The true hypocrisy here is that people buy there way in to universities every day, legally. If my granddaddy had been Ben Hill Griffin (who paid for UF football stadium, thus the name) do you think I or anyone from my family would have EVER been rejected to go to UF? Payments just have to go to the right people.

quote:

Payments just have to go to the right people.

I don't think it's entirely the same. Donating money, especially a huge sum, tends to be for the benefit of the student body as a whole. It's open and transparent, and I see no problem with the school letting relatives in based on that. Plenty of schools offer free tuition for the children of employees.

In this case there was a lot of fraud which goes well beyond a donation.

Seriously, what kind of a dope do you have to be to have to pay half a million dollars just to get into USC?

I don't see a problem with an above-table donation. If it's public and the administrators are forthright. However, some dude bribing school employees doesn't sit well with me.

quote:

However, some dude bribing school employees

And writing it off on their taxes.......

This has been happening in different ways for years.

The Government has even been complicit in saying who gets in and who does not regardless of entry tests and grades or accomplishments.

first a during the start of a pro football game, while introducing the starters on a tv broadcast of a game, a picture was shown of one of the EX USC players. A college prof who was watching the game, saw the pic and quickly told the administration that he had that student in 2 of his classes at USC and that guy is a guy who he had NEVER seen before. So basically it was determined that someone else actually was paid to take the class for him.

Second, my son in law took pre med at a major university. He got his masters there and while there wrote some programs to allow students to do mock surgical procedures on the brain, using a cutting tool for the scalp, all the while watching the results on a computer and actually feeling a feedback on the amount of pressure the surgeon used on the cutting tool.
Instead of applying for a patent he donated it to the university.
He graduated in the top 5, but was denied admission to med school there. He is a white male and diversity was the main thing they relied on to choose admissions.

In the second example, the govt is involved and they endorse this type of discrimination.

Minorities, and foreign students are given priority for admission, to the point that the top students cannot get in.

Did it hurt the soon to be Doctor, not in this case. He got in to another school and got his pick of where he wanted to do his residency and fellowship. He also got immediately hired by a group of doctors and is doing very well.

But if they are going to stop this stuff, why pick and choose who gets a pass and who does not?

quote:

Seriously, what kind of a dope do you have to be to have to pay half a million dollars just to get into USC?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That was funny.

WOW!!

This has been ongoing since the fourteenth century and only now it has become 'newsworthy'. Education has always been a 'tool' for the elite.

You shouldn't diminish this scandal by saying that it is routine. It's not. What has been true "since the fourteenth century" is that wealthy families gave large gifts to universities that their progeny were then admitted to. See alabdj's post above.

It's nothing like what has been revealed. Not even remotely the same.

quote:

Originally posted by trebor44:
WOW!!

This has been ongoing since the fourteenth century and only now it has become 'newsworthy'. Education has always been a 'tool' for the elite.

Wow is right! So in the 14th century stand-ins took college placement exams? In the 14th century coaches were paid to offer athletic scholarships to students who had never competed in that event as a way to gain admission? I would have never guessed that

quote:

Originally posted by trebor44:
WOW!!

This has been ongoing since the fourteenth century and only now it has become 'newsworthy'. Education has always been a 'tool' for the elite.

Try reading the news article. Do you think can do that?

If you just want to act like a dolt, do it in some other thread.

204 page criminal complaint

Including transcript of recorded calls on wire.

A Florida man with a Harvard degree and excellent test taking skills appeared to have the perfect pedigree for his job as director of college entrance exam preparation at a private sports academy and preparatory school.

But federal authorities revealed Tuesday that Mark Riddell wielded his mastery of standardized tests to help prospective college students cheat on the SAT and ACT, earning more than $200,000 in a widespread college admissions bribery scheme that ran for nearly a decade.


Riddell, 36, was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering following a lengthy investigation that led to charges against 50 people -- including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. Riddell is accused of working with William “Rick” Singer to help wealthy parents get their children into elite colleges between 2011 and 2018.

“He was just a really smart guy," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said about Riddell in a Tuesday news conference. "He didn't have inside information about the answers, he was just smart enough to get a near perfect score on demand or to calibrate the score.”

The 36-year-old Florida native attended Harvard from 2000 to 2004, the same period of time when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was attending the prestigious university. Riddell became a professional tennis player for a short period before starting his position at IMG Academy in 2006, where he was an alumnus and worked until Tuesday.

Riddell was IMG Academy’s director of college entrance exam preparation, according to his since-deleted biography page on the school’s website. Along with recruiting SAT and ACT tutors, the school previously praised Riddell helping to assist “thousands of students in gaining admission to top American universities such as Stanford, Duke, Columbia, Dartmouth” and other elite colleges.

“His knowledge of test preparation, tutoring prowess, athletic background and experience as a former IMG Academy student make him an important mentor for IMG Academy students,” his bio read.

During his time off, however, Riddell was filling out SAT and ACT bubble sheets for other prospective students in exchange for $10,000 for each person he helped, court documents unsealed Tuesday stated. Riddell worked as a key player to the two-part scam run by Singer, who described Riddell as the “best test-taker” who could “nail a score. He’s that good.”

“Singer agreed with parents whose children were scheduled to take the SAT or ACT exam as part of the college admissions process to secretly have Riddell either take the test in place of their children or to correct their children’s answers after the children had completed the test,” records showed.

Singer had parents take their children to therapists to obtain documents stating the teens suffered from learning disabilities and needed extra time to take the standardized tests, Lelling said.

Riddell would then allegedly bribe test administrators and sit in with the students during the exam to either help them or correct answers so they achieved a high score, but “not too impressive” to raise suspicions, prosecutors said.

In a June 2018 incident, Riddell agreed to fly to Houston, Texas, and sit in with a client’s son while he took the ACT exam, documents stated. He was then expected to correct the student’s answers to ensure the student “would receive a high score.”

The student ended up getting sick and couldn’t travel to Houston as planned. So Singer, instead, sent a copy of his client’s son handwriting to Riddell, who then took the ACT for the student in his hotel room. Riddell called Singer after the exam and predicted his client’s son would scare a 35 out of 36 on the exam.

IMG Academy announced Tuesday that Riddell has been suspended from his position.

“Today [Tuesday] we were made aware of the charges against Mark Riddell. Riddell has been suspended indefinitely as we investigate this matter,” the school said in a statement.

Singer pleaded guilty Tuesday and acknowledged he ran his company and charity, Key Worldwide Foundation, to bribe parents willing to pay up to $6.5 million to get their children into colleges.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/flo...was-really-smart-guy

I should be pissed off at how the elites have disadvantaged someone like myself with little to no financial resources but I'm too busy studying for my midterms and the local university.

IMG Academy is something else. If memory serves me correctly the Academy takes elite high school athletes and works towards getting them Division I Sports scholarships. A short trip around the internet will show that many top football and baseball players list that as the high school they attended. Considering the academic skills of some of the players, I am not surprised to see someone like Riddell on their staff.

quote:

Originally posted by trebor44:
WOW!!

This has been ongoing since the fourteenth century and only now it has become 'newsworthy'. Education has always been a 'tool' for the elite.

Were they fraudulently writing off those bribes on their taxes in the 1300s, or when did that start?

Also, it’s the hypocrisy that I can’t bear. These “actresses” go on the Hallmark Channel & make a few “beat ‘em & rape ‘em” movies about how we all live wrong, but then go & bribe multiple people, all the while “donating to charities”. It’s all a big lie. I hope they all go to prison for tax evasion. They could work on their acting skills in the joint.

quote:

Originally posted by olfuzzy:
A Florida man with a Harvard degree and excellent test taking skills appeared to have the perfect pedigree for his job as director of college entrance exam preparation at a private sports academy and preparatory school.

But federal authorities revealed Tuesday that Mark Riddell wielded his mastery of standardized tests to help prospective college students cheat on the SAT and ACT, earning more than $200,000 in a widespread college admissions bribery scheme that ran for nearly a decade.

Dude is an idiot - only $200K for all that when ppl paid upwards of $25M in this scheme?

Maybe smart but no business sense.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

However, some dude bribing school employees

And writing it off on their taxes.......

I think that is why the government is so mad. And anti-bribery statutes. As is seen in this thread, this creates resentment against education and foments social discord. I think the US Attorney is right to care about this.

They are making an example out of these people. Like with Martha Stewart and Wesley Snipes.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:


They are making an example out of these people. Like with Martha Stewart...

There's no truth to the rumor that Martha Stewart has already forwarded Lori Loughlin her prison recipe for Aunt Becky's Big House Chili.

http://nelsoncountygazette.com/?p=39312

I just read this in a local news blog.

College admissions scandal snags a founder of Bardstown’s Preservation Distillery
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, March 13, 2019 — The nationwide college admissions scandal hit very close to the Bourbon Capital of the World this week when it was revealed that Marci Palatella, one of the founders of Preservation Distillery, was named in a federal indictment Tuesday.

Palatella and her husband, former San Francisco 49’ers football great Lou Palatella, founded the distillery in the former location known as Hillbilly Heaven near the Bluegrass Parkway interchange on US31E south of Bardstown on New Haven Road.


MARCI PALATELLA

Palatella, 63, of Heraldsburg, Calif., was one of 33 parents indicted this week on charges that they paid millions of dollars in bribes to entrance exam proctors and college admissions personnel in order to get favorable placement of their children in elite schools. The indictment alleges Palatella of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

According to the indictment, Palatella allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a man, William “Rick” Singer, who helped her son cheat on a college entrance exam.

The indictment says that Singer is owner of the Edge College & Career Network, a for-profit college counseling and preparation firm.

Singer also ran the Key Worldwide Foundation, which prosecutors said was a charity that was used to accept payments from parents.

Palatella is accused of mailing an athletic director at the University of Southern California a $100,000 check so her son could get designated as a football recruit and in turn have a better shot at getting admitted to the school.

Palatella is also accused of wiring $75,000 to Singer’s foundation in March 2017 after Singer helped facilitate cheating on her son’s SAT exam by bribing test administrators.

In March 2016, Palatella also emailed Singer asking for advice on how to “position” her son for his college application, according to the indictment.

Singer provided Palatella a price list but added that the best way to guarantee her son’s admission would be to bribe a coach so her son could pose as a football recruit.

USC senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel presented Palatella’s son as a football recruit to a USC subcommittee for athletic admissions in November 2017.

Singer later received an conditional acceptance letter from Heinel that said Palatella’s son had the “potential to make a significant contribution to the intercollegiate athletic program as well as to the academic life of the university.”

Palatella mailed Heinel a $100,000 check, payable to the USC Women’s Athletic Board, with a note that said, “Our son … is beyond thrilled at the prospect of attending USC as a freshman this fall,” according to the indictment.

USC mailed Palatella’s son his formal acceptance letter in March 2018, and Palatella wired $400,000 to Singer’s foundation the next month, according to the indictment.

Palatella’s husband, Lou Palatella, is not charged in the case.