Connecticut lawmakers are considering banning the use of legacy and donor preferences in admissions to all colleges and universities across the state, including private ones like Yale University.

A bill was advanced to the Senate floor on Thursday, days after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation barring consideration of a student's familial ties to a public college or university when being considered for admission. The first such law was signed in Colorado in 2021.

There has been pushback to Connecticut's bill from some private institutions in the state, including Yale, which have argued the state should not be dictating how they make admissions decisions, just like it shouldn't dictate decisions on curriculum and faculty hiring. But proponents note how these schools, which receive substantial tax benefits for their non-profit status, have the power to provide all kinds of students with a ticket to an elite world.

CONNECTICUT UNIVERSITY DORM FIRE FORCES DOZENS OF STUDENTS INTO TEMPORARY HOUSING

"If you look at leaders of Fortune 500 companies, you look at members of Congress, United States Supreme Court justices, this really matters to how our society operates," said Democratic state Sen. Derek Slap, co-chair of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee.

An Associated Press survey of the nation’s most selective colleges in 2022 found that legacy students in the freshman class ranged from 4% to 23%, though many schools declined to provide basic data in response to AP’s request. The AP found that at four schools — Notre Dame, USC, Cornell and Dartmouth — legacy students outnumbered Black students.

Slap noted how the U.S. Supreme Court last summer struck down affirmative action in college admissions, proving they don't have institutional freedom to make preferences based on race.

"I think it’s egregious, though, that this preference, the one for wealthy folks, remains," he said.

Republican Sen. Kevin Kelly said he has heard from private schools in his district, especially faith-based colleges, that are concerned about how they would be impacted by the legislation. He said the ability of institutions of higher education to "exercise their freedom to teach how they are and what they are" has helped to create "American exceptionalism."

"I think when the state government starts to interfere in that process, we’re not only interfering in private relations of institutions, but we’re also interfering in that American excellence," he said.

Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid at Yale University, recently told state lawmakers that the school agrees with the "central aim" of the bill, which is to enroll more low-income and first-generation students. But in addition to the state overstepping its bounds, he said the bill doesn't address the key challenge of providing less advantaged students with the resources needed to prepare for college and graduate on time.

He also said Yale's undergraduate admissions office strives to "assemble a group of the most promising students from the most diverse collection of backgrounds." He said undergraduates from families that can't afford the full cost of attending Yale receive a need-based scholarship that covers tuition, housing, meals, travel, books and personal expenses.

Last year, Wesleyan University, another private school in Connecticut, announced it was ending its policy of giving preferential treatment in admissions to those whose families have historical ties to the school.

The bill, which cleared the committee on a vote of 18-4, moves to the Senate for further action.

India has implemented a citizenship law that excludes Muslims, a minority community whose concerns have heightened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

The rules for the law were announced Monday. It establishes a religious test for migrants from every major South Asian faith other than Islam. Critics argue that the law is further evidence that Modi’s government is trying to reshape the country into a Hindu state and marginalize Muslims.

The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014. The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.

INDIA'S GOVERNMENT TO ENACT CONTROVERSIAL CITIZENSHIP LAW EXCLUDING MUSLIMS AHEAD OF ELECTION

It also amends the old law, which prevents illegal migrants from becoming Indian citizens, and marks the first time that India — an officially secular state with a religiously diverse population — has set religious criteria for citizenship.

The Indian government has said those eligible can apply for Indian citizenship through an online portal.

The implementation of the law has been one of the key campaign promises of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party before a general election scheduled to be held by May.

Modi's government has dismissed arguments that the law is discriminatory. It defends the law as a humanitarian gesture to extend citizenship to religious minorities fleeing persecution and says it would not be used against Indian citizens.

The law was approved by Parliament in 2019, but Modi’s government held off its implementation after deadly protests in which scores were killed.

The nationwide protests drew people of all faiths who said the law undermines India’s foundation as a secular nation. Muslims were particularly worried that the government could use the law, combined with a proposed citizenship registry, to marginalize them.

The National Register of Citizens is part of the Modi government’s effort to identify and weed out people it claims came to India illegally. The register has only been implemented in the northeastern state of Assam, but Modi's party has promised to roll out a citizenship verification program nationwide.

Critics and Muslim groups say the citizenship law will protect non-Muslims who are excluded from the register, while Muslims could face deportation or internment.

On Monday, human rights watchdog Amnesty India said the law "legitimizes discrimination based on religion."

The United States also expressed its concern and said it will closely monitor how India implements the law. "Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a daily briefing Thursday.

Opponents of the law — including Muslims, opposition parties and rights groups — say it is exclusionary and violates the secular principles enshrined in the constitution. They say faith cannot be made a condition of citizenship.

Some also argue that if the law is aimed at protecting persecuted minorities, then it should have included Muslim religious minorities who have faced persecution in their own countries, including Ahmadis in Pakistan and Rohingyas in Myanmar.

To critics, Modi is pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda that threatens to erode the country’s secular foundation, shrink space for religious minorities, particularly Muslims, and move the country closer to a Hindu nation.

INDIA’S RELIGIOUS DIVIDE CONTINUES TO WIDEN BETWEEN MUSLIM, HINDU COMMUNITY

India has a large minority group of 200 million Muslims in its population of more than 1.4 billion. They live in almost every part of India and have been targeted in numerous attacks since Modi assumed power in 2014.

Scores of Muslims have been lynched by Hindu mobs over allegations of eating beef or smuggling cows, an animal considered holy to Hindus. Muslim businesses have been boycotted, their localities have been bulldozed and places of worship set on fire. Some open calls have been made for their genocide.

Critics say Modi’s conspicuous silence over anti-Muslim violence has emboldened some of his most extreme supporters and enabled more hate speech against Muslims.

Modi has also increasingly mixed religion with politics in a formula that has resonated deeply with India’s majority Hindu population. In January, he opened a Hindu temple at the site of a demolished mosque in northern Ayodhya city, fulfilling his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge.