Bribe to Play: Affirmative Action for the Wealthy

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

My daughter was just accepted into Penn State. I'm insanely proud of her and Penn State is a great school. It's crazy to me that good state universities are such a travesty that the elite have to bribe their way into Ivy League and other private universities because they're 'better'.

Well. Whatever.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

My daughter was just accepted into Penn State. I'm insanely proud of her and Penn State is a great school. It's crazy to me that good state universities are such a travesty that the elite have to bribe their way into Ivy League and other private universities because they're 'better'.

Well. Whatever.

- Doc

No doubt there is Ivy prestige there, but I think what it really is about is the networking that sets you up for life. UW Madison can offer you better ranked programs in all sorts of fields compared to an Ivy of your choice, but it cannot match the opportunity to be friends with the small inner circle of wealth and power on quite the same level. It’s club dynamics as much as academics.

[_EAllusion]

I think the reaction is a normal response to being confronted with the methodology and reality of cheating to gain an advantage. This is one of those things that are an abstraction so it's hard to feel any sort of acute resentment in the face of a nebulous and relatively undefinable wrong. When the reports come out with specifics related to their circumventing the process, a process that's applied to 'everyone', then it's easy to relate to the wrongdoing.

It's akin to reading a headline like, "Man attacked on subway, sent to hospital." versus "Man was stabbed with a 6" serrated blade and called x-y-z by attacker, passengers did nothing to help, and it took the ambulance over an hour to retrieve the victim. The victim later died due to his injuries. He was a father of six and worked three jobs. The attacker was a parolee who was released due to overcrowding of our prisons."

- Doc

I think this is spot on, probably coupled with people bandwagoning outrage on a subject they normally don’t pay attention to. My comment was more focused on how silly this is in the abstract. But that’s equally true about people who get especially worked up over crimes where the victim was photogenic. What, all the other murders don’t rate?

[_EAllusion]

It’s important that we preserve the integrity of our educational institutions by ensuring that academically unqualified students are genuinely skilled at water polo.

Ha. That’s Matthew Yglesias with a home run take.

[_Chap]

UW Madison can offer you better ranked programs in all sorts of fields compared to an Ivy of your choice, but it cannot match the opportunity to be friends with the small inner circle of wealth and power on quite the same level.

Changing the names to fit my different cultural context, I couldn't agree more.

[_Res Ipsa]

UW Madison can offer you better ranked programs in all sorts of fields compared to an Ivy of your choice, but it cannot match the opportunity to be friends with the small inner circle of wealth and power on quite the same level.

Changing the names to fit my different cultural context, I couldn't agree more.

That’s my experience.

[_MeDotOrg]

A nice little coda to the original story:

Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli was spending spring break on a University of Southern California official's yacht when her mother was accused Tuesday of involvement in a college admissions scheme, reports said.

Giannulli, 19, was on Rick Caruso's luxury yacht Invictus in the Bahamas, a report said. Caruso is chairman of USC's Board of Trustees.



Caruso said: "Once we became aware of the investigation, the young woman decided it would be in her best interests to return home."

Well said sir, well said indeed.

I imagine her tan is already starting to fade, poor girl.

[_subgenius]

Elizabeth Warren pretends to be Native American to fradulently apply to University....but meh...

[_canpakes]

Elizabeth Warren pretends to be Native American to fradulently apply to University....but meh...

Meh, indeed, given that her DNA test results seem to jive more with her own assertion than yours. Better a Pocahontas to your Pinocchio.

I’m sure that you were just as forthright on your own application. ; )

[_moksha]

Subgenius, do you think this elite school bribery case could become a cause célèbre for conservatives much like their fervent support of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin murder?