question: Why is the college bribery story such a big deal?
comment: > but is this situation any different than any other examples of those who have more tend to do things us in lower tax brackets can't afford to do? Yes, the difference is that it is a **crime**. A crime performed by wealthy people who were arrogant enough to think that they could get away with fraud on a massive, organized scale. What many people seem to be missing here is that it isn't just wealthy people buying their children't way into schools. That would in concept be completely legal if somewhat unsavory. What *actually* happened is that the parents paid for a business masquerading as a charity to fake test results, bribe school employees into violating school rules and misuse their position/authority, and get the children into the school when the school otherwise wouldn't have let them. To make an analogy, McDonald's sells hamburgers. Someone buying a hamburger from them is totally legal. However suppose someone paid some sleazy guy to bribe an employee at McDonald's to look the other way while they sneak into the freezer and steal a case of hamburgers which they then deliver to the person who hired them. **That isn't legal.**
passages: The FBI is still pursuing the investigation, nicknamed Operation Varsity Blues after the 1999 film. The case is the largest of its kind to be prosecuted by the US Justice Department.
  
  Section::::Discovery and charges.
   Section::::Cast.
  
  BULLET::::- Arline Judge as Sally Dunlap
  
  BULLET::::- Kent Taylor as Seth Dunlap
  
  BULLET::::- Wendy Barrie as Julie Fresnel
  
  BULLET::::- William Frawley as Chief of Police Magoun
  
  BULLET::::- Benny Baker as 'Cuffie' Lewis
  
  BULLET::::- William Benedict as 'Penny' Parker
  
  BULLET::::- Mary Nash as Mrs. Fresnel
  
  BULLET::::- Edward Nugent as Jake Lansing
  
  BULLET::::- William Stack as Dr. Henri Fresnel
  
  BULLET::::- Johnny Downs as Paul Gedney
  
  BULLET::::- Robert Kent as Dan Courtridge
  
  BULLET::::- Joyce Compton as Toby Carpenter
  
  BULLET::::- Samuel S. Hinds as Mr. Cummings
  
  BULLET::::- Douglas Wood as Dean Traynor
  
  BULLET::::- Edith Arnold as Posey
  
  BULLET::::- Helena Phillips Evans as Melinda
   Both the House and Senate Committees on Government Affairs, as well as the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, later held other hearings on the subject. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated several schools for the Committees on Government Affairs, even purchasing several diplomas from Lexington University for Senator Susan Collins. In at least one instance, a committee investigator registered as a student at one of these schools; several of her recorded telephone conversations were played during these hearings.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Accreditation mill
  
  BULLET::::- University Degree Program
   The result of an extensive search of CAP documentation demanded by Ted Kennedy on January 11, 2006 was that no mention of or connection to Sam Alito was found.
  
  Section::::Quota system for males.
  
  CAP supported quotas preserving admission spots for males.
  
  Section::::Reaction by undergraduates, faculty, and staff.
   Section::::Responses.:Lawsuits.
   For example, Jane Buckingham was arrested on March 12, 2019, for allegedly submitting false paperwork saying her son had a learning disability, and paying $50,000 to Key Worldwide Foundation for a proctor to take the ACT on her son's behalf, scoring a 35 out of 36. The goal was entrance to the University of Southern California (USC). Portions of recorded conversations between Buckingham and a cooperating witness were included in the FBI's affidavit.
  
  Section::::Discovery and charges.:Methods of fraudulent admission.:Fabrication of sports credentials.
   Multiple lawsuits were immediately filed against universities and individuals. Three students from Tulane University, Rutgers University, and a California community college filed a complaint against Singer and the affected universities that they hope will be certified as a class-action suit. A Stanford undergraduate claimed a loss for the time and money she spent applying to schools named in the scandal, as well as the possibility that the stain on Stanford's reputation will decrease the value of her degree. A parent filed a $500 billion civil suit in San Francisco against all the indicted individuals, claiming that her son was denied admission to some schools because of other parents buying access.
   "We are seeing more and more suspicious practices and dealings between university officers and loan companies come to light...This creates even more questions about the integrity of the student loan industry and the process by which colleges steer students to loans."
   Section::::Responses.:Commentary.
  
  After the scandal broke, multiple American news sources including "The Atlantic", "Vox", "Rolling Stone", and "The New York Times" characterized it as a symptom of a broken college admissions system. Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, said it was "the worst scandal involving elite universities in the history of the United States". Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator from Massachusetts (where all the criminal cases were filed), told news media that the scandal represented "just one more example of how the rich and powerful know how to take care of their own".
   In response to the scandal, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the chief governing body for college sports in the United States, announced plans to review the allegations "to determine the extent to which NCAA rules may have been violated".
   The College of DuPage had a special fund for administrators called an "imprest fund." Any purchase made from the fund that is under the $15,000 is not subject to disclosure to the public or review by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees reportedly failed to review the itemized receipts for $26 million of expenditures that college administrators have spent over 16 months. In October 2014, "The Washington Times" awarded COD its weekly “Golden Hammer Award,” given for waste, fraud, and abuse, in response to its management of this fund.
   On February 1, 2013, Smith revealed that "somewhat more than half" of the students were forced to withdraw "for a period of time" and "roughly half" of the remainder were put on disciplinary probation. Smith's e-mail covers all administrative board cases for the past term without mentioning Government 1310 or the scandal, but a Harvard official said they were from one course. For the majority of cases, the "period of time" is two semesters according to students.
  
  Section::::Discipline.:Athletes.
   While at Mount Holyoke, Creighton also became involved with "Women's Education Worldwide," an alliance of institutions of higher education whose goal is to advance women's education around the globe. This international initiative was founded in 2003 by Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, two of the original Seven Sisters (colleges) of U.S. higher education.
  
  Creighton handled the widely publicized suspension of Professor Joseph J. Ellis, a historian who admitted lying to students about having served in Vietnam. He was suspended from the college for a year.
   The women wrote in their petition:
  
  "The College seeks to justify itself by an alleged act of higher generosity. She will establish within her precincts a college for women, in which they may go to even higher achievements. But by that decision the College confesses that she made a mistake twenty years ago, and thus places her present alumnae in the anomalous position of being the visible evidence of that mistake." 
   CAP leaders trace this year's 10 per cent decline in gift-giving to alumni disaffection that emerged during an era of liberalization, an era that reached its culmination in the equal-access decision.
  
  "Annual giving has been hurt very substantially by the equal-access vote," Mr. Jones said. "And it will be hurt more next year as more people find out about it. For many alumni, it was the last straw."
  
  – "The New York Times", March 3, 1974.
  
  Section::::Alito hearings.
   This report was widely described as vindication of Hall, and a validation of the concerns he raised. Others have pointed out that such admissions procedures are widespread, even desirable, in American higher education.
  
  Section::::Recognition.
   In 1990-91, another breach of security was uncovered. These were the early days of paper recycling on campus, and the traditional image of investigative journalists going through the trash to get the story was turned on its ear when "The Eyeopener"'s bins were returned each week, full of exam papers, inter-office memos, confidential documents—and, oddly enough, a complete list of names and phone numbers for the members of the 48th Highlanders pipe band.
  
  After the story ran on page one, the administration responded by taking away "The Eyeopener"'s recycling bin.
   Section::::Controversies and lawsuits.:Comments about college admission bribery scandal (2019).
   Section::::Overview.:Response.
  
  The report was rebutted by the at-the-time President Barry Mills, who called the assessment, "mean-spirited and personal". President Mills responded multiple times after the college's initial response, concluding in a published report entitled "Setting the Record Straight" in "The Daily Sun", in which he formalized his rejection by stating:
   On May 29, 2009, the "Chicago Tribune" published "Clout Goes to College," an article detailing preferential consideration to applicants with connections to politicians and university trustees. According to the article, some students were being admitted despite having sub-par qualifications. The investigation revealed that approximately 800 students over five years landed on the so-called "clout list" and, though not all were unworthy, the admission rate of these students was eight percentage points higher than the school average. One student was accepted into the graduate business school after having been rejected three times. Prior to acceptance, university officials did not confirm whether he had a bachelor's degree from an accredited university.
   New developments in college admissions include increased numbers of applications, increased interest by students in foreign countries in applying to American universities, more students applying by an early method, applications submitted by Internet-based methods including the Common Application, increased use of consultants, guidebooks, and rankings, and increased use by colleges of waitlists. One estimate was that 80 percent of applications were submitted online in 2009. In the spring of 2018, there was a probe by the justice department into whether colleges practicing Early Admissions violated anti-trust laws by sharing information about applicants. In 2019 a widespread bribery and cheating scheme, in which affluent parents used devious methods to get their sons and daughters into competitive schools, involving cheating on standardized tests as well as bribes paid to college coaches and admissions personnel, led to complaints that college admissions is "rigged for the wealthy".
   “In this light, I have tendered my leave of absence with my fraternity until those involved are identified and further proven to be members, and until this abhorrent and antiquated culture no longer exists,” read part of Toribio’s statement on Facebook. “This is not the fraternity I joined,” he continued. 
   Financed at a cost of $100,000, the 359-page report criticized and denounced, in thorough detail, the college's academic program, sexual atmosphere, treatment of women and minorities, student and faculty diversity, drug and alcohol issues, student safety, and hazing, among twenty-six other categories.
  
  Section::::Overview.
  
  Section::::Overview.:Background.
   On December 8, 2014, ABC News reported that the person quoted by Erdely as alleging a rape at Phi Kappa Psi had retained an attorney. Quoting its legal consultant Mark Eiglarsh, the network reported that if Jackie "allegedly lied and that perpetrator suffered injury as a result, she could be sued for damages".
  
  On December 10, 2014, "The Washington Post" published an updated account of its inquiry into the "Rolling Stone" article.
   BULLET::::- 1986: Jeffrey A. Marx and Michael M. York, "Lexington Herald-Leader" (Kentucky), "for their series 'Playing Above the Rules,' which exposed cash payoffs to University of Kentucky basketball players in violation of NCAA regulations. However, the UK basketball program did little to reform itself in the wake of the articles; true reform would not come until the program was involved in another cash-for-recruits scandal three years later."
  