Nationwide College Cheating Scandal - Actresses, Business Owners Charged, Mar 2019 - #2

[meanmaryjean]

These people really need to go to jail. My God. They lie about their daughter's participation in rowing and when someone at the high school questions it, the dad goes to the school in a rage, yelling.

His daughter is confirmed thereafter as a coxswain despite never having participated in the sport.

Man.

Compare these people to The Boys in the Boat.

The Boys in the Boat was such an amazing read!

 

[kaen]

Sal Khan, founder Khan Academy discussing the aspect of level playing field in college admissions:

Khan Academy CEO discusses the 'non-level playing field' amid the college admissions scandal

 

[squareandrabbet]

Just think of it this way-- if colleges had the same standards across the boards regardless of legacy and athletics, March Madness would be filled with lower tier schools and community colleges-- no Duke, no Clemson, n0 whatever school. A question that most are not asking is why does USC need a champion crew/rowing team? Or, tennis team? None, if any of these students, are going to become professional tennis players at this point in their development. Why does the water polo team need to be part of a rubric that accepts lower performing students? This is why the side door was able to be opened by Singer. Yes, there are students who play these sports in order to gain a lower academic admit. Now one could argue that these students spent lots of time on these sports and maybe their grades suffered so why not give them an edge. But, let's be honest, colleges know they would have to give up the bye they give their basketball, football and track/field scholar/athletes for lowered standards if they let go of the scholar/athlete favored status for less competitive sports. This is a discussion that all in the higher ed field should be having. Not too long ago the NCAA had to raise its minimum GPA for acceptances and hold colleges accountable to ensure that a D1 football/basketball/whatever player actually could get a degree (and not just a recreation science degree) within a six year period.

In this scandal, yes, the parents (and the students in some cases) are cheaters and lack a moral sensibility that deserves a consequence-- legal and academic. However, the colleges made the scheme of a side door option possible and it was only a matter of time that the already corrupt system (lower performing students with different admissions guideline) was one that could be gamed by a shrewd huckster. I agree there are other aspects of this that need examination. If we allow everyone to focus on just this type of system gaming, I am confident we will miss the other potential scandals that are out there.

Fair disclosure: I was a college soccer player (D3) and gave up the option at a D1 school based on 4 and 6 year graduation rates of the team.

The article from the Atlantic someone posted with the high school advisor writing in, answered the question quite handily I thought - USC has a (women's) crew team at minimum, because the university needed to create more Title IX slots for female students out of whole cloth, to be equal to the sports opportunities which were already on offer to male students.

 

[neesaki]

The article from the Atlantic someone posted with the high school advisor writing in, answered the question quite handily I thought - USC has a (women's) crew team at minimum, because the university needed to create more Title IX slots for female students out of whole cloth, to be equal to the sports opportunities which were already on offer to male students.

I could be misunderstanding what you’re saying, for one I am not familiar with “title nine “. But, I also didn’t realize the rest of your post... so for instance, it sounds like it wouldn’t have been too difficult for LL’s daughters to have gained legitimate admission into USC, if they’d actually been willing and gone the extra distance to truly be a part of the Crew team. I.e., they probably could have achieved admission into USC without all of the dishonesty, lying, bribing, and fraudulence.
Is that what you’re saying?

 

[Laughing]

Title IX, among other things, requires colleges & universities receiving Federal funds -- student Pell grants & other Federal student aid -- provide as many athletic scholarships & athlete slots for female & male athletes.

I agree, a student could legitimately become involved and avoid the bribes!

 

[neesaki]

Title IX, among other things, requires colleges & universities receiving Federal funds -- student Pell grants & other Federal student aid -- provide as many athletic scholarships & athlete slots for female & male athletes.

I agree, a student could legitimately become involved and avoid the bribes!

Thanks that’s what I thought. I guess lying and bribery are easier though. Sheesh...

 

[Herat]

The article from the Atlantic someone posted with the high school advisor writing in, answered the question quite handily I thought - USC has a (women's) crew team at minimum, because the university needed to create more Title IX slots for female students out of whole cloth, to be equal to the sports opportunities which were already on offer to male students.

Yeah. And it's really demeaning to those women athletes after all this to have completely unqualified women accepted because of it. The article really implies Title IX is a big sham that the University manipulates to allow the big income sports to proceed.

When you read what the real women's crew team go through, it's even more despicable what Singe & the women's crew coach did. I'm not going to blame the Gianulli's for this, because they clearly didn't have the least bit of interest in looking at what real crew members did.

 

[kaen]

The article from the Atlantic someone posted with the high school advisor writing in, answered the question quite handily I thought - USC has a (women's) crew team at minimum, because the university needed to create more Title IX slots for female students out of whole cloth, to be equal to the sports opportunities which were already on offer to male students.

Yes, they have Title IX slots and scholarships and their needs to be certain equity. However, Title IX does not require that colleges lower academic standards or different academic standards for admissions. Why not take the differing standards off the table? For example, to be eligible for Institution X, a student needs an approximate GPA of Y and an SAT/ACT of Z---no different standards for athletes or legacies.

 

[squareandrabbet]

I could be misunderstanding what you’re saying, for one I am not familiar with “title nine “. But, I also didn’t realize the rest of your post... so for instance, it sounds like it wouldn’t have been too difficult for LL’s daughters to have gained legitimate admission into USC, if they’d actually been willing and gone the extra distance to truly be a part of the Crew team. I.e., they probably could have achieved admission into USC without all of the dishonesty, lying, bribing, and fraudulence.
Is that what you’re saying?

Sorry for any confusion! I see that other folks have handled Title IX at this point, so I'm just going to quote the peers I read about the other day:

Murthy recalled regularly rising at 4:15 a.m. on school days to be out the door by 4:25 and on the water of the San Francisco Bay by 5:10 for two-hour workouts that started in the dark.

“My junior year became all about college. I thought those 5 a.m. practices were going to get me into Stanford or Boston. I literally gave it my everything. My notebooks were filled with possible boat lineups. I had spreadsheets and flow charts. I was on phone calls with coaches every weekend,” Stein recalled.

Now a freshmen at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Stein wasn’t as tall as the ideal college rowing candidate tended to be, but she had more than adequate race times, scored an impressive 30 on the ACT and knocked out a 3.7 GPA while training more than 20 hours a week, she said.

“I was such a competitive athlete. I was interested in USC, but they stopped talking to me in the first few rounds,” she said.

Rich kids hijacked spots on USC’s rowing team with lies and bribes while these honest athletes got shut out

More particularly pertinent scandalous information from the above:

Stein, who rowed in a varsity 8 for a different club before joining Redwood Scullers, said there’s no way the Giannulli sisters could have survived a single day of college-level practice without being exposed as frauds. She said maybe they fit the coxswain weight requirement of being 110 pounds or less, but it takes tons of training to steer a boat competitively.

“You have to know the sport like the back of your hand. If a boat is jerking, you have to know if it’s timing or wind,” Stein said. “You can’t come in as a novice. You would look like a fool.”

So in other words; if they'd wanted to come in as golf recruits, maybe that would work. Might have been able to fake their way through a round of tennis; though if they can't return a volley, that would be about as useless as pretending you can steer a boat. Unfortunately, it still means they took admission slots from people who were out there killing themselves to distinguish themselves in crew.

On the bright side, at least they didn't take a scholarship student's spot on the crew team... Basically the moral of the story is, if you were going to cheat on admissions, you're better off folding the student into a sport where it won't be questioned. Nobody would look at a synchronized swimmer or equestrian, for example, and say "Hey, you don't look like a synchronized swimmer or equestrian. Where is your brawn and muscle?", etc.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Prosecutors have sent target letters to the adult children of people charged in the college admissions scandal indicating they could also face criminal charges.

Target letters by prosecutors typically inform a person that they are part of an investigation but they don't necessarily mean the individual will be charged.

The people who were sent letters are believed to have known about the scam and who were at least 18 years old at the time.

Feds send letters indicating charges could come for adult children in college admissions scam

 

[Justsayn]

View attachment 179528

Yes. As every parent of a child who worked hard to get in should! It's terrible. Read this language from the complaint. It's sick:

It is sickening. And the admissions at these college really should be ashamed. They were testing this child for a learning disability. And they thought she could keep up with the work load? My daughter knew the course she wanted to take so she had been taking college courses in the 9th grade to prepare.And this upsets me because she was wait listed at Cornell.Now I am questioning why.

 

[Inthedetails]

JUST IN: Actress Lori Loughlin pleads not guilty in college admissions scandal. - @Tom_Winter

NBC News on Twitter

 

[Herat]

JUST IN: Actress Lori Loughlin pleads not guilty in college admissions scandal. - @Tom_Winter

NBC News on Twitter

Here we go..........

This is what a lot of money and a lot of arrogance do to you and your children.
I hope the prosecutors are merciless to them.

 

[kc1023]

Not guilty? Ok, lol.

They must be trying to drag it out before they get locked up?

 

[Inthedetails]

The breaking news is getting coverage now:

"Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges related to a college admissions bribery scandal, the Associated Press reported.

The former "Full House" star and Hallmark Channel star, along with her husband Mossimo Giannulli, entered their plea at a federal court in Boston, according to the AP. The couple also waived their right to appear in court for an arraignment."

Lori Loughlin, husband plead not guilty in college admissions scandal

 

[Inthedetails]

Not guilty? Ok, lol.

They must be trying to drag it out before they get locked up?

My prediction is that they will say they were set up by Rick.

(FWIW, don't buy a lottery ticket based on my predictions. )

jmo

 

[JanetElaine]

TBH pleading 'not guilty' at this point does not surprise me a lot. With the added charges and the accompanying possible sentences for the whole package, pleading guilty doesn't make as much sense anymore as it did for the first batch of accused. IMO Loughlin/Giannulli lost their shot at a relatively 'easy out' and are now stuck between a rock and a hard place.

JMO/MOO

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Lori Loughlin pleads not guilty to new charges in college admissions scandal

The "Full House" actress, who is free on bail, waived her right to appear in a Boston courthouse and allowed her lawyer to enter a not guilty plea to all charges

 

[Bravo]

Wowsers I am shocked. Not really.

 

[ilovewings]

Let's face it. Lori L thinks she can bat her eyelashes, put on the charm, blame others, and voila, she will be found not guilty. After all OJ got away with murder, what's a little college scandal? LOL- other stars have gotten away with different things, so why not give it a whirl!! she really is despicable.