But guidance counselors at some of the elite schools that serve as “feeders” to the Ivy League expressed skepticism that NACAC would actually expel Princeton or Brown for refusing to comply. Moreover, they warn, if the organization did so, it might be paving the road to its own irrelevance.

“The balance of power is clearly held by the colleges,” said Stephen Singer, the head college counselor at Horace Mann School in the Bronx. “They have the thing that all the kids want, and that’s the admit letter. If being admitted is an important thing, if people care about being admitted, then what difference does it make to Princeton and Brown’s daily existence that they are not a member of the national association?”

Bruce Breimer, the college counselor at New York City’s Collegiate School, said that NACAC could not afford to follow through with expulsion.

“NACAC needs them a hell of a lot more than they need NACAC,” he said. “If it’s a blinking match, I’ll tell you who will blink first. [NACAC membership] is not considered to be the Holy Grail. There’s talk that a lot of colleges are going to pull out.”

Counselors On the Spot

As long as the standoff continues, it is up to college counselors to determine whose policies will be instituted and how they will be enforced.

Since a federal ruling 10 years ago prevented Ivy League colleges from sharing financial aid information about prospective students, admissions offices do not usually know if their applicants have also sought admission elsewhere.

The primary enforcement of early decision agreements has historically been undertaken by guidance counselors, who can refuse to send transcripts or recommendations to schools besides the Early Decision school.

Prohibiting students from filing simultaneous early applications helps to avoid situations where a student breaks an early commitment but the school to which they are bound does not find out until they fail to receive a deposit.

But the disagreement between NACAC and Princeton and Brown puts counselors in the awkward position of choosing a side in the dispute when confronted with a student who wishes to apply early to either Brown or Princeton as well as an Early Action school such as Harvard or MIT.

Breimer said that Collegiate has always limited its students to one early application, while Singer said that Horace Mann will allow its students to apply early to multiple schools—as long as one of them is not Princeton or Brown.

But effectively siding with the colleges—and protecting their relationship with admissions offices—might put counselors at legal risk, according to James M. Fallows ’70, whose Atlantic Monthly article “The Early Decision Racket” sparked much of the controversy over early programs last year.

Fallows, who is also a Crimson editor, cautioned that students who wished to file multiple applications might file suit arguing that counselors are colluding with colleges to illegally restrict their options.

An Absentee Conference

Many admissions officers and counselors have expressed frustration both with the new NACAC guidelines’ potential effects and the manner in which they were instituted.