|
|
Post by KY Crusader 75 on Mar 12, 2019 10:45:07 GMT -5
Breaking story
200 federal agents arrest 46 people in 6 states. As I understand this story, parents paid typically $250,000 to $400,000 to a facilitator to ensure their child's admissions to schools such as Yale, Wake Forest, Georgetown, USA, and Texas (why?) via bribes to coaches (to set aside "slots" for their child, even if not a real athlete), fraudulent test-taking, etc. Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin are mentioned.
|
|
|
|
Post by gks on Mar 12, 2019 10:48:44 GMT -5
Crazy and pathetic. Press conference just said parents paid up to $6 million to get their kids admitted to schools. Stanford, Yale, Georgetown and Wake Forest mentioned.
|
|
|
|
Post by rgs318 on Mar 12, 2019 10:49:25 GMT -5
Wow! This is pretty bad for many. On the other hand, if competition for spots becomes more fair as a result, it could be a good thing in the long run.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Mar 12, 2019 11:11:45 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by bison137 on Mar 12, 2019 11:44:01 GMT -5
Many will remember that Penn was the subject of a similar bribery scandal a few years ago when a parent paid Jerome Allen, their former coach, to bring in their son as a basketball recruit even though he had little ability.
|
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Mar 12, 2019 12:49:45 GMT -5
Seems to be a combo fraud of test taking and coach-bribing.
|
|
|
|
Post by alum on Mar 12, 2019 13:02:05 GMT -5
If the stories about the presidential son in law's college admission process are accurate, even an institution as rich as the one in Cambridge can be bought. For what some of these people spent, maybe they could have just made a tax-deductible donation to the school of their choice.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Mar 12, 2019 13:58:18 GMT -5
If the stories about the presidential son in law's college admission process are accurate, even an institution as rich as the one in Cambridge can be bought. For what some of these people spent, maybe they could have just made a tax-deductible donation to the school of their choice. This is covered in the indictments/complaints. The cost of getting in via donation, at least at these elite schools, is often 10x what these folks were paying. And many of these schools may not have even taken the calls from these people if the prospective donor had no prior affiliation with the school in question. They know what's up and the risk of exposure isn't necessarily worth the cash.
This is reprehensible on any number of levels: these rich/advantage kids don't NEED to go to these schools to be successful, they have every advantage already. And particularly disgusting is that the procedure for gaming the standardized test scores was to take advantage of legitimate test-taking acccommodations available to test takers with disabilities... disabilities that these spoiled brats don't have. That's just despicable.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Mar 12, 2019 14:53:01 GMT -5
Interesting that the FBI serendipitously discovered this in the course of another investigation. From what I have read, the other investigation has not been described and may be ongoing, or have concluded.
The more interesting aspect is that the indictments were brought by the U.S.Attorney for Massachusetts, and the only relationship that Massachusetts has to this is that one of the defendants has a summer home in Falmouth. This suggests to me that the other FBI investigation had a Massachusetts focus.
|
|
|
|
Post by DFW HOYA on Mar 12, 2019 16:24:33 GMT -5
Interesting that the FBI serendipitously discovered this in the course of another investigation. From what I have read, the other investigation has not been described and may be ongoing, or have concluded. The more interesting aspect is that the indictments were brought by the U.S.Attorney for Massachusetts, and the only relationship that Massachusetts has to this is that one of the defendants has a summer home in Falmouth. This suggests to me that the other FBI investigation had a Massachusetts focus. Georgetown had removed Gordie Ernst as tennis coach in 2017 and apparently had begun an internal investigation over a year ago, so it is theoretically possible that this investigation got the DOJ's attention. Ernst had a house in Falmouth and a country club membership which was cited in the forfeiture documents. The DOJ noted at the press conference that there was another investigation that started around Northeastern and Boston U and this may be the one that is ongoing. It's an important story, though the Hollywood angle probably got as much coverage as the crimes itself. |
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Mar 12, 2019 16:32:03 GMT -5
Lori Loughlin will have to switch from Hallmark movies to Lifetime dramas.
|
|
|
|
Post by HC92 on Mar 12, 2019 19:17:18 GMT -5
Our omission from this scandal tells us all we need to know about how far we have fallen from the academic elite.
|
|
|
|
Post by rgs318 on Mar 12, 2019 19:20:06 GMT -5
...or about our character as an institution.
|
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Mar 13, 2019 6:23:13 GMT -5
Our omission from this scandal tells us all we need to know about how far we have fallen from the academic elite. Were we ever in the academic elite? (We were once considered above schools like BC, BU, VU, FU, etc. but not sure that put us in/near the academic elite.)
When folks start listing the bad press (and scandals) over the last two years at HC...at least we were not in this scandal.
It is interesting that there is no discussion in the documents (as far as I could see) about the kid possibly floundering once admission is gained via fake ACTs and fake college coach action.
|
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Mar 13, 2019 10:28:06 GMT -5
Actually, once upon a time HC was considered an academically elite near - Ivy institution in terms of the quality of the student body and its academic offerings. It was generally considered the finest Catholic undergraduate college in the country. It was spoken about in these terms in the rarified circles of the professional world and in academia. Many of us turned down the Ivies to attend HC. The rejection by the NESCAC was damaging to our self image. Adjustment to the new reality has been painful. LoveHC New?
40 years ago when I was looking at colleges, the only 'elite' eastern Catholic College was Georgetown. And that was not considered elite by the HYP set. (Heck, Columbia and UPenn were not considered elite by the HYP set). Which didn't matter to my family's circle because secular colleges were just that. (And many of us at HC had been accepted to Georgetown and many more of us had used BC as a safety BTW - don't think the kiddies today would believe that but it was once true.)
More recently (but not actually recently) we've been passed by (IMHO) by a few other eastern and not particularly elite Catholic Colleges.
I've heard stories (sometimes fantasies) of how HC was once almost an Ivy or almost a NESCAC.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Mar 13, 2019 12:26:51 GMT -5
Apparently there are 500 students whose parents gamed the process in one way or the other over the years. Test scores not honestly obtained were sent to BC, BostU, and Northeastern.
These are schools which are SAT required; no need to send in a faked score to HC if SAT scores are not required for admission. I've not yet heard of transcripts being faked, so it appears that the students submitting faked SAT scores had good grades in the high school, or prep school.
|
|
|
|
Post by WCHC Sports on Mar 13, 2019 12:31:02 GMT -5
Lori Loughlin will have to switch from Hallmark movies to Lifetime dramas. Full House
|
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Mar 13, 2019 13:06:55 GMT -5
I'm a sucker for those sappy Hallmark romance movies and see Lori often on those along with her fellow Full House alumna Candice Cameron Bure? I wonder if Hallmark will drop her as this type of conniving behavior is anathema for their sweet heroines.
|
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Mar 13, 2019 13:12:56 GMT -5
Is anyone truly surprised? Preferential admissions have been given to legacy applicants and the children of wealthy donors for years even if the applicants were not up to the academic standards of the school. This current scandal as terrible as it is, is merely the next logical step in gaming a rigged system. To the contrary: Two affluent friends tried to get their kids admitted as legacy applicants - one to HC and the other to Fordham - and were denied admission to the schools. The parents were quite upset. Some colleges do have integrity. LoveHC I bet the kids turned out fine. Pulling strings for kids could be a mistake for their long term success and happiness. But it could also be a criminal defense of "Affluenza," if ever needed.🙂 |
|
|
|
Post by KY Crusader 75 on Mar 13, 2019 13:14:16 GMT -5
I'm a sucker for those sappy Hallmark romance movies and see Lori often on those along with her fellow Full House alumna Candice Cameron Bure? I wonder if Hallmark will drop her as this type of conniving behavior is anathema for their sweet heroines. show me the first minute of the first scene of a Hallmark Movie and I'll tell you the plot, conclusion, and half the dialogue. |
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Mar 13, 2019 14:32:12 GMT -5
Always set in the US but filmed in Canada. Always a happy ending (not the Robert Kraft type).
|
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Mar 13, 2019 17:01:04 GMT -5
Former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst accepted more than $2.7 million in bribes to put at least 12 students on Georgetown tennis teams between 2012 and 2018. Holy Cross men's tennis team just got crushed by D-3 Babson, 8-1.
|
|
|
|
Post by HC92 on Mar 13, 2019 18:25:14 GMT -5
I'm a sucker for those sappy Hallmark romance movies and see Lori often on those along with her fellow Full House alumna Candice Cameron Bure? I wonder if Hallmark will drop her as this type of conniving behavior is anathema for their sweet heroines. show me the first minute of the first scene of a Hallmark Movie and I'll tell you the plot, conclusion, and half the dialogue. Go easy. Bill Abbott ‘84 is the president and CEO of Crowb Media, which is the parent company of the Hallmark Channel. |
|
|
|
Post by hchoops on Mar 13, 2019 19:32:17 GMT -5
Apparently there are 500 students whose parents gamed the process in one way or the other over the years. Test scores not honestly obtained were sent to BC, BostU, and Northeastern. These are schools which are SAT required; no need to send in a faked score to HC if SAT scores are not required for admission. I've not yet heard of transcripts being faked, There is a long history of top basketball(and I presume football) players having their transcripts altered to gain scholarships. |
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Mar 14, 2019 11:07:28 GMT -5
|
|
