial discrimination in education and thus provide a basis to deny tax-exempt status.

However, it is the position of this article, based on past similar attempts and arguments to revoke tax-exempt status, that such a social policy decision or political question should not be ceded to the I.R.S., but rather should be determined by the legislature or the tax-exempt institutions themselves.

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