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Rich Folks Get Their Not Qualified Kids Into College, But This Time, Illegally
One student's parents wanted their daughter to go to Yale so badly that they paid $1.2 million in bribes to get into a school that cost $55K a year in tuition. https://t.co/6o8HFVNGwO
— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) March 12, 2019
A story broke this morning about a scheme involving some rich folks, including two actresses (Felicity Hoffman and Lori Loughlin) have used to get their kids who wouldn’t have otherwise been admitted into college.
Actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are among the dozens of people charged in a nationwide college admissions scheme that included cheating on entrance exams and bribing school administrators and coaches to recruit students as athletes https://t.co/I0YvhtTuBU
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 12, 2019
My friend Salena Zito remarked,
What is wrong with parents? Why would you rob your child the ability to earn their achievements? Or rob them of the lessons of sitting on a bench or failing? No wonder we are buried in snowflakes. https://t.co/issDKRigl2
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) March 12, 2019
And Daniella Greenbaum Davis rightfully pointed out,
If I had parents who shortchanged me the way these parents did, I’d be subpar too. The sad thing is if these kids were encouraged to work hard rather than having things bought / cheated for them, they may have actually earned what they got.
— Daniella Greenbaum Davis (@DGreenbaum) March 12, 2019
With parents like these, I think I’m even better off having gone to Rutgers on my own merits, on my own dime.
Published in Education
Acts of commercial bribery get caught under fraud and theft offenses in those other states.
While I can see the fraud (although, I must confess, I am quite unmoved by it), I am having a hard time seeing the theft. I think the school got paid no matter what.
Parents lied on their kid’s resume, schools believed the lie. Seriously, that is a criminal offense now? Whatever happened to Caveat Venditor?
I can see people going, “dang, why didn’t I think of that?”
I am still just enjoying the schadenfreude of the whole situation. Speaking of Felicity Huffman, for example, I am supposed to care that supporters of “Crooked Hillary” behaved crookedly?
Whether it would be prosecuted as fraud or some other theft offense depends on the particular situation, of course.
I am puzzled about your comments. Are you saying you don’t see anything wrong with what they did? Or are you simply enjoying the angst of the moneyed folks getting caught?
Personally, I am cheered that the evil actions are being exposed and prosecuted. I wish they did the same to Fauxcahontas for her misrepresentations. [Even if any prosecutor were so inclined, there is no doubt a statute of limitations problem in the case of Elizabeth Warren.]
Oh, I see the wrong. I see where the athletic coaches breached a supposed fiduciary responsibility, even absent a clause to that effect in their contracts. I see where people cheated on their taxes. Cheated on an entrance exam.
Lots of wrong there. What I don’t see is (absent the tax crime) the illegality. Not seeing the criminal offense.
I really am enjoying that part. But it isn’t the “moneyed” part. I couldn’t care less about what someone has. I am enjoying seeing the shills of contemporary morality (activist for this, that, and the other) get a measure of comeuppance.
I understand. Let’s see if I can help on the criminality. The coach clearly defrauded the college about the swimming prospect. Yest, there was a breach of duty, but that is part of the fraud. She (he?) made false representations about the student upon which the college relied to its detriment. The parents paid for the fraud and are therefor at least accessories. Perhaps even criminal conspirators. They paid the coach to commit the fraud. Does that bring the criminality into better focus?
The whole construct of the NCAA and what a student athlete supposedly is, is such a mess. It’s pretty interesting when you hear libertarian lawyers poke holes in it.
Personally, I think it’s a gigantic banana republic and shame on Congress for not even pretending to do something about it.
What was the detriment? He didn’t recommend a scholarship, just a position on the team, provided admission.
Even then schools make such offers clearly at risk, as they cannot compel someone to remain on the team or to even compete.
Interesting point. My niece played competitive squash. She is from Singapore and wanted to go to school in the US. Columbia offered her a scholarship if she would play for them. Middlebury just offered admission. My brother-in-law was willing to pay full freight.
She chose Middlebury and quit the team after her freshman year. Probably not going to charge her with fraud, or some form of failure to perform.
So unless the school didn’t achieve the level of competition it desired, I don’t see the detriment.
Particularly since college admissions are fraught with irregularities and immoral practices.
Has the DOJ opened a criminal case against the Ivy League for discrimination against Asians yet?
Actually, they have.
Nah, they are supporting the civil lawsuit, not a criminal investigation for the decades long conspiracy to deprive Asians of their civil rights.
I still use the female terms: actresses, waitresses, policewomen, etc.
When all is said and done, I don’t care what these celebs and pols did to get their kids in school. All I want is for my kids to get into school, and watch the aforementioned children crash and burn when they get into the real world – those who do, which ain’t many . . .
You, I, and Bethany.
They need to remove sports from all levels of schools. K-12, college, etc. sports corrupts everything it touches. If it is not monetary corruption, it is educational corruption or sexual corruption.