If you can trace your family history to slavery, you may soon get admissions preference to some California universities.
California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 7 (AB-7) on Sept. 12, 2025, with a 48-to-14 vote. It would allow — not require — California colleges to give preference to the descendants of enslaved people. California Governor Gavin Newsom has until Oct. 12 to sign or veto the measure.
Supporters say the law would be one step toward leveling a playing field that was never fair.
“While we like to pretend that access to institutions of higher learning is fair and merit-based and equal, we know that it is not,” said Assembly member Isaac Bryan before the Assembly vote. He authored the bill.
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To qualify for the preference, the bill says you must “establish direct lineage to a person who, before 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery.” It also stipulates that your relative must meet at least one of five criteria that include being emancipated through legal means or “being classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.”
As Bryan pointed out, “If you are the relative or the descendant of somebody who is rich or powerful or well connected, or an alum of one of these illustrious institutions, you got priority consideration.” He’s describing what’s called legacy admissions, which California lawmakers just banned last year.
Fears Over Legality
Some reparations advocates question whether the bill can withstand legal challenges. California outlawed affirmative action in 1996, and the Supreme Court overturned it at the federal level in 2023.
Bryan says the bill focuses on lineage — being a descendant – instead of race to comply with existing laws.
“I suspect that colleges, if they take this up, will receive scrutiny and or receive lawsuits,” says Dr. Andre Perry, senior fellow and director of the Center for Community Uplift at the Brookings Institution.
He argues that it’s easier to justify reparations-like programs when the individual was directly harmed, as opposed to a descendant.
But he adds that “any effort to address discrimination is worthy.”
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Some universities around the country have decided to initiate their own policies around admission preferences or scholarships for the descendants of slaves.
In 2016, Georgetown University declared it would offer preferential admission to the enslaved people owned by the Maryland Province of Jesuits. That group of enslaved people helped build the university.
The University of Virginia offers scholarships through its Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship Program for Virginia residents who belong to a community that “continues to experience the negative legacy of slavery.”
The California bill has passionate support and opposition. When it was presented at the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, the University of California Student Association called it “a critical step toward equity and restorative justice.”
Alternatively, the conservative-leaning Californians for Equal Rights Foundation called it a “de facto racial preference” that doesn’t address structural issues in K-12 education.
Bryan says either way, now is the time to have these types of conversations.
“It’s important more than ever as the president of the United States is weaponizing our institutions of higher learning,” he said. “In fact, just before he entered office, he talked about reparations for white students in colleges because there were so many people of color at these universities.”
Update 10/14/2025: On Oct. 13, Gov. Newsom vetoed AB-7. He called the measure “unnecessary” because “institutions already have the authority to determine whether to provide admissions preferences like this one.” He did, however, sign a bill that authorizes California State University to develop procedures to determine who qualifies as a descendant of a formerly enslaved person.