As a
private institution, if Amherst College wants to fill its class with left-handed Hopi indians, they should be allowed to!
Interesting implications here; if Amherst's class distribution is (roughly) 1/4 "URMs" (underrepresented minorities), 1/4 athletes, 1/4 alumni children and 1/4 applicants who have nothing going for them but hard work and brains...it's actually 1/4 upper-class URMs, 1/4 upper-class athletes, etc.
Full disclosure: my daughter was wait-listed by Amherst, I believe Amherst's wait-list is larger than the actual class size, and maybe 5-10 get accepted from the list on a good year.
I'm not saying it's illegal, but consider the Bakke case - the issue is very controversial. I think it's unfair to deny qualified applicants merely because they are not poor. Like welfare, this policy discourages hard work. In fact, the discrimination is based on the student's ethnic background, in the sense that it relates to the social status not of them, but of their parents.... so maybe it is illegal. In NY for example the Century Club had to admit women because it had more than 400 members. Amherst has 1700 students.