A growing chorus of voices is calling on Harvard and other top colleges to eliminate their longstanding admissions preferences for children of alumni . Known as “legacy preferences,” these advantages tend to favor white students from affluent families. In the background, though, a longer-simmering issue has quietly gained traction, one with the potential to shift the institution’s character profoundly over the long term. For months, Harvard University has endured a series of fast-moving crises, with controversies over antisemitism, plagiarism, and free speech blaring across social media and whipping up headlines. After last year’s Supreme Court ruling against Harvard, which banned...