Posted on 03/13/2019 1:36:28 PM PDT by Steely Tom
Only Professor Dershowitz's words here:
Nobody can diminish the importance of this, involving as it does, some of the major, major universities in the country. Look every individual who's charged should be presumed innocent. We have to wait and hear the evidence, but this involves the most elite universities, coaches, the SAT, the ACT, this is really one of the great scandals of the twenty-first century. Having said that, I think it's just the tip of the iceberg. Remember, this doesn't involve the super- super-rich. The super-super-rich buy buildings for the university. They donate hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. They don't have to worry about their kids getting in.
This involves the very rich, the people who can't quite afford to give a building, but can afford to spend five or six million dollars, and once this investigation is complete, we will see that although this person, Singer, if the allegations are true, went over any possible line, and did clearly commit crimes and apparently he's pleading guilty, that in some respects this is a matter of degree, that we will see other mini-scandals, involving contributions to universities, coaches who are prepared to stretch the rules…
Look, at bottom, you know the fault of this lies in the fact that we've abolished grades at universities, in many parts of the country, nobody fails anymore cause if we went back to the situation that occurred when I started teaching at Harvard, almost sixty years ago, this couldn't work, because these students would fail out. It didn't pay for them to come into a college because they wouldn't make it through if they didn't have the academic resources to make it.
But today, nobody fails, and today, nobody gets bad grades, nobody even gets C's, and in many universities they've abolished grades, so there's no way of testing whether they are qualified or competent once they get into college, many just sail through, because of the way universities have decided to treat their students.
So, I think we will see this as the tip of a very, very deep iceberg.
Look, I don't believe there should be special slots for athletes. Colleges are not supposed to be about athletics. Athletics are supposed to be collateral, but today kids who aren't qualified, or minimally qualified, get in because they're a good quarterback or a good soccer player. That's the beginning of the problem, now this case doesn't involve that, this case involves overt cheating, and particularly on the SATs, and bribery, and so it crosses a line, but I think once this investigation unfolds, we'll see that there's more to this than just the really bad at one end of this spectrum, that it's a continuum.
This is RICO, racketeering, it involves an enterprise, obviously the Singer company is the enterprise, and through the enterprise they committed these crimes of bribery, of fraud, of cheating. And RICO carries a very, very significant criminal sentence. It also has civil liability, and we're going to see this thing spread.
Questions are whether the kids who got in should have their diplomas revoked, what if they got A-plusses, and what if they did very, very well. It involves obviously the coaches, each of whom is presumed innocent, some of whom took the money for themselves, according to this indictment, some of whom shared the money with the university. The real question is how high up in the university does this go, and how high up in the SAT and ACT does this go.
You know, I hope it doesn't bring about the result of abolishing the SAT or abolishing the ACT, that would be a terrible mistake, it would mean that kids get into a university based on who their parents are, their personalities, collateral factors like race and other issues. We still need standardized testing, but now we've seen this standardized testing being corrupted itself, so this is a major, major scandal, it involves every aspect of admissions to universities.
I hope I'm right, by saying Harvard isn't involved, because at least at the moment, the university that I taught at for fifty years doesn't seem to be involved though the university I went to, Yale Law School, does seem involved.
It's just such a tragedy. It's a tragedy for kids who didn't get into college because other kids cheated their way into college. It's a tragedy for innocent people at these universities, who will now be suspect, and so we have to carefully look at the evidence and make sure that the presumption of innocence remains, but that if there is evidence of guilt, the guilty are punished.
I bet they're looking to see if PDJT donated money to any schools for his kids, or whether his father donated money to Wharton to get him in (which I very much doubt).
This has the potential to touch a lot of people in very high places, including in Congress, in the Supreme Court, and in the federal court system. Very big. So big, there's a good chance it will all be made to disappear.
I omitted the words of the anchorette, so the words I transcribed are only those of Professor Dershowitz.
You see, it isn’t just that the actual curriculum is garbage, though it is garbage. In many cases the “students” were dolts to begin with. I guess that’s why so many really really educated people are known as idiots.
Nobody fails. Hopefully, these parents will. Naw, who am I kidding. A couple weeks of bad press and it’ll a be forgotten. He’s right, nobody fails.
Am suspecting this is just one of many such operations.
Keep digging, let’s expose ALL the pay to play corruption everywhere. Make that the new norm...
so there’s no way of testing whether they are qualified or competent once they get into college, many just sail through, because of the way universities have decided to treat their students.
...
Those students get subsidized loans and grants which are used to subsidize corrupt leftists employed at the universities.
The "pseudo-intellectuals" that a brilliant high-school classmate so identified now run the show, thanks in no small part to the MSM.
“I bet they’re looking to see if PDJT donated money to any schools for his kids, or whether his father donated money to Wharton to get him in (which I very much doubt)
So what if they do,that’s not a crime.
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>>>bet they’re looking to see if PDJT donated money to any schools for his kids, or whether his father donated money to Wharton to get him in (which I very much doubt).
Well, there is the matter of the $2.5 million Jared Kushner’s dad donated to Harvard in 1998.
Great point! It's all a big scam to benefit the rent-seekers of the anointed visionarium.
My oldest son is graduating this year from a MAJOR Criminal Justice & Law Enforcement University.
Youngest said "screw college, I'll work my way up somewhere."
Up until the other day, I thought the oldest son was the smarter of the two. Now I'm not so sure ......
True. I just mean they're going to try to catch him up in this one.
I call it the “Big Education” cycle
1/ make massive credit available to students
2/ raise prices of education
3/ increase budgets of institutions
4/ pay staff large salaries
5/ staff donate to Democrats and left wing causes
6/ and repeat
For some reason this story makes me want to watch Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield again.
This seems like a great candidate for some HYOOJ class action lawsuits. This could reach a lot of people who were kept out of schools, etc. And the discovery phase would be amazingly interesting as well.
From article, “this is really one of the great scandals of the twenty-first century.” Sorry Professor, this is an education scandal. Scandals like Hillary’s email, Clinton Foundation, Uranium One, point shaving at CCNY are all bigger than this half full cup of tea.
A super rich guy got Obummer into Columbia when he promised them a new building.
It’s a tragedy that college admissions are not exactly merit based and more about PC imperatives and if you from out of state, putting in state kids at a disadvantage.
If you are from another country and out of state putting in state kids and out of state at a disadvantage.
If you are from another religion etc, your kid is at a disadvantage...
And these PC advantaged kids many times do not have better grades, better SAT or have performed social works.
I almost don’t blame Lori Loughlin and if were on the jury....Well...
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