Cornell University is in the news and for all the wrong reasons. Yet whatever you think of the horrendous frat scandal that’s been dominating social media conversation, there’s one angle to the story, and to Cornell more generally, that’s gone largely unexplored: class.
Recent research backs up what we already know: the wealthy have a much easier time getting into elite schools like Cornell than everyone else. That elite education then places these young adults at even greater advantage, with Ivy League graduates wildly overrepresented among Fortune 500 CEOs, the New York Times editorial board, and other top institutions.
