Ask anyone in Los Angeles, the rich and USC have always been linked. The rich kids hardly go to class. The scholarship kids bust their butts. The rich kids do drugs and chase girls. Go over to UCLA and apply for a degree program in Psychology. You get a book at thick as a text book of things you have to accomplish. Competition is fierce to get into those classes. Go over to USC. The curriculum is printed on multicolored copies and there's 8 pages. 70% of the girls on USC campus have boob jobs. They aren't there for an education. They are there to snag a lawyer in a lawyer family. You want a winning football team? USC buys it.
This is all common knowledge. The wealthy have become blatant in their disregard for any fairness or rules that the rest of us have to live by just to get by.
5
Back when I went to UCLA your parents didn't need to bribe your way into USC, they just needed to have money....
On a serious note though, USC has my forgiveness. They appear to be doing far more to help lower income and under-privileged kids get in and get through college than almost any other college.
4
These people willing to cough up $250k in bribes - I wonder if they pay any income taxes.
1
Legacy admissions account for significant percentage each year. While some legacy students maybe qualified, the vast majority aren't. This practice is particularly rampant with the elite universities. I wonder what the legal implications of this practice are?
2
Tom Wolfe might have been commenting on Jane Buckingham:
His 1987 novel, Bonfire of the Vanities, is about a megalomaniac Upper Eastsider who fancies himself throughout the book as a “Master of the Universe.” His wife’s desperate middle-aged friends are ”social x-rays,” so thin and empty, they’re merely skeletons;
2
Gaming the (bogus) college entrance system has been going on for years. Pay to play is merely the latest revelation. The same applies to faux college sports scholarships awarded to illiterate athletes pretending to be in college. Of course, thinking adults understand any means to determine college entrance other than academic merit is by definition corrupt. Everyone knows this. College has become a scam. It has been for many years. One need look no further than race based affirmative action programs which confer preferential treatment based upon membership in a protected class such as race, skin color. Do people realize blacks have 4 times the admission preference over Asian or White applicants solely because of being black? This is the definition of institutionalized racism, blatant corruption. Absolute insanity. Naturally, college degrees have lost legitimacy, become largely irrelevant, are no longer a measure of academic ability. Instead, skill based STEM ability verified via credentialing is the future determinant for subject matter competence. The traditional college system is quickly coming to an end. Disruption of corruption is good for the real world, and long overdue..
2
Have you seen the yacht owned by the guy on the USC board of trustees? That is all I'll ever need to know about USC.
4
During the Harvard lawsuit regarding admissions policies, it was revealed that the development office sent a list of candidates to the admissions office with a disproportionately high percentage of them admitted.
FYI -- all of the people who donated enough to the development office to get their kid a special look likely were able to deduct it from their taxes as a "charitable donation".
Does that mean that any student with better stats who was denied from Harvard can sue the university because Harvard admitted a student from that development list in their place?
I don't really understand some comments here -- it seems as if people are saying it would have been fine for USC to just simply had those parents directly donate to their university for admissions over better qualified candidates, but since USC would not do that, those parents had to use illegal methods to admit their child that the university didn't know about. There would be no reason to cheat on the SATs or get in via a back door if the university simply admitted all students who donated enough -- which apparently is perfectly legal to do if you are a private university.
USC has to be one of the most generous higher institutions insofar as financial aid is concerned. I know this FIRST HAND as a beneficiary of it in late '80s/early '90s and 2017/18. This is what really proves a school's commitment to diversity. When all the others are talking about it, USC puts their money to it. I could NOT have attended without it. Contrastingly, in late '80s, Syracuse and Boston University came up comparatively short on financial aid. So, when evaluating where the rich kids are congregating and what schools are guilty of perpetuating that exclusivity, FOLLOW THE MONEY. There are many ways to disprove the notion that USC is just for rich white kids - see how much is given out in financial aid grants from the school, and go walk on campus and see the sea of multi-culture for yourself. There WAS less diversity in late '80s and early '90s, indeed, but today it is a great role model for diversity. Fight on!
2
@USC Class '92 and '18
Frequently, the exception(s) proves the rule.
1
Any school -- any school that depends in any way for its reputation on big time corrupt sports, whether it is USC or Duke or Georgetown or Notre Dame is an inferior school.
They are all telling lies and the biggest lie is that they are places for undergraduates to have the best educational experience at that level.
The best undergraduate experience, educationally and socially, that this country has to offer is its small liberal arts colleges where, unlike major universities where undergraduates never see a professor much less take a class with one, students everyday are taught by scholars, by folks with those Ph.D's.
And in case anyone hadn't noticed -- and of course everyone does and has -- except for cocktail party talk and boasting, whether about where you went to school of where your kid goes to school, does anyone ever ask or care where someone went to school?
Of course not because the value of a higher education is the value and values you take from it, not the name of the school on the degree. Those who do not understand that simple, plain fact graduate without the values their higher educations are intended to instill.
Connect the dots. The scandal is not simply reflective of the disproportionate imbalance in American economic life and the inflated social standing wealth brings, it is reflective of a lack of values that says if a kid does not go to an Ivy or Duke or Stanford, he she or his or her parents are diminished.
4
One bullet point that comes out of this article is that it does not pay USC to build its image. It should have stayed "mediocre" and whatever shenanigans were going on would just have continued.
The aura of USC is NEVER going to change. It was my "dream school" as far back as eighth grade and I was pleased to be a student there when O. J. was running the ball. We can be proud of our Mike Garretts and Pat Hadens. And all the USC presidents have undertaken the job with the best of intentions.
The culture of USC is simply that it IS USC. It will always be storied in fame and fortune as well as in infamy. There will always be "stars" hanging around the athletic fields, the Coliseum and around the Film School. This is all part of USC's DNA. It could not, cannot and will not be otherwise.
USC is the only school of higher education in this nation that propsective and potential students really want to attend. USC is part of that golden Californian American Dream. Just a look at the yearly teams of USC SongGirls is enough to make one swoon. Such an atmosphere will be forever plagued by scandal. Those of us fortunate enough to have matriculated and graduated from USC are. . ., well,. . . just fortunate. Fight On!
2
@Reggie
It probably still IS somewhat mediocre (for the money anyway), notwithstanding your personal experience and nostalgic memories.
And all the more recent money thrown at the school to build new buildings.
I grew up in an upper middle class town in Northern California where higher education was pretty universal (where I raised children) where NOBODY I knew aspired to “get into” or “attend” USC (in the late 60s or mid/2000s, anyway). Including students from public high schools and private high schools. It was known as a school for people who “grew up in LA who planned to stay there.” For the past forty-five years it has had the reputation of “spoiled, rich kids,” deserved or not.
1
@Reggie Oh, I don't know, the UCLA cheer babes are equally swoon-inspiring, IMHO.
I think that when you have a president of the board of Trustees like Rick J. Caruso, you can not expect to become a university with high probity standards.
3
Eric Trump was admitted to Georgetown. Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. were admitted to U. Pennsylvania.
And the USC haters insist that because USC would not admit mediocre students via regular admission - even if their parents were rich and famous and willing to donate lots of money -- that is a sign that USC is institutionally corrupt? The fact that rich and famous people had to cheat and pretend to be something they were not in order to get admitted to USC is a sign that it is worse than the colleges where there was no need to pretend to be anything that the obviously highly qualified and seriously academic Trump children?
Speaks to all that is wrong with America to bash a university that only got in trouble because it didn't just admit these kids through the front door like many other colleges do.
Sure some people in the athletics department were corrupt, just like they were corrupt at Georgetown, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, and other colleges.
By the way, all of those colleges above have significantly higher percentages of students from the top 1% in family income and significantly fewer students from than bottom 60% than USC does.
3
@RJ It never ceases to amaze that no matter what ails America, it's always Trump's fault.
@Angry Dad
It never ceases to amaze me that Trump supporters feel personally victimized if anyone mentions any true facts that might burst their bubble of certainty that Trump and his entire family always play by the rules and are the kind of honest, upright, and admirable people they want their own children to model themselves after.
2
The article tries to assert that these recent scandals “haven’t dimmed” USC’s “powerful lure” based on this year’s record number of applicants; however, these applications were all submitted by January 2019, long before this latest bombshell. As an advisor and tutor to college-bound teens, I am reasonably certain that this year’s rising seniors (and their parents) will be avoiding USC as its reputation is becoming toxic. Let’s look at these numbers again in a year.
Lori Loughlin's daughters drop-out of USC for fear of "bullying" in the aftermath. Had to laugh at their sheer lack of contrition in blaming others POTENTIAL behavior rather than their family's ACTUAL behavior: disgusting and criminal.
Please, someone give these girls an education. Maybe parents can get them into a fancy kindergarten.
4
Yup, I went to UCLA in the 80's. University of Spoiled Children was the school across town.
I feel for USC because they really did a great job of bringing that university up to the high standards of their graduate schools. It is a world class institution now and to have this trashy nonsense go on (on top of their other "problems" of late), it is a statement about today's morals. No schadenfreude here, though.
1
I did my undergrad at USC, though I transferred from a CC to save money. I worked my butt of to be able to get in, be able to attend (cost) and to graduate with great grades and experiences. I absolutely enjoyed my time there - great faculty, academics and research and many opportunities. In those aspects USC has succeeded and made great progress. But there is an atmosphere of entitlement and privilege which still lingers stubbornly around campus. To provide an example: sitting in a class being taught by a MacArthur recipient in a program ranked as #1 in the nation, and one semester was about 25k USD (excluding housing and food). Yet, every class there were many students spending the whole lecture on “Greek Rank” and Net-a-Porter ordering handbags worth nearly a semester’s tuition. Not to blame such students with all of USC's issues, but let’s just say that these people tended to sport a set of Greek letters. While Nikias certainly had his faults, he did have a vision of limiting the influence of Greek life and move towards residential colleges like many Ivy Leagues and Oxbridge. I hope his successor will continue on that path and remain committed to clean house of faculty/staff accepting bribes, medical professionals assaulting students and directors abusing their power and not doing their job. I do think USC has great potential to become a new (modernized) Ivy League-class university, but there needs to be a culture change to the core for that to ever be able to happen.
2
Funny how Trump is dead silent on Twitter regarding this scam.
1
Let's just hope that none of those coddled darlings discover a call within themselves to run for president or design airplanes.
1
what is even more telling....is not one of these people that have bribed their way in...have failed out. Because all these "top" schools no longer fail people that can't perform...they burnish their reputation...by saying we graduate 99% of those accepted....especially if they are a diversity entry....who have lower standards of entry! Sorry that is just a FACT! And more true the higher the schools ranking...though I wouldn't say that about MIT or Caltech or a few more technical schools...just the LIBERAL ARTS SCHOOLS!
Paying bribes to get into USC? Are you kidding? Talk about a low bar. Some good grad schools, but undergrad leaves much to be desired.
3
@LawyerTom1
ok, but THIS is just fine...see NYTimes article on Harvard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/us/college-admissions-problems.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
According to court documents, the admission rate for legacies at Harvard was 33.6 percent. The rate for the Class of 2022 as a whole was under 5 percent.
Other documents in the Harvard lawsuit showed the strong advantage that universities give to recruited athletes; at Harvard, their admission rate in recent years was 86 percent.
1
USC has one bight kid for sure.
Take Summer Dahlquist-Tookey, the 18 year old freshman's comment in this article proves she is more than a pretty face, “I have classmates who have the same last names as buildings on campus. Once we hear that, we basically know how they got in.”
Smart girl! I want to hire her.
Hire someone for making automatic assumptions? Good luck in all your endeavors.
"As prosecutors announced that the Hollywood star Lori Loughlin was being charged with bribing her daughter’s way into U.S.C., the daughter was on Mr. Caruso’s (head of the U.S.C. Board of Trustees) yacht, sharing a spring break vacation in the Bahamas with Mr. Caruso’s daughter."
Nice optics.
4
From this news item:
"...parents who were willing to pay thousands of dollars to get their underperforming children into some of the nation’s top universities."
"Underperforming" is an assumption, not a known fact. The idea that those who were participating were not qualified to attend in the first place is an assumption. It is perfectly possible that someone would be qualified but still need, or want, to cheat to either be admitted in a highly competitive process or to increase their chances of admission. Furthermore, when you judge how good a school is by what percentage of students it rejects, then it is obvious that many good, qualified students are sent packing.
2
What a shameful story for USC. How long now before legitimate, high performing students and athletes reject the university outright? Who of any real value wants their name associated with this institution?
This scandal certainly plays into the narrative so many countries have of the USA, greedy, corrupt and shameless. What has happened to us?
3
@Calimom Unlike the elite in, say, China.
“This will not set us back in any way,” Wanda Austin. Is she kidding me?! This is exactly the kind of stick your head in the sand approach by USC leadership that for years has allowed an environment of corruption to flourish. She is clearly trying to protect herself and not addressing the real problem at USC, namely how to raise the standards of ethical behavior of its staff. Too many victims and not enough leadership at USC. Not likely to change since the board chair had the daughter of one of the fraudulently enrolled students on his yacht (yea, we all have yachts too).
4
USC has fallen victim to the LA virus that erodes the moral compass: pseudo-fame (aka celebrity status) and money.
2
Between 1967 and 1974 I attended Florida State, Emory, and Stanford for multiple degrees. I found the quality of instruction to be similar, with a mixture of talented and marginal professors in all three schools. (Having written the textbook does not guarantee you can teach from it!)
The difference was the students. Where admission was stricter and reputation stronger, the students were more often prepared for class, participated in discussion, and had valid and varied opinions.
Hiring managers recognize the percentage play. A degree from Florida State in no way implies your education is inferior to Stanford, but a degree from Stanford implies you are more likely to be a better hire. You're a safer bet, which plays well at the hiring manager's performance review. Stanford opens doors otherwise closed... for the typical graduate.
Having said that, these doors are already open for children of celebrities and the super wealthy. An elite degree will make virtually no difference to these kids. Instead, it's a status symbol for the parents. Like wearing a Patek Philippe instead of only a Rolex.
It's unfortunate for these kids to be caught in the scandal, but it's even worse to be inflicted with parents who have these values.
21
@Mitch G
I fully understand your conclusion that the student body makes a huge difference in the educational experience, having gone to a rather mediocre (in some ways) state university and having also spent time at George Washington U. and dipping into Penn at the graduate level. However, in regard to the "safer hire" comment in the second paragraph, this is like saying no one was ever fired for buying IBM.
It is not inherently a safer decision to hire someone from Stanford V. Florida State, it is simply an easier judgement that no one can criticize if it turns be to wrong. This is why people want the prestige of a big name college, because it opens doors. If you are still relying on where you went to school ten years after graduation, I say you are a failure, at least to a degree.
1
@Doug Terry Well, until Gateway and Dell showed it didn't matter, and that took some time, the IBM rule was the rule.
1
@Mitch G
I am a USC faculty member and did not know what a Patek Philippe was and had to google it. Guess i'm not an elite :-(
That said, nothing surprises anymore... But I can assure you, there is tremendous diversity at this school, ethnic and socioeconomic.
2
Some think that our universities should be free of lying, cheating, and stealing; however, this would deprive students of the skills they'll need in the real world after college. We don't need simply to clean up our universities; we need a worldwide paradigm shift in human thought.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds would see the survival of a particular group of people or a belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
2
Correction: Olivia Jade was partying on Mr. Caruso's $100 MILLION yacht in the Bahamas. Caruso, a real estate devloper, carries L.A. City politicians in his pocket like loose change. How much has he legally given to L.A, politicians over the years in this case of institutionalized bribery?
15
I saw the posted video of Olivia Jade, the daughter of Lori Laughlin where she said more or less she was interested in partying, not studying, or words to that effect.
Oh joy. And her hardship of having to cut her "spring break" (give me a break), party aboard a multi-million-dollar yacht because of this scandal just breaks my heart.
What makes me angry is not that she is a daughter of privilege - lord knows there are plenty of those in this country - and far be it for me to dictate how her parents should spend their money.
But she got into USC under really false pretenses and without cheating would never have made the cut. This waters down not only the degree but the classes that privileged children attend.
What intellect can they add to the discussion? What academic insight does Jade possess that will add to the intellectual growth of her fellow students?
We can expect a class action lawsuit against USC at the very least. And at most, Jade should be expelled as soon as possible.
10
It all starts with outrageous monies paid to football and basketball coaches at the Div 1 schools. Those lower down on the totem pole at these schools ( water polo, swimming, etc.) want to get theirs. The big time sports programs are drowning in money (under and over the table). This is part of the bigger picture of these sports programs’ corrupting those involved.
5
@Baldrabbit I think you're onto something here.
U$C read a tee shirt I owned in 1977.
A friend used to call it “University of Spoiled Children”.
Nothing’s changed.
6
Firing those who took bribes and
covered up is NOT good enough.
Put everyone in jail for the next 20 years.
1. First 10 years for taking the bribes
2. The next 10 years for "normalizing" corruption to harm others
It will stop fast!
3
They don’t call it University of Spoiled Children for nothing.
4
Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons never stops being relevant.
1
$$ talks at USC, that's for sure. An example is Caruso's son, a former USC film student, who was chosen to direct one of the prestigious school-funded short films despite the fact that he was a totally average student and filmmaker. But then this is a school that loves nothing more than rewarding mediocre white men.
University of Spoiled Children, indeed.
9
Mr. Caruso, Chairman of the USC Board of Trustees:
“Once A. (we) B. (I) became aware of the investigation, A. (the young woman) . B. (I) decided it would be in A. (her) . B. (my) best interest to A. (return home) B. (get off my yacht like....yesterday).”
These guys just don't get it.
3
Follow the money at L.A. City Hall and you know why he's a billionaire
Been going on for the last fifty years. Just ignored.
2
It’s called the University of Spoiled Children for a reason....
it would seem that this school is full of crooks. despite good rankings in the past, i wonder if the rankings were bought? the person responsible for the bribes apparently knew there were a number of dishonest people working at the school. he apparently was right.
2
USC=NYU
Instead of sports insert NYC “culture”
4
@J Hughes Except that at least USC is generous with financial aid for the hoi polloi, unlike NYU.
At the time, my school, UCSB, was derided as being in the cupcake league.
It’s only gotten better since the 80’s and is now rated the #5 public university and doesn’t appear on the most recent list of cheaters.
Go Gauchos!
3
Advice to the miscreant parents: DO NOT say your crime was "loving my child too much."
5
We know at least a handful of kids who were admitted to USC , Columbia and Cornell and there were far from being even average students . It happens that they are the children of rich people that everybody knows. Nation wide celebrities.
How did their children get there ? When they are in the same class as your child who is far away better and is not admitted in any of those schools because may be you ask for financing ...
???
5
It is amazing how many blue state elitests are involved in this disgusting scandal.
5
You must be a graduate of Trump University
A lot of the USC haters who post here are missing the point.
If USC hadn't raised standards over the last decade or two to recruit a class of students that has significantly fewer students from the top 1% of income than most other highly selective private schools, these students would not have had to get in via the side door (athletics recruits).
If USC was institutionally corrupt as so many posters here claim, then why not simply have those parents donate directly to the university and admit them?
Instead, their only option for admission seemed to be that side door where coaches would recommend a student whose very rich parents paid them a bribe and the university apparently honored coaches' wishes to admit the athletes they designated as "recruits".
USC appears no different than Georgetown, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and other places where coaches were paid in exchange for designating a student as an athletic recruit. At none of these colleges were the coaches taking these bribes caught by the university.
Singer's company sent students to many top universities. His company didn't play by the rules. Doesn't that mean the applications of every admitted student who used him should be gone over with a fine tooth comb to insure there were no exaggerations or essay writing "help"? USC seems to have announced it is doing that. Will other universities follow suit?
8
When the leaders in politics and business break rules and get away with it, the message is clear: It is OK to break rules.
When owning brand name clothing, showing off your big ticket car is the goal, why would anyone be shocked that someone making a decent living wants to rake in a bit of extra so they can have those things.
Now we are shocked? Rich people think they live by different rules is a shock? Did the rich NEED the tax cut? No! for two reasons, good accountants and tax attorneys can make it so you pay next to no tax and they have enough money, but...the overwhelming message in society is More than Enough is not Nearly Enough.
Just because THEY said, "OK everyone is equal", just like in China or Russia, some are more equal than others.
What has changed in my lifetime is rich people have become greedier, but is it the old rich, who get told old money morality, or is it more the neuvoriche who do not understand wealth, the power and responsibility that comes with it.
I would love to know how many of these parents are 4th generation rich?
When I counseled business start ups, so many felt they needed to go to school to get (fill in blank).
I advised them to think small. Now my clients were ALL Women and they did not think they needed a big office with a shiny desk and a chauffeur driven Rolls outside.
They started small and grew organically.
Boys with VC money spend foolishly and recklessly.
Most brand name universities do not return the investment to most.
1
Having been at USC both in late '80s, early '92 and just last year, I can attest to the much greater diversity of the student body today. I was not even consciously evaluating it (in 2017/18) but it was THAT perceptibly different. Back in the earlier years, I remember that the cars parked along fraternity row were all luxury cars (all except mine!). Everywhere you looked, it seemed, were gorgeous tan blondes (except me!). It seemed to me that in 2017/18, Asians were the new tan blondes. On the whole, I was very impressed and felt all the more pride seeing USC take this approach to ensuring diversity even if it meant losing that trademark Southern California tan blond image. I loved USC both times, moreso when able to look into a sea of multi-culture. USC has the right idea. And clearly, word got out. Fight on!
7
"He said the case affirmed his long-held belief that the system was rigged in favor of the rich and privileged." One of Trump's favorite leitmotifs, uttered frequently during the 2016 campaign and often met with great fanfare by local yokels in fly over states. What he conveniently left out, of course, is that the system *is* rigged -- by guys like him, for guys like him, at the expense of his working-class supporters. What's happening at USC and other elite colleges just goes to show how the rich corrupt everything.
3
The current U.S. President proves how difficult it will be to clean up the academic swamp. It appears that in the U.S. money can buy military exemption, Ivy League entry, tax breaks and reduced or commuted prison sentences.
If you become the nation's President any kind of retribution seems improbable. Lock him up? Really?
1
I taught at USC and left in 2018. What I experienced were many international students paying people to do their work and write their papers. These students were mostly from very wealthy elite families. USC apparently didn't want to turn away their money (international students pay full tuition). So they simply got a slap on the wrist.
4
@Dee, from which countries?
This just demonstrates to me that affirmative action programs, instead of being minimized, should instead be extended to include programs even for Caucasian students with poor parents.
Students generally know, of course. I have often wondered why the depression and lethargy of many students, so well described in William Deresiewicz' Excellent Sheep, are the result of the practices described. They may feel out of place in college and acquire a self-hate. Others acquire an extreme cynical attitude. Both trust fund socialists and Trump alikes may be the eventual result.
1
Something is profoundly wrong with the culture of USC - and has been for decades. It is corporate, corrupt, and entirely money- and prestige-driven. It’s not really a university, and should not be a non-profit.
The administration has always been 100% top down. Decisions are based on money. Faculty are hired the way you would buy a fancy car. They are not listen to. It’s hard to believe any real research goes on there.
And with each and every division and department encouraged to bring in $$$, of course there’s endless corruption and self-dealing. Where else would an administrator bring in $1.3m to her own accounts, with no accountability, no questions asked ?
2
@Lisa W And where do you get your information to back up these claims? Certainly, there was a lot missed that caused this fiasco to happen not only at USC but all the other schools involved. Yet, you make accusations based on what? Did you or your child get rejected from 'SC and now you're patting yourself on the back and casting aspersions?
Before college you have all these private high schools where you have to give checks for donation or your kids are not admitted .It starts before college . Then they give high grades to build GPA. And this system of SAT is a disaster of corruption because if you don't pay for private training there is no chance .American kids have no experience at writing developed conceptual elaborations.
They are trained like little dogs at a behavioral system of tests .
When you have a European education, you see immediately the mechanical short term thinking it produces and the inability to conduct a profound analysis.Without saying the lack of historicity and transversal knowledge.
1
"campus officials insisted this week that U.S.C. was a victim in the bribery and cheating case and vowed to reject any applicants involved in fraudulent admissions"
How could this be? The coaches gave recommendations, but it takes an admission team to make the final decision. How did these students obtain passing grades? Where are the "graduates" now? This scam reveals why so many hard working people remain locked out.
3
USC's idea of compliance is to fire wrongdoers after they are caught by outside parties...see no evil...hear no evil...
2
Amazing number of scandals involving USC. There has been failed leadership both academically and athletically. Maybe USC stands for University of SCandals instead of University of Spoiled Children.
1
A much larger issue is the entire system in the United States to favor the elite. They are the new aristocracy and are determined to keep control, much like the aristocracy in pre-revolutionary France. This admissions scandal is only one tiny example. The tax structure, for example, was changed for them in the 80's and remains favorable to this day while the public infrastructure crumbles. The millionaires in Congress, the endless political campaigns structured so money controls everything. The astounding figures about the concentration of money in fewer and fewer hands. America is moving toward class conflict and nobody seems to care.
2
Let's start by getting professional sports out of colleges. That would go a long way to putting the emphasis back on education, where of course it belongs. We can address the misuse of research funding and skewed priorities next.
5
Interesting that USC PR experts are creating a narrative that USC is the victim in all of this. When your employees do something wrong the institution needs to accept responsibility.
Given the amount of corruption and wrong doing at the campus, every employee must only be 1 or 2 degrees of separation from criminal activity.
7
My older brother attended the USC from 1943-1947 and he told me that I try not to study there. He gave me a good advice that was about 70 years ago. I also had a lady friend and she was a professor at UCLA and told me that I should go to UC Berkeley. They both gave me the proper advice. Latter I decided to go to Columbia. I don't understand why make a big deal about college admissions. If you are a good student with good academic records and you have nothing to worry about. You don't have to get in through backdoors.
3
Why or how is this worse than the racial preferences (mostly applied to black students) which deprive thousands of qualified and deserving students from being admitted to these schools? They are both grotesquely wrong and unfair.
1
Because many Black students are locked out by economic, social and political racism, affirmative action is meant to level the playing field. It's the discrimination that is not fair.
I personaly do not think that that so called positive discrimination is a good solution, let alone a permanent one; yet it is very different in the sense that it aims to correct an unequality and help a globaly less priviledged social group while the scandal at hand shows once again how the already priviledged game the system and fondamentaly undermine both the concepts of merit and of equality before the law.
There are far more well-qualified students applying for slots in highly-rated schools than there is available space. So the question is what factors should be considered in selecting students. Considering the background and challenges faced by applicants, as well as the benefits of a diverse student body, is completely appropriate, along with numerous other criteria. This is on no way analogous to students who are absolutely unqualified being admitted due to cheating. And this cheating scandal is shining a light on the practice of parents making huge donations to allow their unqualified children to be admitted.
Is it any surprise that the epicenter of this scandal is in Southern California, the ultimate fantasy land where an arid desert is turned into luxurious homes with manicured green lawns, where people lease fancy cars they could never really afford to own outright, and women are filled with fake body parts. No surprise at all then that these vapid people would fake their kid's academic credentials to perpetuate the mirage. And how many of the accused are from fly-over country?
6
@A M Fernau Almost none; this is a Blue State scandal to its core.
I don't understand these parents. If you have to bribe or lie to get you kid into a college, how on earth are you going to keep them there? If a kid doesn't have the grades, study habits, and testing ability to get into an elite school how will that kid keep up with the other students who actually do study, read assignments, and go to class?
I would love to know what percentage of these kids actually graduated after being illegally admitted.
7
‘SC has long been know as the University of Spoiled Children, and it is certainly living up to its name these days.
3
USC is # 22 in US News College Ranking. Not exactly a top 10 school
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
@Upstate Lisa College rankings are mostly meaningless in any case.
2
@Upstate Lisa
uh huh, right next to UCLA and Berkeley. and your point is?
1
Unless these coaches ad other bribe recipients were smart enough to declare their bribes as income on their Federal Taxes they will face penalties for tax evasion as well.
1
I previously taught at one university in USC's position and assure you that the contradictory objectives of being an academic and athletic powerhouse while coddling affluent mediocrities and not particular brilliant athletes can be reconciled. To be specific...
First, tutors are assigned to members of this second group and they assist with test preparation and assignment writing. Also, those faculty who do not grant favors to the duller athletes and the gifted affluent soon acquire a reputation for such conduct and that information is communicated to students whose ability to graduate would be in doubt without such information.
The process further lowers the faculty's opinion of the administration, which usually is never very high.
I went to grad school at USC in the '80s and got a good degree that opened up a very successful career for me as an immigrant in this country. I had a scholarship from the program that helped me out greatly. However, the school has changed a lot since then. Getting in has a lot of crooked routes amongst the straight forward one. Too bad a lot of students who should have got in lost to the moneyed celebrities!
17
The school has always been dirty. You are one of the lucky ones. O.J. Simpson U.
1
@Eddie Mustafa I totally agree. I went there in the '70's for masters degrees in city planning and public administration. Totally boring classes and if you had lunch with the profs, you got an A. The Trojans were the big thing there and I only stayed so that I could get those degrees. I had come from Connecticut College where the education was spectacular and from Northeastern U for a grad degree in education, where the education was also great. A sad state of affairs for sure.
2
I am a USC graduate film school alum. Loved every minute of my time there. Learned a ton. Got in because of my artistic abilities via my portfolio - not my grades.
Looking back I don’t remember any classmates in my cohort that were there because of family money - or even had family money. Except for one guy from Iceland whose country paid his tuition - we were a student loan and work study group mostly.
I am proud of the cinema school which is among the best in the world - if not the best - and isn’t even acknowledged in this article as a point of true pride for USC. I still remember how proud my dad was when I got in because of the film school’s reputation to LA natives. You couldn’t buy your way in. At least I didn’t.
4
If we make college tuition a public expenditure, people are outraged and call that socialism. But isn’t that more of a meritocracy than what we have now? I mean, you don’t need bribes for rich kids to get an edge. If a school is so expensive a poorer but better student decided they can’t afford it or don’t want to be saddled with crushing student loan debt, haven’t you just made way for a more affluent but less qualified candidate? Seems to me there is a social benefit to making sure the best “raw material” is afforded the best opportunities, since that is most likely to produce the best scholars, best scientists, best doctors, best engineers.
2
Throughout most of its history Corruption has been the bedrock of American society and the power structure that drives it. The parallels between the Industrial Revolution and what we’ve seen since Ronald Regan’s Presidency are extraordinary. The two shining beacons today are Trump openly using the oval office to enrich his business empire and the Roberts Supreme Court contorting the first amendment to augment the disproportionate political power of corporations and the wealthy to buy elections and dictate legislation as returns on their investments.
6
@Paul Cohen at least someone with a knowledge of US history and some honesty .
@JPH Who omits that all societies are so constituted. Oh, of course, omitting that socialist paradise the USSR. Pardon, must run tovarich, my dacha calls.
Why don’t rich kids just go to a private college where the school has a good reputation and no one expects any academic genius from them.
That way they can be with other elites and allow students who want to learn , not have to be subjected to rich people’s antics.
We know elites get everything in the world that is the given but we don’t have to see them every minute of the day. Nor do we care to.
We can just boycott there movies, tv shows and investment firms. Enough is enough .
Answer: For the same reason that some people insist that the word “Gucci” appear on everything they carry.
2
I suggest that all students who were rejected should have their application fee returned. For they applied to a rigged system. This would also greatly reduce this kind of cheating.
Wrt buying your way onto campus, the universities should have to announce how many slots are set aside for that. If more than preannounced are nefariously accepted, application fees for all not accepted will be refunded.
An application fee should be considered a mutual contract.
4
So how are these less academically qualified students able to pass the course work? Should we also be looking at false grades given by professors for some unspoken remuneration?
3
I am a UCLA alum from the early 90s and earned graduate degrees from Stanford. I have tremendous respect for the USC faculty, administration, students and alumni who over the past two decades have invested in and enhanced the school's academic standings. I hope the USC Board of Trustees takes immediate action to appoint a full-time world-class president that will reestablish and demand the highest ethical administration standards. Moreover, I believe any USC alum who materially falsified their admissions application should have their degree voided and any student or administrator who compromised the admission process should be immediately dismissed.
9
@george what about the other schools who cheated also and those not named but that we know cheat also ?
“According to the affidavit, one student who had been admitted to the University of Southern California as a track athlete had no idea about the arrangement and was surprised when his adviser at orientation asked him about track (from a CNN article).” My question is this: When (a) the student tells the advisor that he doesn’t run track and (b) the advisor knows he was admitted because the track coach identified him as a top prospect...shouldn’t that raise a red flag and trigger an investigation? If the university truly had a commitment towards integrity, it would.
7
Why is this news now ? I am a graduate of one of the prestige schools noted. When I was a student decades ago, it was abudantly clear that there were rich kids who were not offered enrollment the 'normal' way. They were typically athletes or had well known or rich parents. Somehow they managed to pass their classes. They clearly lacked the intellectual curiosity, discipline and rigor of their fellow classmates. When I did some post grad work at a less prestigious but equally known school in the South, it was no different. While working late one night on class projects, we decided to order pizza from a chain restaurant and sent one of the 'jocks' to call in the order (pre cell phone times). He came back a few minutes later with the phone book. He was incapable of looking up the number. I asked the department chair why they kept passing him when he was clearly not meeting any standard academic criteria. He responded that 'higher ups' insisted on their receiving passing grades. He also had a very fancy car although it was a known fact that he came from a very modest background. It was nauseating then and equally so now. But then I realized these that the rich kids' families paid full tuition and made large donations to the school. Alumni made large donations to the school when their teams won.....to some degree, this allowed genuinely deserving but limited income students to attend college. A slick tradeoff, but I've found when you deal with the rich, you often get slime.
1
Another problem I see is the obsession with sports. Collegiate athletes are treated (not paid ) like professional athletes. This obviously runs counter to a college's academic goals.
3
I hope all of the Universities involved/exposed in this scandal (and those who are yet to be exposed), look over the applications of all students who are implicated -- every one of them should be expelled if there are lies in their applications.
1
The story is not about USC, but about the irredeemability of big time college sports, including at the “no athletic scholarships allowed” Ivy League.
The line of legality of peoplein college athletics feathering their own nests has long been a messy blur.
Maybe this is finally the impetus to reduce college athletics to an appropriate size-club and intramural sized.
2
I chose to go to USC in the late seventies because it had one of the largest international student bodies of any school of higher education in the nation. I had a Chicana roommate my freshman year and friends from all over the world, including the most remote capitol city on the planet, Thimphu Bhutan.
1
While nuanced for sure, how is this much different in terms of ethics with legacy students? A family worth hundreds of millions with three sons at Harvard undergrad and Harvard Law / HBS who donated a building on campus? Equally as overt yet something that has just become accepted in The US.
Would Malia Obama have gotten into Harvard on her credentials and transcripts alone or Barbara Bush Jr have sailed right into Yale were they not daughters of Presidents? They system is rigged
4
There has been no extensive overhaul at USC. It has always been a school that caters to kids of wealthy parents. From my own comparison growing up in a expensive Northern California hamlet, I recall only students with average intellectual ability and average academic performance attending USC. The real high school performers would have been loathe to apply to USC. It was back then, and appears to be now, a school for the soon to be indebted but moreso for the kids of the wealthy.
The reason USCs accepts a smaller percentage of students is because more students apply to USC now than in the 1980s, and that is true for every college. More people apply now, the population is larger, and educational deflation has made the value of an undergraduate degree equivalent to a high school degree from the 1980s. That the reason USC accepts a smaller percentage of total applicants. That a very simple concept, one that the authors didn't gleen from the data.
It's not surprising that the NYT, in its authors, reveals the results of that education deflation. USC didn't make any overhaul, it's still the same party athlete school it always was, making non-rich indebt after college and giving the wealthy kids a good time.
It's also not surprising that they fail to take accountability for what has been revealed in the last few days. If anything, their culture contains multiple rewards for the type of thinking that could lead to these bribes being effectively actuated.
4
I would like to see every student who was wait-listed at any university that accepted the spawn of these felons join in a class action lawsuit against all of the participants:the rich parents, the corrupt coaches and the universities. One month in jail and millions of dollars in settlements would send a strong message.
2
This is what unbridled capitalism devoid of social justice looks like. It works beautifully for a few while the rest are made to work hard to make that happen. We have been taken for a ride long before this scandal. Take a look at our President and his cabinet. Enough said.
1
USC has long been desperate to try raise its image closer to that of the truly elite and storied colleges and universities. The Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne captured this brilliantly in 2017 in his savage critique of the then just-finished USC Village project, one replete with faux collegiate Gothic touches, which Hawthorne describes as "Disneyland meets Hogwarts," a project that is intended to send a message to "prospective students and their parents, along with trustees and donors, that USC is gearing up to compete with the Ivy League." Remarkably, USC's then President C.L. Max Nikias said at the ceremony to mark the project's opening, that "the looks of the University Village give us 1,000 years of history we don't have." (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-usc-village-review-20170820-story.html).
Despite the public humiliation of being implicated in this admissions cheating scandal, my guess is that USC is, deep down, actually quite pleased with itself that it is now being listed as an "elite" school, in the company of the likes of Stanford, Yale, and the rest.
6
This really isn't surprising - of course this type of thing has been going on for years. Writing a check to a University has long been an admission ticket for a child. What is interesting is that instead of spending a lot of money making sure the kids were academically prepared and qualified to compete on the merits, they instead bribed and cheated their way in. At the root is really the entitlement these families feel - they are famous, rich, beautiful people. They shouldn't be bound by the same rules are ordinary people -at least this apparently is the mindset. These people also cheated deserving people out of admission. The coaches and others who took the bribes were obviously just corrupt and in it for the money. The entire lot should face serious legal and financial consequences - but hopefully the best punishment will be shame and loss of status - because that seems to be what matters the most.
3
I don’t see why athletes get preferential treatment. I went to Stanford, and there were support groups in the jock dorms for athletes who were struggling academically. There are genius athletes out there, which is great and they’re welcome to apply like everyone else, but they don’t deserve affirmative action like they’re some kind of oppressed minority; if anything they are the opposite, worshipped and appreciated their entire lives. A university which claims the mantle of producing high-achieving academics should not be admitting an underclass of mediocre students. What’s the point of that?
I don’t buy that sports are a major profit center, especially if you factor in the numerous sports which are definitely cash flow negative like wrestling, crew, etc that nonetheless get many scholarships, expensive facilities, and reduced admission standards. I heard something like 10% of Stanford students were recruited based on athletic standards. Even if it’s only 2%, that’s 2% too many.
3
Let’s see- Olivia Jade was enjoying spring break on a yacht owned by the chairman of USC’s Board of Trustees when the news broke out. Anything wrong with that picture ?
With connections like that, I am surprised Lori Loughlin had to pay anyone off...
9
All of the cheating students should be immediately expelled.
1
In light of the cheating on SATs (and who knows what else), how can anyone take the following statement seriously?
This year, U.S.C. received close to 66,000 applicants, its largest pool ever, with the highest collective grade point averages and SAT scores ever recorded.
3
One has to wonder... if a kid who can't play water polo is admitted because the coach says he's a great player that USC just has to have, what happens once the kid shows up on campus? Does he try out for the team and not make it? and nobody notices? Or does he fake an illness? Doesn't anybody in the admissions office ever ask, hey coach, how is that kid doing these days? Is he living up to his potential?
Water polo can be a rough sport. Anyone who has ever watched it would know that being in the middle of a water polo match is no place for someone who doesn't know what he is doing. So how does this actually work?
2
Two thoughts:
I like how the FBI timed the releae of this scandal to coincide with admission acceptances/rejections. Seems like USC’s admission yield might be slightly lower this year :)
Sports are the most economically, ethically, and socially diverse part of any campus. Want to know what a true meritocracy looks like? Check out the track team.
USC .....University of Second Choice. Everyone knows it.
So the puzzle is why would anyone bribe their way into USC?
3
I see a lot of hate for these "spoiled children". But why are we punishing kids for the crimes of their parents? Why shame them for being spoiled, when their parents did the spoiling? Why hate on a kid when they most likely didn't know what was going on or went along because they didn't want to lose the love of their parents? We often say that they should have been smart enough or independent enough to say no to their parents, but that kind of individuation is rare at their age, and is a process, if we're really being honest, that could take decades. The schools, especially USC, it seems, need to clean house. But as far as the students go, the schools shouldn't necessarily turn to expulsion. They should give the kids a chance to withdraw with dignity. The kids (whether they knew about what happened or not) should take it. And, we, as a society shouldn't write them off but give them the chance to start over, earn their way fairly and learn the lessons their parents have lost sight of (integrity, fairness, a use of your means to better not only yourself but society, gratitude, the value of competence and trust in themselves).
18
@Try a Little Empathy - "we, as a society ... give them the chance to start over, earn their way fairly and learn the lessons"
Sure, but will they? Seems like the culture of the rich in this country has been rotting from inside for a while and has become a way of life. Seems like the perpetrators may not even know what it means to "earn their way fairly" - so long has been they have been part of this "earning" their way from privilege for generations.
8
@Try a Little Empathy
The actions of their parents have deprived hard-working, honest, deserving students of their spots. Do you really think it's fair to let them stay rather than making room for qualified students who want to transfer to USC? What do you think about Olivia Jade, the daughter of Lori Laughlin who was quoted saying that she's interested in school for game days but not for studying? This girl likely receives a lot of money as a social media influencer, so she's not going to starve if she doesn't get to continue at USC. In fact, reading about her makes one wonder if she'd even miss it!
11
@Try a Little Empathy
There is no way these kids were not aware. Pictures in crew boats, calls from coaches in sports they don't play, side-by-side help with ACT?
No empathy here. They knew and thought nothing of it.
10
Here's a simple solution for preventing college admissions based on faked athletic credentials: mandatory in-person tryouts for applicants who state an intention to join a team and want it considered as a credential for admission. Current or recent team members whose love of the sport is verified by the actual time and effort they've devoted to the team watch the tryouts, interview the applicants and decide whether they're imposters. Not whether they're talented enough to be a capable player; just that they are bona fide players. If this peer panel finds the applicant legit, the usual authorities can decide whether they should be admitted based on their athletic talent and potential.
If applicants can't travel to the campus, let them be evaluated in the same way by team members at the nearest campus that offers that sport.
6
I attended USC for two years as an undergrad before transferring to another university. While USC had many benefits, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the school was trying to be everything to everyone: athletic powerhouse, prestigious academic institution, top-notch entertainment production training ground, etc.
In the end, USC found what many of us who stretch ourselves too thin find out: something has to give. Unfortunately in this case, it meant sacrificing the integrity of its admissions process for short-term financial gain.
13
Forget about USC. No doubt some admirable academic characteristics, but otherwise it has long been the university in California for those students interested in business careers. USA-style football also king, although such is true of many big state and private universities. Party school? Perhaps, but more football mania at its worst.
8
what I remember from attending Georgetown law, Ted koppel's kid and Colin Powell's kids were students. It just seemed normal that if you're rich or famous you get to go wherever you want. No one of us questioned it , although we all kind of suspected that these kids were academically inferior. I remember a couple kids who had gotten in because they were absolutely devoted to conservative causes and worked for conservative Congress people. These were the students who were particularly unqualified and even tended to fail out.
13
Given the evidence, are we justified in hypothesizing that the present legal case is just the tip of the iceberg? I believe all of the activities of the fired Stanford sailing coach, for instance, should be investigated thoroughly. We have an acquaintance whose son/daughter went to one of these schools to be on one of these sports teams under one of these coaches who has just been fired. I don't know whether chicanery was involved. It doesn't look good, however. One of his parents is an influential college admissions consultant with many connections to the school in question. His grades and test scores could have and should have been better. Are there many students on, for instance, the Stanford varsity sailing team who are not rich and white? No matter how you look at it, such teams are without a doubt a giant back door for rich white applicants.
12
If foreign students who could barely speak English - but highly motivated to succeed, talented and academically above-average and want to enter our country and pursue higher learning, we should welcome them.
American students, who speak English, everything offered to them on a platinum platter and shamelessly announce on social media that college academics is not for them and they are in college only for the college dorm experience and to attend parties and sports events. The peak of arrogance is unfolding in front of us when reports surface that these students fraudulently submitted applications chockfull of lies, pretending to be athletes—this is travesty. Of course, the PR machinery promptly spins that all these universities and colleges did not know/ unaware/ in the dark, blah blah blah.
If all these schools of higher learning do not want a repeat of this scandal—
DO THE RIGHT THING.
SOLUTION- these students should be immediately expelled and their parents arrested and serve time.
4
Steps to begin cleaning up the systemic corruption in the admissions process at elite colleges and universities:
1. Get rid of the SAT and ACT exam requirements (and thus the exam preparation industry) for all universities.
2. Get rid of all athletic scholarships and preferential admissions for athletes.
3. Get rid of legacy admissions.
4. Get rid of preferential admissions for the families of large donors.
5. Identify all the academically qualified candidates in the admissions pool and then use a lottery to choose the class from among that group.
6. Pass legislation revoking eligibility for ANY government funding of any college or university, public or private, that continues to allow these corrupt preferential admissions practices for the wealthy.
14
@CF
This is my times pick.
1
A Board shake must happen immediately.
Chairman Rick Caruso has both too many business and personal conflicts to lead effectively. He must resign.
Rick’s a great guy, a supposedly amazing businessman, but enough of these Billionares deciding, and controlling, our children’s future.
13
USC and the other schools(in addition to some of their coaches) were either in on the criminality or grossly negligent. they were at least so grossly negligent that they do not deserve any sort of high ranking with regard to their intelligence or moral capacity. certainly they are in no position to properly educate youths of america until they fire many of the responsible people in charge of admissions. i also wonder if the teachers had a clue that some of the students were not qualified to be students at that school.
2
I don't know if admissions issues were involved but decades ago USC was notorious, end even got caught, for grade and credit fudging for athletes. Star lineman Anthony Munoz was involved but only after he had graduated and gone to the pros where he starred and also ended up with an football analyst, probably because of his USC aura. I know he was an excellent player, both in and out of college, but he and others should have been kicked out academically. Admittedly, as a lifelong Big Ten fan, I'm biased but I got very tired of USC cleaning up on the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl since they had (and have) a long record of cheating. They are on the bottom of my list overall and at the top of my list of teams to cheer against. Whenever they play their annual game with a certain team from Indiana, I have to flip a coin to pick who I'm going to cheer against.
6
@REB
Ever heard of UNC and FSU?
1
I don't know why there is such shock and aww about parents paying bribes to get their children in to universities. Our congress and senate is bought and paid for by fortune 500 companies. If you can buy a senator's vote, you certainly can buy your child's admission in to the university of their liking.
Money may not make you happy (although personally, I think my happiness level would increase 10 fold), but let's face it - money buys you anything (or anyone) that you want.
I don't believe for one moment that the heads of the universities had no knowledge of what was happening with their schools. 10 to 1, they were profiting from it as well. Every school official should be fired and levied a fine. Ignorance (or indifference) is not a valid excuse.
6
Old guy here. We showed up, took the test and went home. I know of no one who received tutoring, but if someone had, he would have been thoroughly mocked. Way better system, younglings.
15
To me, USC will always be a diploma mill at best for well healed international students and the university of spoiled children or university of second chances (in this case maybe even three or four) at worst. Just like how everyone graduates from Ivy league with some sort of honors or distinction, these "elite" schools are all a joke. It is sad how so many of our "leaders" have graduated from places like this. It almost seems like these places are breeding grounds for sociopaths who insist they are "leaders." USC will never be an "elite" university because these days anyone can buy "elite" status given enough money and donations just like regular folk can buy miles on their frequent flyer program.
13
@Disgruntled model minority Please do not confuse or conflate the pathetic and sordid awards practices at, say, Haaarvard with schools where it takes genuine merit to be graduated with honors, like Cornell, where some colleges don't even award awards.
In colleges what we learn is fairly standard. Different colleges offer different recipes, some little high quality for sure but at the end of the day it is the same recipe offered to everybody. There is a tremendous amount of learning and knowledge available outside colleges (and that does not mean standard learning offered at workplaces). Furthermore, these alternative avenues do not present themselves to learners on a platter. Those who wish to educate themselves have to look really hard for them. When grownups begin to understand that such dire need to bend rules would not arise. The pressure on rule-benders would also ease if those who have got big names on their CVs do not feel too proud of it. They would see that there are many who have more or less similar names when they will launch themselves in their standard jobs.
2
As a former full time faculty member at USC, this story resonates to the major reason that I left while still have several years to go on a tenure-track contract. Having some money at least is a good thing, and in full disclosure I make much more today as a business owner than ever possible as a faculty member at USC. However, my business success has been somewhat accidental, while the reason that I left USC was to not pursue making more money but instead to pursue a life free of what I sensed to be a plastic culture driven by a status-obsessed administration though there were many students that I really enjoyed.
Back then, and apparently as is still true today, USC wished to mirror the clichéd culture of coastal Southern California where money is the end all of everything. I realize that home prices were high back in the mid-1990s in these areas of Southern California and are even much higher today. But ultimately it is not a life to pursue money alone. Many students in those days at least were there because of brand identify - they aspired to be the SoCal branded cliché - young, happy, and wealthy and USC was the poster child for that brand. The poor and middle class kids went into debt into the 6 figures for this brand association.
We need to realize that a school like USC is not a healthy identify. Unfortunately, It all goes away on the day it is reported that this identify can be bought due to your Mommy's and Daddy's bribes.
98
@Dan Los Angeles generally celebrates the decadent and the vapid. The players in this scandal show that.
6
All
Prospective high school juniors, seniors, reconsider your applications to schools like USC, UCLA, Yale, Stanford, Wake Forest, Georgetown, U of Texas, etc. Send a loud and clear message.
14
As a USC alum I am sickened by the scandal and I find it unbelievable that USC keeps having scandals. Bribery, cheating and unethical behavior are rampant. It stems from the top including administration and the Board of Trustees. It is now time for Rick Caruso to resign. He is just a crude bully billionaire without any ethics himself.
39
@Robert Wright "He is just a crude bully billionaire without any ethics himself." So is Trump, yet he is turning out to be a great president in many respects (unless you'd have preferred the soft but way more genuine corruption of HRC). As sainted Oscar Wilde said, "A man's being a poisoner is nothing against his prose." Or his executive ability (sometimes).
I still don't believe that attending a prestigious college has anything to do with someone's success in life (however you want to define success). But apparently there are parents who have kids applying to college that do. Maybe those parents should consider what success really means while also considering how they can help their kids achieve those qualities that guarantee success.
11
@Curtis Maine
I'm sure that the actual classes at any of these schools aren't significantly different than at any other high quality institution and that a student who works diligently can get an equivalent education at almost anywhere.
What you get from going to an uber prestigious colleges is: 1) a piece of paper that at least gets you in the door for career options almost anywhere for the rest of your working life (you still have to prove yourself, but at least you get a chance), 2) a group of friends/colleagues/peers who are going to spread out around the World and become leaders in every important field, and 3) you automatically become a member of an elite network of extraordinarily successful alumni who not infrequently scratch each others backs.
Your success is not guaranteed by any of this, but if you are competent and diligent and take advantage of these benefits your odds of success are significantly higher than those of others of similar intelligence and diligence without such a degree, particularly if you are seeking super competitive positions.
8
it makes a huge difference when you first graduate. Employers assume that if you went to Georgetown, you are smart and have a good work ethic. With my Georgetown law degree, I was able to graduate and move to a city out west and essentially pick the job that I wanted. Things didn't turn out too well for me in the end but the truth is that degree got my foot in the door. You are correct though after you get your foot in the door, it is up to you.
6
@Curtis Maine
As a lawyer I can assure you the name of the law school is the difference between being hired and not getting an interview. The difference in earnings is enormous.
1
I am furious as my high school, Marymount has been touched by this. The two sisters who got in under crew slots attend Marymount at a cost of 147k each for four years. Marymount has been an institution of ethical and academic strength since 1929. There were 11 women in my late mother’s 1938 class. My mother went to USC , two others to UCLA and one to Stanford...all on merit and they all graduated.Every young woman in my 1968 class attended college. Granted some did not complete college, but the school prides itself on its academic standards.
There can be no possible way that Marymount did not suspect something, as it does not have a Crew Team. Were these two girls such air heads that they just skated by? If so, someone had to notice the irregularities in their being accepted to USC.
My heart hurts.
44
And where was the NCAA Clearinghouse registration and vetting on these students???
@Mary A Good point, but doesn't that only apply to Division 1? Surely USC football is Div. 1, not sure re crew; it's not unusual for a Div. 1 school to also have Div. 3 programs for smaller sports.
Too big to fail, so the squirming among these universities will be interesting to watch, primarily whether and to what extent these schools actually remove the perpetrator enrollees, all of whom should be so removed, and ironically have to reimburse the very perpetrator parties to the extent the institutions or their representatives received funds from them.
And their admissions apparatus is fully compromised, and should be subject to criminal scrutiny.
It’s one thing for grandpa to buy his grandchild in on the pretense that admission is not guaranteed for Muffy, but Muffy’s last three generations of forebears were admitted, quite another to bribe the tennis coach to have Muffy admitted, who would not a know a tennis racket from a fly swatter.
It is quite another to have some third party take the SAT for Muffy, and thereby gain her admission due to that fraudulent score, or to claim that Muffy is a recruit for the crew team, when Muffy never touched an oar and the university’s crew coach receives a many thousands of dollars bribe from her family.
Far more diabolical is the complete compromise of the entrance testing system, College Board, you all must be kidding, disgraceful...
10
How is grandpa buying the students’ way in any worse? Just because many generations have gone a sub par student should gain admissions?
@B paddy o Because my fine fenian grandpa's dough will help pay for your offspring. Clear it up any for you?
Back in my day, USC was not only mockingly referred to as the "University of Spoiled Children", it was also referred to as the "University of Second Choice".
Those of us at UCLA loved to look down our noses at the school as a place where the children of the well off in Southern California who weren't smart enough or disciplined enough to get into a "real" school went to party and establish connections in preparation for a life of comfort somewhere in Southern California. The only thing about USC that we envied was their football team (days of OJ). I know that times have supposedly changed and that USC is now supposedly a "prestigious" school in some people's minds, but I have a hard time shedding my impression of the place. A decent, very well funded regional school with a few shining light programs (Cinema, Performing Arts, maybe others I don't know about)
So I am kind of amazed that much of this scandal centers on getting kids into USC. Sheesh. If you're going to sell your soul to the Devil to get your child into college you'd think that you would at least insist on a degree from Yale or Stanford in return. : )
47
I don't know about USC exactly, but Universities actually can and did change from diploma mills to power house institutions in the past. You mentioned Stanford who is now seen as one of the world top universities. For some reason it is mostly forgotten that it was not always the case and used to be not well known and seen, for example, from across the bay (Berkeley) as 'down on the farm'. I learned about that about 10 years ago in a very interesting article in a magazine called Physics Today ( I used to work in physics) that wasn't per say about Stanford, but about the 1950 loyalty oath at Berkeley. One sentence late in the article was very surprising to me :
"Across the bay, Stanford University, small and not known for high standards before WWII, had embarked on a serious plan of expansion of it's sciences and engineering departments with world-class faculty."
Hence it is indeed possible to completely change an institution with enough motivation and ressources. Hopefully it is the case at USC because although I never even set foot on that campus, I personally don't enjoy witnessing any institution of high learning going down the drain.
5
Really, don’t be childish. The two schools are ranked almost identically.
6
@Enigma Variation You may remember the 1966 Oscar winner for Best Picture “A Man for All Seasons”. St. Thomas More was played by the great theatrical & movie actor Paul Scofield. After false testimony against him at his trial by his former friend Richard Rich (played by John Hurt), an astonished More notices the medallion of office that Rich is wearing indicating his recent appointment as Attorney General of Wales, clearly an award for his false testimony. More remarks: “For Wales? Why Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . . but for Wales!” Ditto USC, I agree.
I graduated from Caltech in 1973 - so long ago. With all goings on, I am glad my mother was too poor to pay for anything. I had to take a loan to fly from Mumbai to Pasadena. Luckily, Caltech had given me a scholarship.
USC - in those days was the playground of rich Iranians. We would hear stories of fancy cars, police chasing Iranian students etc. And Trojans at the Rose Bowl - and don't forget the Bruins. Of course, no one could eclipse John Wooden.
So, USC was not much for academics - may be. But I vouch for its dental school and one, Dr. Scott (his first name, as I have forgotten his last name)
I had no dental insurance as Caltech did not offer. Coming from India - I don't think I had ever stepped into a dentist office. But I needed root canal on my molars.
Went to a Pasadena dentist - seeing a poor student, he said even if he lowered his fees - I could not afford it. His solution- USC dental school. The students work on folks like me for nothing.
I took a bus to make repeated visits to Dr, Scott. Over six months, he root canaled all my molars.
Now, after almost 50 years - any time a dentist sees these root canal - they always admire what a great job Dr. Scott had done.
So, my hope is no one out of these families gets into its dental school and displaces yet another wonderful Dr. Scott.
36
College administrators are very well-versed in looking the other way. The Times exposed the phony "prep school" scandal around a dozen years ago. A number of schools, including GW, where I went to grad school, were signing basketball players who couldn't meet a minimum GPA/SAT combination, so right after high school thay enrolled for a few weeks in a "prep " school where lo and behold, they got all As. One of the schools had something like 3 "professors," one of them the basketball coach, who between them claimed to teach over 30 different subjects. Apparently there was very little effort to simulate real classes. No player had a problem submitting a transcript to GW, and no one had a problem applying to the NCAA for clearance. The NCAA clearinghouse rubberstamped the clearances. In one case it had taken the player 6 or seven years to finish high school. No one questioned how he became a straight A student overnight.
When this was first exposed, one of GW's defenses was, a high school diploma isn't actually a requirement to be admitted. [If you can shoot a basket and you're well over 6 feet, apparently.] The coach had to know but apparently didn't ask, and at least someone in admissions had to have been suspicious if not an active collaborator. At least these weren't wealthy kids, they probably did need a break.
5
I turned down a job at USC years ago because I couldn't get past the emphasis on money and sports over academics. Not one day have I ever regreted my decision.
31
There are plenty of scandals to choose from. but I'm surprised the article omitted the recent and ongoing FBI investigation into NCAA men's basketball and bribing players. A (now former) USC assistant coach pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in January 2019.
15
When people criticize affirmative action programs at major universities, now I and others can just point to this.
15
@IlliniWatcher So you regard affirmative action as fraudulent also? Me too. It's just state sanctioned corruption, thumb on the scale, etc., just not for rich folks. Hey pal, corruption is corruption, it corrupts no matter who it benefits ('diversity', 'society'), and who is involved, and always displaces genuine worthies. Both should be illegal, one day AA will be. As Chief Justice Roberts has noted: "The way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
My daughter just graduated magna cum laude from USC last year with a BA. We are not rich and powerful. She went to public school in Dallas K-12, worked her tail off, was a class leader in many activities and was salutatorian of her senior class. She now lives in LA and writes for several publications, including the LA Times. We couldn’t be more proud of her and hope she doesn’t punished for the sins of others. The situation is disheartening as are several of the more self-righteous posts here.
37
if i recall correctly, the majority of those involved in the Watergate scandal we S C alums.
13
Wow- I don’t know where to begin! Why these schools don’t get rid ( fire!) all complicit- I have no idea. No wonder education, in this country, is suffering. We have corrupted it with influence and money- capitalism at it’s worst.
3
I'm surprised anyone thinks this won't set USC back in any way. Don't they understand that if admission is for sale, then it isn't worth anything?
13
USC stands for Uniquely Sophisticated Corruption. This university loves corruption, nepotism, and it is not the first time that it is involved in scandals.
19
Or, the University of Serial Corruption.
Revoke some degrees, kick some kids out, start getting your reputation back.
Don't, and the slush money will stop pouring in as wealthy "donors" just take their shopping experiences elsewhere to another institution that's likely to be more discreet.
8
How could the NYT writers quote USC officials with any seriousness? Did they simply forget that less than a year ago, USC's men's basketball program was just caught by the FBI in the Adidas scandal? That included phone calls from the head coach who's still there in their "culture of compliance." Vavic, the water polo coach, might be "hugely successful," but he's notorious within the sport with regular calls from his colleagues for the NCAA to investigate his program including bribery of officials. And I'm sorry New Yorkers, everyone in California still calls USC by that nickname; it didn't go away and it's certainly not going to now.
16
Each Admissions Office should hire work-study students (who likely got in legitimately) to spend no more than 10 to 15 minutes per applicant - which is all it will take - googling each applicant and calling the school college counselor and/or the relevant sports governing body to confirm some basic info.
12
I’m currently an undergraduate student at USC.
Although there are undoubtedly issues with the system as it exists, it is unnecessary to make overarching comments about the overall prestige of USC, or the intellectual caliber of its students. Unfortunately, we live in an era where the higher education system and the college admissions process are severely flawed. However, these issues are not inextricably linked to USC. Yes, it is true that there are students at USC who tote name-brand bags and have their names on buildings, but isn’t this (sadly) the case at every university?
Comments declaring all USC students “spoiled rich kids” or criticizing its reputation as an elite university are part of the problem (in addition to being inaccurate; I turned down admission offers from multiple Ivy League schools to attend USC and know of many classmates who did the same). Instead of reinforcing decades-old stereotypes about USC, I suggest that we instead reevaluate the entire higher education system — the focus should be on the corruption within the the administration of every prestigious university and the wealthy elite who have abused their power, not on the entirety of the USC community.
146
I went to USC, living about a block from Fraternity Row. "Spoiled Rich Kids" seemed right on the money (no pun intended) then, at least in that geographic locale. The Porsche was then the car of choice, but perhaps at least that has changed. I don't keep up.
26
@Student Sorry, but fantasy, assuming that Mr. Student is in fact what he says he is. I doubt it. The commentary appears to be pure propaganda.
12
@Student Notwithstanding USC's valiant, and to some degree successful efforts to shed the "rich white kid" image, it seems unable to escape a patina of scandal, most recently a lurid episode of sexual abuse by a campus gynecologist that led to scores of lawsuits by USC students, and the resignation of the school's president. In 2017, charges of sexual harassment led to the resignation of the medical school's dean. Less than a year later, his successor resigned as a newspaper prepared to publish a story revealing his own harassment history.
It goes without saying that none of these events reflects the actions or character of USC students or the vast majority of its talented faculty. They do, however, cast a shadow on the reputation of the institution. In short, whether or not it's fair or just, an "elite university" is more than the sum of its students, personnel or facilities.
18
They should state in their admissions manual: "Candidates from rich families have different requirements." That way it will be fair play. But what to do if the brain does not have the requirements for the study matters? Mom and dad to the rescue once again? There is only so much money can buy.
10
Note that the athletics part of this scam involved the so-called non-revenue producing college sports, ie. tennis, water polo, soccer, volleyball, rowing, sailing. Almost without execption these are considered prep-school, suburban, rich white kids sports, mostly unavailable in the rural regions and inner cities.
If these were sports that non-whites had access to at the K-12 levels, the wealthy would be unable to exploit them at the college level for athletic scholarships. The talent pool would be much too deep, just like in basketball and football.
6
I know USC. (I did my graduate work there.) USC has problems. I also know other schools (I am an alumnus of others, and I teach at a 'rival.')
All large institutions have problems (as a current example, Yale, Stanford, San Diego, Wake Forest, Georgetown, Texas, and UCLA are part of this scandal which, apparently, is not directly due to any of these institutions, but to a few rogue employees and a larger number of outsiders), but, seemingly, USC has an additional image problem that is fanned by the media.
Often this same media fails to mention that USC is the oldest private research university in California.
Often this same media overlooks that USC currently ranks academically from 54th to 132nd worldwide (or from 15th to 46th nationally) among all universities based on the most commonly cited polls (and, yes, these and all rankings are subjective).
More often, this same media chooses to caricature USC for its sports prowess or for L.A. and Hollywood stereotypes.
USC has problems. More importantly, USC is working to solve its problems just like every other legitimate institution.
13
It apparently isn’t working hard enough!
The problem with the Varsity Blues investigation is that it doesn't extend to all the guilty parties.
People joke that "USC" stands for "University of Spoiled Children." This is certainly true of Olivia Jade Gianulli. She had to have known that she did not gain admission to USC on her own merits because she knew she did not have a learning disability entitling her to extended time testing. She needs to be kicked out of USC. Ditto every other kid with an indicted parent, because they also knew they didn't have learning disabilities or didn't play a sport at an elite level.
Also guilty as sin: all of the high school guidance counselors and all of the admissions offices. These people are in regular contact with each other about applicants. Here's an example from my kid's elite private high school: there is an English teacher who is a notoriously hard grader. When admissions offices see a "C" in English on a transcript of an applicant from my kid's school, they call the guidance counselor to find out whether the "C" given by the notoriously hard grader. If so, the "C" is discounted by the admissions offices. This is the level of granularity at which the college admissions system operates (at least at the elite private school level).
Admissions offices know from regular chats with guidance counselors which schools have crew teams, how hard the grading is, which applicants have learning disabilities, etc. Don't all these people at least deserve to be fired?
15
In Los Angeles, it used to be said that all you needed to get into USC was a pulse (and lots of money, of course). It was and always has been, in my mind, the rich kids' school, a school for kids who like to party and attend sporting events. It also has the most loyal alumni network you can imagine, both in donating to the school and in helping each other out in careers and business. Despite the efforts to join the elite universities of this country, I believe that this is still USC's reputation locally, at least among native or long-standing Californians. It's a hard reputation to shake, and I suspect it is at the heart of this scandal, of parents thinking there is nothing really wrong with working the system to get their kids admitted to this school, since until recently neither its admission standards nor its academic standards have been all that rigorous.
19
I'm a USC student and I find it fascinating how much joy current students are deriving from calling our own university corrupt, elitist and wealth-driven.
I would like to say, however, the engineering school isn't as bad as the school on the whole in terms of bribery and corruption replacing student merit.
9
This is the story of our times - white, affluent families who already are viewed as having the tailwind of privilege in our society (relative to non-white, non-affluent members of our society), don't feel that tailwind is enough to carry their children forward, so they resort to unscrupulous means to ensure their progeny reap the benefits of privilege.
I suspect that if you were to broaden the scope of the investigation, you would probably find similar stories at a number of "elite" schools. Perhaps less so at the Ivies, but then they have their own legacy issues.
Is it any wonder that there is so much anger out there?
10
I am from India and graduated with a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from USC. When I applied, I got admit in multiple schools here in the US (ASU, UoM(twin cities), UMass Amherst) and chose USC because I really liked their graduate program. The program curriculum was very tough, we had to stay in the labs/libraries almost 16 to 20 hrs a day to finish our assignments. Getting a 4.0 GPA is incredibly difficult. Competition is fierce.
Though this scandal does not affect Masters or Ph.D. students, I am still deeply hurt by these activities at USC. All of the alumni are affected when the university's name is dragged through the mud. I did not get any tuition assistance and my parents gave me the money by using our house in India as collateral for an educational loan. I worked part-time 20 hrs on campus (F1 students are not allowed to work outside the campus), stayed with 4 other people in a single BHK to pay for the living expenses. We lived near the frat row because that was the safest place to live outside the campus.
With all that said, I am still privileged enough to have been born in the middle class in India to afford an education in the U.S. A lot of many brilliant people don't have that luxury. That is life. But bribing your way into the university by paying several times the amount of tuition is despicable. More than the parents, I blame the university for enabling this attitude. USC must now work overtime to restore confidence in its admissions process.
28
Why not be above board with the admission "sale?" Choose 10 (or random number) and auction those spots to highest parent bidders. Money raised fully funds scholarships for neediest freshman students.
6
@Judy "Money raised fully funds scholarships for neediest freshman students." Which is exactly how the old-school 'institutional bribery' works, duh. So, it's not corruption after all, is it? (Actual bribing is surely corrupt, and rigging tests even more so, to be sure, but not the old ways, says the US Attorney in Boston handling these cases.)
New money mostly, yes? Old money does this ever so much more elegantly. And legally.
11
I'm glad that my two daughters had no interest in attending USC. Aside from their long list of scandals, USC is also located in an awful part of town.
To the surprise of many USC faithful, my daughters were admitted based solely on their academics. Glad they selected the University of Washington.
5
We should get their subsided funding back, these people who gamed our system should be paying repatriations.
Anybody who did not get in to these schools should have standing to sue any and all of these cheaters. If there were 750 families helped in this scheme, we need to see 750 expulsions, degrees rescinded, and civil fraud charges brought.
8
I'm glad I have already forgotten the names of the toothsome thespian mediocrities and their instagram-exhibitionist offspring at the center of the revelations of the last few days. In this article, we are now gratified with the picture of a grotesquely grinning "Beverly Hills marketing executive" cut out of the same synthetic cloth. As beamingly self-satisfied cheats, they have a fitting figurehead in the White House, whose own university records, not to mention his daughter's or his son in law's, must be as laughably juicy as his tax returns. These and so many other converging signs show a dramatic deterioration of American soft power. What used to be US attractiveness and exemplarity is eroding into flashy fraudulence, aptly presided over by Cheat-in-Chief Trump. Who could look down their noses at the corrupt antics of Russian oligarchs or the nepotism of the Chinese nomenklatura in such circumstances?
The ability of honorable Americans to track down, expose, and deal with abuses like these, and the resilient strength of their institutions, is what keeps the hopes of your foreign friends alive - stay strong and all best wishes for 2020!
12
A whopping $6 billion! I am astounded by USC’s ability to raise money!
I predict USC will only do better in the years to follow. Alumni have skin in the game and need to preserve and solidify the prestige!
7
My daughter was a UCLA tour guide for three years. They were prohibited from talking trash about cross-town rival USC, but not because of a lack of material, it seems.
UCLA has its own issue with this scandal, the men's soccer coach.
I hope this ugly episode leads to some major admissions changes. My daughter worked for years to be a good candidate and though accepted by UCLA (her first choice, fortunately), she was turned away by Cal and some Ivys. I wonder if someone bumped her through cheating. Certainly deserving kids were bumped. Awful.
13
There is a culture of corruption across the country that has been legitimized by Trump and the Republicans.
13
Its time to stop hiring any students from universities that commit this type of fraud. As a recruiter I will stop until they prove that they have cleaned up their act. It feels as of late that all institutions in the United States are becoming more corrupt. Wonder why?
7
Hello Chuck,
I am a current undergraduate student at USC. I come from a middle class family in Arizona, where we sit just at the point that we do not receive any financial aid, but paying out-of-state tuition for any university (public or private) would decimate my family. Though I was accepted to both UCLA and UC Berkeley, I was only able to fulfill my dream of leaving the state for college because USC offered me a merit scholarship based on my long record of hard work and exemplary grades and achievements. I’ve had an abundance of incredible opportunities at USC. I am taking graduate classes now in just my third year of college, and I will be fortunate to earn my Master’s degree from USC’s School of Public Policy - the third ranked school for public affairs in the country.
I believe your comment is terribly short-sighted and discounts the efforts of many thousands of students who excel in their fields at USC. In my small circle of friends and acquaintances, I know a number of people who come from poor or middle class communities and turned down Ivy League admissions offers to attend USC on a variety of prestigious national scholarship packages. USC students are not defined by the actions of those charged in this most recent indictment and we are not defined by the scandals that have ripped through our university over the last two years. USC is a community of brilliant and enterprising individuals who are well poised to contribute to the success of any organization.
2
Punish innocents? Surely you jest.
@Chuck Really, a recruiter in New York who grandly abjures hiring USC grads is really giving up absolutely nothing - just how many can you imagine there would ever be?
NYT:
Singer and Key were merely the middlemen between rich parents and crooked athletic coaches and admins.
I haven't seen reporting into the connection between Singer and the coaches/admins. Because it wasn't just a single coach or admin (though the USC admin certainly worked for her $1.3M), or a single athletic program, or a single sport. This happened at different schools, on different coasts, and across a spectrum of sports -- from sailing, to track, to tennis, soccer and football. And it seems unlikely that Singer's outfit is the only one of these in operation, as word likely travels far in the world of high-priced admissions consulting.
And so there are a number of questions I'd love answers to: How did Singer first identify those coaches/admins who were soft and could be bribed -- did he have a network of operatives that sussed them out, or did the coaches learn of him? How did he then make contact? How were they instructed to run interference with admissions personnel to gain these applicants entrance? How much contact did they have with him? Was it one-time or ongoing?
This scandal -- and unreported others like it -- wouldn't be possible if not for coaches/admins who were on-the-take. Exposing this side of the transaction might help prevent future such scandals. (Of course, the better solution would be to end the practice of giving athletes special consideration, but I don't think this will happen without an even larger, tawdrier scandal.)
8
When I chose to attend USC in 1998, it came down to a full-tuition academic scholarship and a spot in the 8-year Bac/MD program. I was well-aware of all the negative stereotypes surrounding the institutions. Courses were not overly rigorous, but the faculty were engaging and caring. While there were many students that were privileged, there were many others from lower and lower-middle SES families.
The strides that USC made from the mid-90s on have both been superficial (e.g. new dorms, new facilities, new buildings!), but they have also aggressively recruited top academic researchers (who don't really teach) to raise it's profile, but this is true of many of state flagships as well (count the cranes on any midwest land grant university).
To say that all alumni only rely upon their family connections in southern California is also a stereotype. There were brilliant students that I met while they were at USC, many are professionals and or academics that lead their fields on their own merit.
The privilege of the rich was at every step of my academic career, whether this was at a state flagship in the Pacific Northwest, or a small liberal arts college. In my experience, the privilege of wealth is far worse in NY and in New England (and Silicon Valley is probably not far behind). The nepotism and hoop-jumping is just as bad. The people caught up in the scandal are those not familiar with the 'legal' hoops to jump through (i.e. test-prep and self-discovery vacations).
58
@Dan a good start would be to ban all inter-collegiate sports in any school benefiting from taxpayer dollars. this would of course, mean any school with students who have student tuition loans guaranteed or made by the government. these sports are for the entertainment of the fans that like to view these games. they have nothing to do with the education of the students. intra-mural sports(improved with good coaches, etc) would benefit anymore students and improve their health for years.
13
@john boeger I'm all for removal, but you're talking about the NCAA and universities which makes around a billion dollars from television rights for football and baseball broadcasts each year. Good luck trying to convince them to shut that down.
Plus, the latest scandals at USC (med school dean, campus physician, admissions cheating) wouldn't be fixed by banning athletics. You would end up seeing admissions officers, deans, music or other performance majors getting bribed.
2
I still don't understand why building an athletic reputation helps build an intellectual or academic reputation.
I know that somehow it does, I just don't know why. It was never something I considered when deciding to which schools I should apply.
15
@Steve
It's confusing to me too. My guess:
Out-of-state applications to Florida Atlantic University apparently soared after they hired Lane Kiffin as football coach.
With more applications, acceptance rates will subsequently fall. This makes the school at least appear more competitive
I think that's the reason even the very top academic schools (Stanford, Northwestern) maintain D1 football programs even though football is terrible for a young person's brain
2
As both a graduate and former admissions officer at USC I think it is time for USC to really clean ship from top to bottom. I hope both the Board of Trustees and Dr. Austin will do what is necessary to bring USC back from what mostly certainly has been a very sad chapter in the land of Troy. There are good people and great programs at USC that need ethical moral leadership. Disappointing but preventable with good oversight and strong leadership.
19
My heart hurts because I know the high schools had to be involved. Those two CREW kids went to Marymount. It ha no crew team. My late mom attended Marymount and USC. My sister and I also attended Marymount.
7
I'm from humbled beginnings and got my doctorate from U.S.C. It was a great experience. I also enjoyed the athletic program while I was there. I'm hopeful that appropriate penalties will meted out to discourage this behavior I feel sad for the students who were involved, especially if they did not know.
14
@wintersea You feel sad for the "students who were involved, especially if they did not know"? What does that even mean? My opinion of USC PHd grads just took a plunge, and it wasn't high anyway.
4
USC offered me a wonderful education and I worked ever so hard to take advantage of it and go on for a doctorate from there. What I found merely a nuisance at USC however was the big-shot athletic programming from which I just stayed away.
106
@Nancy
Why is sports a nuisance? It's frequently the "front porch" of a university and often the only ongoing connection many alumni have with their university. I have been a part of two universities where academics and athletics successfully coexisted.
If you consider sports a nuisance, what do you make of all the other non-academic pursuits at a university such as student clubs? If sports is a nuisance, so are non-academic clubs and activities that use a school's money.
3
@NancyAmen, Nancy. maybe taxpayers should revolt and stopping taxes until all inter-collegiate sports are banned.
5
@john boeger
Sure, right after all student "community organizers" who disrupt speakers are banned. Thanks.
1
I received a Presidential Scholarship to attend USC about a decade ago, and declined for many of the same reasons listed in this article. While Berkeley, Stanford and UCLA are well-known in California and beyond for their education foremost and then their athletic potential, USC was the school Matt Sanchez, OJ, Reggie Bush semi-studied in. In LA, it is still known as the school of the wealthy and athletes in spite of some of their top-notch academic programs. I attended and graduated from an Ivy League school and my classmate, Pete Carroll's recruit, went to USC (didn't graduate) before going into the NFL. We both went to the right school at the end. USC charges Ivy tuition and should hold it's own students, employees and faculty members to Ivy League standards.
99
@Nancy Was Yale not implicated in the scandal as well? Ivy League "standards".
50
@Nancy Penn's former head basketball coach and his assistant (both former players and Penn graduates) took $300k to get a phony player into Penn. This came out before this bigger case, so, there is much more to see here, no doubt.
15
@Nancy, I too received a presidential scholarship to attend USC---I accepted it and I received a rigorous education, which in turn gave me the skills to succeed in rapidly changing environments. No professor EVER candied anything up for me or anyone else, for that matter. Plenty of students dropped out in their freshman and sophomore years, it was just impossible to fake it. You met standards or you did not. During my years at USC, I was given help when I needed/asked for it. I felt that USC was invested in me as a student because they were! I wasn't just a number. They kept in touch after I graduated and it wasn't just for a donation. I helped other Trojans when asked, and they helped me when I asked. A rigorous education offered, and the support of the Trojan Family after graduation is the reason people want to attend USC.
20
USC a corrupt Athletic program with a so so university attached to it.
24
How is USC an elite school?
86
Because it's expensive??
7
This crisis may ‘blow over’ like the sexual impropriety and drug abuse by the dean of the medical school in 2017. Or, like the NCAA scandal in 2010. Or, it’s 1990’s moniker as University of Spoiled Children. And it may just be a coincidence that Loti Laughlin’s daughter was on Rick Caruso’s yacht in the Caribbean as this whole thing unfolded. But at some point, USC may simply be associated as systematic integrity issues.
15
Disclaimer: NY Times fan & USC alum here.
Well, this article is a low blow, even for The NY Times. I expected The NY Times to resist the opportunity to pile on the hate for USC, by sticking with in-depth coverage of the current scandal instead of dredging up a list of all the old scandals.
I expected a low blow like this from The LA Times because that’s LA for you, but The NY Times. Really?
14
@Victoria
Another way to look at it is if USC didn't have all the aforementioned scandals , there would be no dredging necessary.This could be viewed as a one time infraction; perhaps they temporarily lost their way in an other wise blameless life (to paraphrase Judge Ellis).
Instead, it seems to remind us of the decades long list of ethical and moral failings on behalf of many of persons associated with USC.
Perhaps USC , instead of being derisively known as the "University of Spoiled Children" should instead be called the "University of Scandal and Corruption".
12
Disclaimer. Daughter of USC alum and alum of Marymount where the 2 brats attended high school. The parents paid 147k each for these girls to get an outstanding education. They screwed around and need HELP getting into USC. This could not have happened without my high school knowing something. I am angry and disgusted. Don’t blame the NYT
8
USC sports and administration---corrupt to the core. They need to clean house, starting at the top.
15
The only people in Los Angeles who ever believed USC was a place where one could get a quality education were USC alumni.
79
@Jeff- I am a professor at USC and Have been for only the past four years. I left a great job to go there. I teach high quality courses to almost uniformly excellent students. On what do you base your overgeneralized comment?
9
Even I, as a New Englander and a non-football fan, have had the impression that USC is a rich kid sports school.
But as it turns out, that may not be true anymore. Raj Chetty's data, made searchable by the New York Times two years ago, indicates that only 13.9% of USC undergraduates are from the top 1% of income, and over 20% are from the bottom 60% of income. (Crucially, this excludes international students). It rates favorably to other major American universities, especially because compared to most top schools it is not well endowed.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html
23
Yes, and especially strong in attracting talented local minorities as well as armed forces vets. Very generous financial aid.
2
Somehow, everyone wants to dogpile. Under Samples, the school really made massive academic improvements. It’s consistently a top 25 ranked school (right in line with UCLA) with low acceptance rates, very high SAT scores, extremely well regarded faculty and facilities. They made it harder for people to buy their way in. As a result people are using more brazen methods. The school lost its way with Nikias. He was focused on raising $ and pretty much nothing else. The board just went along. I hope they make a better selection for the next president.
6
Maybe USC is experiencing what's called "loss of institutional control." Clearly, there's something wrong with 'SCs administrative culture.
11
All of the students who were involved in the scandals need to be expelled. Cheating their way into an admission is an academic dishonesty.
72
Developer Rick Caruso needs to step down from the USC Board of Trustees immediately. One of Loughlin's daughters was on his yacht when the scandal broke. Coincidence? It was the same yacht involved in the Brentwood School rap scandal featuring his son and friends. Clearly Caruso didn't learn that actions have consequences. He is not the leader to change either the perception or culture of a corrupt university where admission is "for sale." I feel sorry for the students who struggle to get into USC or other selective colleges based on merit. What chumps! They should have spent their time partying with the children of trustees or saving for bribes to coaches.
58
I guess Actor Lori Loughlin is going From "Full House", To "Fuller House". And Now To "The Big House"? :) :)
13
I taught at USC for two years 2016-2018. I not only heard about the most newsworthy scandals, I heard about some adjuncts being let go for trying to unionize (which is illegal). I heard about international students paying others to write their essays and dissertations-- and USC seemed to ignore this because the students were paying full tuition. I also heard about administrators attempting to hide the crime reports around campus. And now, knowing about this newest scandal, makes me glad I left.
52
College and University sports should be club sports only, like you see in all other developed countries. We should be in the business of educating our young people to make the world a better place in the future. Pro-sports on campuses have no place in that mission. Varsity sports should be eliminated at all institutions of higher education, period.
40
My daughter toured USC a few years back while on her college tour. While the physical facilities are impressive, she was underwhelmed by the students she met that day. Her overall impression was that most of them were quite superficial and still belonged in high school. Lots of brawn and beauty but few brains.
She ended up at Columbia.
51
@It's About Time Almost all of Southern California, people and culture, can be represented by your pithy remark: Lots of brawn and beauty but few brains.
I don't understand how the college applicants could be completely unaware of the false informaton that was being added to their applications.
Perhaps someone can provide as to how to keep your child inthe dark that some college administrators now believe that you are a star athlete when you never pursued a sport or, at the least, the sport in question.
18
Please, can we stop referring to these schools as top tier institutions. They’re only top in their ability to market and fool people into believing they provide a superior education. They do not. What they do is provide connections and access to members of the entitled class. I’d maintain state colleges and universities, in general, provide a far superior education. Of course this is not what these people want. They want power and access to those who have it. Critical reasoning and problem solving skills, it seems to me, is what should be the goal of education, as opposed to lessons in how most effectively to cheat, bully, abuse and lie and get away with it. Honestly, you can’t expect me to believe that the leaders of these organizations had no idea. They themselves likely participated on their way to their current positions.
38
This article mentions that USC rose to new prominence during the 1990's. That's true, but the reasons should be examined since they are perhaps causal in USC's current mess.
A fascinating article in the NYT from 2015, linked below, explains why. A few colleges that were not highly ranked began to market themselves as a consumer good: they raised tuition as a way to both increase their prestige and their rankings. It worked. Washington University/St. Louis, George Washington University, and Boston University used the same playbook.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife/how-to-raise-a-universitys-profile-pricing-and-packaging.html
22
@Cousy
I went to BU and graduated in ‘86 and it is true, the reputation has climbed due to application of the « playbook » it seems, NYU also included. The new generation in college now is smarter and better educated than we were in general however (and more anxious) and so I think conversely many of these rising schools including USC are probably attended by a better cadre of young students.
3
Well, surprise, surprise parents have an incessant need to brag about themselves and their offspring, no matter how wealthy they are. It simply wouldn't do to have junior attend the local community college, or a non selective university, would it?
After the advent of social media, I made it a point not post academic and college search information about my children and family members. If I am proud of them, I tell them directly, and anyone else who really cares about them knows without the annoying humblebragging.
16
I'm an alumnus of USC - I attended in the late 70's. Even then, many football players drove new cars provided by car dealers who were also school boosters. It was open secret who provided them and why. However, that seems like amateur hour compared to the cash being thrown around in this admissions scheme. It's nauseating and embarrassing.
72
@mpound
I am as well. Attended ‘SC in the mid-80s. Sports always was and, it seems, ever will be the most important thing to the Trojan family.
I mean, I enjoyed the games and partying as much as any student but my most meaningful campus experiences were the ones like kicking back with friends in the lab that was one of the first in the country to receive NIH funding to study AIDS, attending one-of-a-kind screenings at the School of Cinema, volunteering at County-USC Medical Center where, unlike at UCLA where you need robust health insurance or a Brentwood-level bank account, thousands of indigent patients are cared for every year, hearing music students practicing in the open air because the School of Music lacked enough practice rooms, or studying in the quiet majesty of Mudd Hall library.
There was wealth and nepotism back then but it seems to have gone into extreme overdrive recently. And the monstrous sports facilities that have appeared since my era only prove that the university is seriously adrift from its original academic mission.
It’s also a symptom of the profound collapse of the real values that made America great: hard work, ingenuity, a shot at the American dream for all regardless of background, and, most importantly, honesty. We’ve got much bigger problems of which USC is only a symptom and it can only be fixed when we stand up and force the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes and play by the same rules as all of us.
26
@left coast finch I trained at UCLA and we rotated through various facilities, including taking care of indigent patients and vets. I also trained at two other universities. Most medical schools and training programs are like this: they don't just take place at the university-based clinic or medical center.
2
As someone who is in a position to make hiring decisions for a large corporation, whenever a USC resume comes across my desk, I remember what they told me when I was applying to college: "a degree from USC isn't worth the paper it's written on." I won't say I have never hired a USC alum, but I will say I am far more inclined to give marked consideration to someone who went to state school- or, better yet, community college and then finished up at a 4 year institution- than I am to anyone else. I need people with motivation on my team, not people who are going to pause for reaction when they tell me where they went.
126
@S. Carlson If a USC degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on, then why are people paying $500,000 just to get in the door?
10
@S. Carlson I hope my daughter isn't interviewing with you then. She went to public school K-12 in Dallas, was salutatorian in HS, editor of the paper for two years, led the drill team, was lead in the drama and graduated last year from USC, magna cum laude. She writes for three different publications now, including the LA Times. We are extremely proud of her accomplishments, and are concerned as she has the most to lose when people like you and others paint with such a broad brush.
52
@S. Carlson
utter nonsense. does this mean that you are categorically dismissive of any and all individuals who are alumni of schools that: do athletic recruiting, consider legacy status, connections to politics, major donors, etc? good luck finding THAT school. if you do, let me know what it is. Not condoning that; fine with a pure meritocracy. however, do you have any idea how many highly accomplished CC students from modest economic means now go to USC? if not, you are way behind the curve.
11
an alumnus of both USC and Princeton University, I am a volunteer on the Princeton Admissions program, interviewing potential candidates. One of my territories in 'little Armenia', which lacks the glamour of super athletics! As a result, outstanding candidates, regularly lose out to US/European and some Asiatic countries where school athletics plays a big role. This 30% advantage given to athletic applicants is a travesty (I hope and pray Princeton is NOT one of them), just as the obscenity of colleges paying their coaches huge salaries, and choosing athletes over scholars, just to bring in millions of dollars!
11
@Kenell Touryan Most of the Ivies offer admission to those athletes who likely couldnt get into a large midwestern research institution with better or more demanding athletic programs. Princeton is no different.
8
Ironic that the opening sentence mentions USC's 6 Heisman trophies. It was actually 7, before Reggie Bush's was taken away.
My best guess is we're hearing about only a very small percentage of the actual improprieties that go on at this "school".
51
We UCLA types thought of USC as a football team with a university, while UCLA was the opposite.
86
@Jim Correct. UCLA was not a football team with a university attached. UCLA was a basketball team with a university attached.
30
@Jim UCLA coaches are involved in the Singer scandal, so you know what they say about glass houses.
10
I have a saying: Broken cultures don't know they're broken.
The outward finger pointing by the interim president shows me that USC is too arrogant to address its internal problems, instead choosing to put the blame on others. They'll never solve their problems until they take personal ownership.
I know this school and they will never take personal responsibility.
64
@TRS
As a non American I have always been puzzled by the whole idea of sports scholarships and varsity sports at a tertiary education institution.
I don't know of any other developed world country that does this.
2
What is all of this teaching kids? What kind of adults is this producing? What kind of society is this leaving behind? Is this the America the world supposedly looks up to? I think not.
Time to clean house from universities to the Oval Office to Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Unearth the rot.
20
USC was always a buy your way in school. Sure, it offered status if you either had money or athletic ability. That it's at the epicenter of a bribery scandal isn't too much of a stretch.
What is saddest of all in this is that kids from wealthy families don't need an "elite" university to succeed. These parents are not buying an education for their kids, they are buying bragging rights for themselves.
76
@Kathy You are so wrong. I went to USC in the 80's and did not buy my way in. I had scholarships, grants and loans. My parents were immigrants to this country and I was the first in my family to go to college. You have no right to denigrate my acceptance, attendance, and performance nor any of the other hard-working students and graduates who got in and paid for school themselves. I have a friend who got her undergrad and med school degrees from 'SC and served as a primary care doctor for 16 years caring for people and their health. She's still paying student loans!
1
This seems to be the answer to "affirmative action" for the rich and wealthy families who feel their overly advantaged children are being discriminated against when a minority child has studied and worked its way into a spot at a prestigious university that "should" belong to the rich child solely on the basis of the size of its parents' bank account. While the divide between the haves and have-nots goes far deeper than money, once again my cynicism about "the filthy rich" has been affirmed.
God forbid that those who are disadvantaged due to religious, racial, ethnic, and/or physical differences are given a helping hand to "level the playing field." Those who are enfeebled by their lack of morals, fairness, and ethics, plus excess greed, covetousness, and cowardice are now using their limitless resources—power, money, connectivity—as bulldozers to create cliffs and precipices impossible to overcome simply by hard work.
There is little sense of justice in those who worship at the altar of greed. The concept of "enough" is alien to them. The challenge of having to earn one's rewards and a sense of "noblesse oblige" that was once an intrinsic trait of the monied class is as foreign to them as life on Pluto.
I’m sick to death of the lack of values that seems to be epidemic of late. Money is not how humankind is to be measured. We can see the results of that in a field in Ethiopia right now. Is there any hope for us?
24
Today In the business section of the NYT there were pictures of tech people of Silicon Valley. I saw white faces and wondered how they were accepted into their universities and how did they get there high powered position. How much did there parents pay for there entrance into elite schools. The questions will be endless going forward.
We all knew this was going on not just in higher education but in every career opportunities. Minorities need not apply.
However the in your face criminal behavior was sickening,
The business of education is the business of white privileged.universities only want wealthy white children, currently we have an administration of wealthy people and we are all suffering from terrible decisions that the white elites have made.
Nothing will happen to these parents or their academically challenged children because of their whiteness they are so special.
The facts are the facts.
6
Taking into account the college slots taken by legacies, jocks, affirmative action admittees, and cheaters like those whose parents were arrested in the college admissions bribery scam, there aren't many slots left for qualified but middle-class, non-minority kids at the top schools.
There is no easy solution to the problem because legacies, jocks and affirmative action seem to be here to stay.
14
Let's hope this pressure/ spotlight helps pop the higher-education bubble of ever increasing tuition costs.
4
And now prepare for the empty and massive rhetorical bombardment of mission statements, slogans and propaganda from the hired PR and marketing agencies that create images of the "unique" educational brand product USC is selling. A disgrace. But USC is not the only one, although they are one of the most market savvy in the state. This blow will require a big money investment of funds in cleaning up the image and reputation. But it will be done. Money can buy almost anything these days in America (and the world), including images and reputations. Openly and shamelessly. It is all good business. And for parents, even the risk of a scandal and a fine if get caught may be worth it. They can pay for that fine too.
7
Faculty routinely pad their Resumes at Elite schools to get ahead,and to get Government Research grants and Faculty chairs, so what example are they setting?
6
@DAWG really? My experience as an academic is that promotions, grants, and especially faculty chairs are rigorously evaluated by internal and external reviewers. It is very hard to lie your way there ..
8
it is disheartening that college students who have no interest in obtaining a real college education but are admitted to elite colleges can graduate so easily and with honors in most cases. grade inflation is intentional at the elite colleges where there is a large percentage of legacies and admitted students from wealthy families and donors. grade inflation hides the poor students from the stellar students at these institutions and effectively masks who belongs there academically. nearly 80% of harvard graduates graduate with honors. 80%!. kushner graduated with honors. since he got into harvard (by dubious means) but graduated with honors he must, by extension, be really smart the thinking goes. which class of students benefit the elite colleges more? the average students from wealthy, powerful families who will take their anointed positions in government and business after college and contribute to the the reputation and coffers of the university or the elite students from modest backgrounds. elite college understand that you need both to thrive and each class of students has a purpose to serve.
6
This is really a case of new money vs. old.
New money doesn't yet have the institutional connections that old money has. So it needs to engage in illegal person-to-person bribery rather than legal (and direct) person-to-institution bribery. A cynic might say, that will come in due time; a reformer might say, make both illegal.
260
@jcb, the only difference is that old money engaged in illegal person-to-person bribery generations ago.
19
@BA
Yes, and built some of the Institutions with the proceeds.
5
@jcb
Absolutely correct. The established wealthy families don't engage in anything as "crass" as direct pay-offs but navigate the system in a more surreptitious socially acceptable manner, to garner the same results.
15
When I was in high school in CA in the 70s, a classmate of mine was a track star and recruited to USC. He told me later that he didnt have to go to classes, the USC track coach offered to have people take his tests for him, etc.
64
@Mark This practice was not limited to USC but was fairly common in US higher education. Unfortunately, the practice still exists to varying degrees in some colleges.
No, I am not in any way related to USC and I did not attend USC.
9
I'd say that this is just a tip of the iceberg - not just for undergraduate admissions, but for professionals school, like medicine, law and others. A lot of people are quaking in their boots. Nonetheless, it will continue....just not with such a paper trail.
12
@Xylem I'm sure medicine isn't entirely scot-free but I do believe it will not be egregious as undergrad. That's because if you are a lousy med student or trainee, you can seriously harm or hurt someone. Hospitals, universities, etc. can also be sued if someone is hurt and they don't want that. I've trained and mentor med students and trainees and in my experience, we do not let incompetent people continue.
4
Getting into a desired college is as much of a status symbol, if not even more, for the parents as it is for the kids. It's great conversation at a cocktail party to say your kid got into USC or Stanford instead of the local community college.
My question, however, is how do the kids pass classes and graduate after they get in? I suspect that is another aspect of this scandal. Cheating on tests. Paying for grades, and all the other ways to slide through to a diploma.
198
The thing with elite private schools is that they have very high graduation rates, often artificially high ones. It’s easier to slide by with C’s than at a public university.
22
Underwater Basket Weaving 101 and similar classes aren't all that hard.
And then there are the acting classes for the children of Hollywood.....
15
@Ben Anders
Don't forget adderall. From what I understand it's the drug of choice for studying
9
I remember in high school, my chemistry teacher who went to UCLA, noted the USC was short of university of spoiled children. Other than the film school, not sure what USC offers. It isn't even in a nice area of Los Angeles.
22
@Yolanda Perez- I went over 25 years ago and it's in the worst section of LA: Watts. There was a homeless shelter across the street from my apt. bldg; I'm from NY and I was appalled at how lousy the surrounding area was. P.S.-I hated the school and living in LA and moved back East as soon as I could.
7
@Patou
that was 25 years ago. i was in NYC in the late 80's, 90's when David Dinkins was major. talk about a pit.
2
I never knew that U.S.C. was such a big deal to get into, and still think of O.J. Simpson as its most illustrious graduate.
67
@A. Stanton and they named a dorm building after Al Cowlings (OJ's getaway driver) of all people!
1
This is just another scandal similar to the football version 10 years ago except this one has to do with academics. I do not see USC being on the hook here except they need to tighten down their application process. USC is a highly sought after destination and this application scandal does not change that. They are academically sound, a key to their success.
8
@DENOTE MORDANT Academically USC is sound, but hardly deserves any elite status on that front.
8
Even in the short run not much will change. The rich still will spend big money on their kids and they will find someone to take it. It’s called bribery and it usually works
10
Does anyone seriously think that the billions of dollars raised by USC did not come with strings attached by donors already used to buying whatever and whoever they please? This was "legal" bribery, since the university got the cash, not some peon working in the athletic department. But with USC swimming in all that loot, is it any wonder that the peons got the idea to skim a little for themselves?
17
So the college has hired Nobel laureates and raised its admissions standards. Yet this article is all about athletics and shiny buildings. Leading me to believe that USC is all about athletics and shiny buildings. They may be leavening their student body with some actual scholars but seems to me that's not the culture of USC.
35
No one familiar with the University of Southern California should be at all surprised by recent developments involving fraud in admissions to the university. USC always has been, and always will be, an institution built upon the maxim that social and economic contacts are the most important reason to seek a higher education. If prospective students intend to remain in California, USC will serve them well because the school’s primary attribute isn’t what you know, it’s who you know. Venture outside California, however, and the USC community of social and business contacts dissipates rendering an undergraduate education from a joke institution utterly worthless. USC has abided by a simple rule that I repeatedly saw in play when I attended there in the 1970s: money talks. There really is no debate about that. Just look at the names on the buildings and search out their offspring on campus or on Fraternity Row. They’re in plain sight for anyone to see. For those interested in a real education, there are many other fine institutions just waiting to provide a stepping stone to those who value knowledge.
129
@Mark Larsen I'm also not surprised that Penn, though it's an Ivy League school, was also caught up in this. Both have heavily "entrepreneurial" biz schools, which tend to emphasize money over character. Stanford with its tainted Silicon Valley vibe isn't far behind. Seems about right for the current state of the nation.
7
@Mark Larsen
I'm not sure if that network dissipates outside of California or even the US. We live in Hong Kong, my husband is a proud Trojan and he will be the first to tell you that a Trojan will always pick a Trojan. With that said, Hong Kong is really no better than LA or anywhere in the East Coast when it comes to old family and business connections. In fact, relationship is EVERYTHING here. So a previous comment about new money vs old money is so true.
5
" .. USC always has been, and always will be, an institution built upon the maxim that social and economic contacts are the most important reason to seek a higher education .."
Re-look the film classic "Chinatown" .. "forget it Jake -- it's Chinatown." Says it all.
2
Please note that the chairman of USC's board of trustees, on whose giant yacht one of the fraudulently admitted daughters was vacationing, is a billionaire real estate developer who said the bribery allegations were, according to this article, "...just unthinkable."
Right. After all the scandals USC has been home to in recent years, the current scandal is "unthinkable".
Can we expect a naive, unwitting and oblivious board leader to pursue this corruption to its ugly and likely further depths, or is some sort of outside (and truly independent) examination and prosecution called for?
I recommend an independent investigation by whatever state and federal agencies have jurisdiction.
72
@Mal T Who would ever hire a USC graduate? They're a feeder school to LA businesses run by their parents, and that's it other than film. Have you ever met a USC graduate that you liked or respected? No, I haven't either.
18
@nwo ~ Wow, way to paint with a very broad brush. I'll assume you've never met me (USC alum from a penniless family but got a full-academic scholarship, did the honors program, 3 years' R.A., loaned my roommates hundreds of dollars because their parents didn't trust them, etc.). I've circled the globe with a backpack twice, accelerated my profitless loaning-to-friends behavior, & am darn proud of my career & personal achievements, all wrought by dint of my own hard work here in my hometown, The Big Apple. But I respect your opinion ! LOL
2
@AmyANSKY
It sounds as if you are the exception. (Or in the minority, anyway). You are to be commended for your accomplishments. USC didn’t deserve you! (I bet you would have succeeded no matter which good college you would have attended).
I think there is one very smart fellow who could fix USC. Former USC law professor Erwin Cchermerinsky is a highly regarded constitutional scholar who became the first dean of UC Irvine law school a few years ago and within a very short time turned it into a top 20 law school. This is a remarkable achievement in a very competitive area. Irvine jumped all the other UC law schools except UCLA and Berkeley. As a result, Chermerinsky was named dean of the Berkeley law school, which is where he currently sits. USC doesn’t need a money raiser right now. It needs an ethics, process, and accountability person who knows the difference between a top scholar and someone of lesser ability.
65
@Paco I would love to see Erwin -- my Con Law I professor -- come back as the next president. He would clean house and bring much needed integrity to 'SC. As you seem to already know, Erwin's as nice as he is brilliant.
5
Out of all of the schools to buy your way into, USC? Seriously?
UCLA and Cal are better and cheaper. If you're going to drop $250k on buying college admission, try Stanford.
188
Yeah but UCLA and Cal have high workloads and minimal grade inflation. Plus, the masses attend there, not nearly good enough for the spoiled monied youths.
43
@Eric - Stanford would make you work harder for your degree. You don't really think these students who cheat have any intention of working hard, do you?
26
@Eric In my day, it was known as the University of Spoiled Children, though it currently has a good rep in certain areas (business, film, writing and visual art, some of the hard sciences) and its star is rising just by virtue of it being in Los Angeles. More and more students around the world are opting to go to school in California and willing to pay for it.
10
What is going on with the mighty United States of America? Corruption, after corruption, one after another has begun to see the light. Years ago the United States of America and some think tank used to release reports of corruption around the world. The United States of America used to be “clean and uncorrupted” obviously we now realized it was not the case. The United States of America is as corrupted to many levels as the countries that The USA loves to despise.
15
Seems like an oversight not to interview (or even mention) Lynn Swann, current USC Athletic Director and NFL Hall of Famer, who has been at the helm since 2016. Then again, he may be fired before this comment is posted if the Los Angeles Times has anything to say about it. It is perhaps worth noting that the last three AD's at SC, dating back to 1993, have all been former Trojan football greats, so maybe it's time to go in a different direction. I mean, unless Pete Carroll becomes available.
10
Pete Carroll who bailed just before the NCAA cracked down? He was at the helm during much of the football graft/scandal.
1
Maybe your american motto"In God we Trust" should be replaced by a new one, "Game the System". There seems to be a lot of gaming going on, from the "president" downwards.
16
@Robin It's all Trump's fault. Or, the Russians!
Would we have been more accepting and understanding if those charged with bribery had simply done this the "old fashioned" way -- making a large donation to the schools they wanted their offspring to get admitted to?
10
Alas, that is in fact legal
What has been recently uncovered, is not legal. Period.
6
Welcome to America, the home of bribery.
Where ev'rything is 'fixed' at school, including spelling bee.
From Delaware to Tennessee gratuities provide
a helping hand for students who have let their studies slide.
*
Since admission to the Ivy League is predicated on
greasing palms to perpetrate a sly collegiate con,
we ought to let payola just run riot through the land
(you think that TIME would print this poem if I gave them ten grand?)
*
And what's to stop us bribing Kim Jong-un and other jerks
to make them stop ignoble and nefarious fireworks?
How much cold mazuma would Trump need to take the bait
and pack up his belongings and the White House to vacate?
*
And maybe God in heaven is amenable to graft
and would accept a generous Well Fargo banking draft.
So let the meek inherit what is left of mother earth;
the rest of us will bribe our way to some celestial berth.
9
#Tim
I like your poem. I just want to note: $10,000 is chump change to these sort of folks.
And my guess is that Trump took a big gob of the cold mazuma to get into the White House. He'd have to get an enormously huge gob to leave in order to pay the first one back.
2
News coverage of this scandal seems to be avoiding the issue of what should, if anything, be done about the students who benefitted from, if not actively participated in, their parents’ criminal activities which got them into USC and other schools. If their parents had committed bank robbery, gave the money to their children and were later caught, of course the children would not be allowed to keep the fruits of the crimes. So too should the children be asked to withdraw from the schools, even expelled. Not to do so would mean the parents’ schemes succeeded in getting their children admitted, even if the parents have to pay the price of their crimes.
79
@eyesopen, Absolutely! The students gained admission by fraudently inflating their credentials. Whether they knew it or not, they cheated their way in. It's possible the parents will be more upset if their children are expelled than by their own punishment.
If the students want to attend the colleges, let them reapply honestly.
12
@eyesopen, how could these kids not know what was happening? To pose for pictures on athletic equipment, to be told to "act stupid" for a doctor's appointment in order to qualify for disability/longer hours to complete standardized tests...then there is the big one: signing the application forms, certifying that the information is true and complete.
19
Please note that the chairman of USC's board of trustees, on whose giant yacht one of the fraudulently admitted daughters was vacationing, is a billionaire real estate developer who said the bribery allegations were, according to this article, "...just unthinkable."
Right.
Can we expect such an apparently naive, unwitting and oblivious board chairman to pursue this corruption to its ugly and likely further depths, or is some sort of outside (and truly independent) special investigation called for?
I recommend a special investigation.
29
He is not unwitting or naïve. He is right in the mix of it. Time for some serious new leadership.
1
Every undergraduate knows that the stereotype of dumb jocks has an element of truth to it. When I went to school in New England in the late 1960's, jocks took what we termed "gut courses" to get by. For example, an introductory geology course was called "Rocks for Jocks." When I started teaching, I met a colleague who had been a TA at a famous southern California school, and his job there was to write papers for recruited basketball players who were, he claimed, almost illiterate. It sounds like things have only gotten worse in the last fifty years.
18
@Norgeiron - At my school we had a 'rocks for jocks' Geology course, as well as a 'fidget with digits' math course. I was in the latter. Not a jock myself, but math was never my thing.
2
Most parents teach their kids that lying and cheating are wrong. These parents happily cheat and lie if works to their advantage. In turn, they set their kids up for this lifestyle of entitlement and buying status. Utter lack of integrity.
16
USC , long known as the University for Spoiled Children, has outdone itself . High priced tutors and cheating on the SATs is old news, now a photoshopped picture of an applicant on a sailing boat will do the trick . Once in you can spend 4 years partying with your peers and working out at the luxurious donor built spa and gym.
College your way !
49
To the middle-class whites/Asians blaming affirmative action for keeping their kids out of their dream schools; for every AA student there are probably 50 that got in due to "rich white affirmative action." At least the AA kids showed in some legit way they were qualified to get in.
11
The NCAA needs to look at USC very carefully. (Again) Three major scandals in a decade certainly fall under the category of "lack of institutional control." The NCAA tends to slap their big cash cows on the hand instead of putting down the hammer. Let's see if they have the guts to do something this time.
22
@Honor Above All
As corrupt as the NCAA is, they won't do that. After all, they would lose money, too!
Determining the appropriate punishment for these acts is not simply a matter of applying recommended guidelines.. The crimes with which these parentsy are charged are, at base, abuses enabled by wealth and power. The fact that these crimes did little or no physical or financial harm, and that the defendants (presumably) have no prior criminal records, might normally prompt a court to impose a sentence of community service and a substantial fine. However, in this case such a sentence would be viewed by the American public, rightly or wrongly, as an affirmation that rich, powerful individuals can escape "real" punishment because they are rich and powerful. While the parents would doubtlessly argue that a jail term is disproportionate to their crimes and unfairly discriminates against them because they possess significant financial and social resources, the answer, at least as a matter of public policy, is that such punishment is essential when the crime is the blatant, unlawful leveraging of those very resources.
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@Dayton D. Dog
And hopefully, the admissions to their children will be withdrawn.
A mere fine for the crime would have been worth the risk. They can pay that too.
12
The harms aren’t physical, but defendants here caused emotional harm to the students denied admission at these schools on their account plus emotional harm to students at other schools denied because the ones rejected at Yale and USC went elsewhere. Bribery in an of itself is a criminal harm, the theft of honest services. It also causes reputational harm to the schools where it happened. It causes reputational harm to the testing companies as well. Courts routinely give jail terms to those who pay and receive bribes.
So there’s plenty of harm to go around, and the question is whether the judge in the case wants to make an example of the defendants to enhance the deterrent effect of the laws.
But I agree that a judge sympathetic to the parent defendants would give no jail time because of their “otherwise blameless li[ves]” (to use a phrase in the news lately).
Personally, I believe shorter jail terms are appropriate for them. Maybe a year for each of parents. The school and testing officials should get more, and because they received corrupt money, the sentencing guidelines will not be friendly to them. Singer should get a substantial sentence, and because all the money went through him, the sentencing guidelines should recommend a big sentence for him.
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@Dayton D. Dog
Amen! And there is no desperation for these "Let-them-eat-cake" future trust babies to even need this nonsense in the everyday sense. They don't need to knock off a convenience store or something more desperate for survival.
And a sham education will do nothing except erode self esteem for the privileged rodents.
Next thing you know...they're running for President.
19
I've posted this elsewhere, but I'll do so again because I spent several years at USC and I was really shocked by some of the things I saw while I was there:
I attended USC for grad school between 2011 and 2014. There are a lot of nice things to say about USC, but I also developed three strong negative impressions of the university while I was there.
- There was an enormous amount of money floating around. The week I arrived, USC received a $200 million donation that was, I think, the largest ever in higher education at the time. A lot of that money went to good use, but overall there was a pervasive sense of greed and self-dealing. Just as an example, I saw professors regularly assign their own books in their courses, something which never happened at my undergrad college.
- I met many brilliant undergrads. But after being a TA for a couple of years, I thought the undergrad education as a whole was a complete joke. Just one example: I was told as a TA to spend as little time as possible on teaching because research was the only important thing.
- There was complete chaos in administration. No one seemed to be in charge or know what the actual rules or processes were. This was true in my program and many others I encountered. In a speech to grad students, I heard one of the deans describe himself as a failure who had obtained his job only through the idiocy of his superiors. I think it was meant to be a joke, but at the same time, it didn't feel like a joke.
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@Locho
Your points are sadly applicable to many, many schools. They are absolutely not unique to USC. And the priority on research as opposed to teaching is the fault of a system much larger than any one school.
36
@Locho I understand professors using their own books -- if you are an expert in a field, and put a huge amount of effort into writing up the way you think best explains the material, of course you would want to use that for your teaching.
The rest of your points are well taken.
15
@Locho
I understand these impressions completely, and simply sought out serious students to be friends with and to work with which was all I needed. Professors were adept but too little involved with students in general, so a student needed to be aggressive.
4