Author Topic: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal  (Read 361 times)

Offline Lynn2000

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Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« on: March 13, 2019, 11:21:23 am »
Is anyone else following the Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal? I put it under "Entertainment" because two fairly well-known actresses, Lori Loughlin (of Full House) and Felicity Huffman (Oscar winner) have actually been arrested over it (well, I guess Loughlin is supposed to surrender on her own soon). These kinds of things always fascinate me, I guess because I naively think public figures should be smart enough to not get caught when they do bad stuff? They actually have wiretap recordings and emails where it's clear people knew they were cheating to get their kids into elite colleges. Probably a lawyer will try to get some of those thrown out on the basis of "entrapment," but that's not really the same as, "My client is totally innocent and really thought she was contributing money to a charitable foundation."

Like, if you get into drugs, that's not cool, but people do crazy stuff to hang onto that feeling or suppress their pain. Or, tax evasion--some public figures are sleazy about it, but it wouldn't surprise me if some people legitimately just trusted the wrong people, because their finances can get so complicated. But the allegations here include Loughlin and her husband (a fashion guy, has the Mossimo brand) helping someone set their two daughters up as members of a crew team (rowing), so they could get into college through that, even though they had no experience with the sport. And for Huffman, the allegation involves someone helping her daughter to get the special privilege of taking an SAT test in a private center, where the proctor actually did the test for her/corrected her answers.

It's just sort of hilariously pathetic and obvious. Not really hilarious, of course, because the adults are using their money and influence to gain admission for their kids who weren't worthy of those schools, meaning they took the place of someone else who WAS worthy. But, like, who even cares what college Lori Loughlin's kids went to? Why do they need to go to college at all? Both girls are apparently "social media influencers" and one has posted repeatedly about blowing off classes to party and attend ball games. Just send them on a trip around the world to build their brand and dabble in "fashion," rather than doing something starkly illegal to get them into a college they aren't even going to use.

And, I do feel bad for the kids. (I think no students have been charged yet, just their parents, and the coaches and middlemen.) Some of them might be legal adults and indeed should have known this was wrong, but it would be incredibly hard to stand up to your parents on something like this, and obviously they were raised to think this kind of behavior was okay. (For those who knew, or should have realized, something fishy was going on--some parents tried to shield them from it.) They should definitely lose their spots at school, though, especially those who aren't doing well anyway--their parents were rich enough to bribe someone to get them into college, so one would assume their parents are rich enough to support them living at home instead. It is a great story in the sense that, so far anyway, there's nothing like, "We had to cheat to get in because the system is biased against people of our ethnic group/income level/etc." where there might be legit mitigating factors or at least a more complicated picture. This seems to be straight-up rich people trying to use their money to get stuff they haven't earned.

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Offline lowspark

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2019, 02:32:42 pm »
These kinds of things always fascinate me, I guess because I naively think public figures should be smart enough to not get caught when they do bad stuff?

<snip>

This seems to be straight-up rich people trying to use their money to get stuff they haven't earned.

First of all, I think that it's human nature to think that you won't get caught. Otherwise there probably wouldn't be so much crime in the first place. People always think that *other* people might be stupid or careless enough to get caught but not *me*!

And I think that often goes double or triple for celebrities. They have people falling all over themselves to give them free privileges and merchandise so they begin to believe that things are simply owed to them and that if they can't get what they desire by the conventional method, it's fine and dandy to go ahead and skirt around any "rules" or "laws" that clearly don't apply to *them*!

Of course, I'd like to clarify that this doesn't necessarily apply to all celebs or very rich people, but you do hear about these incidents in the news when it does!
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Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2019, 02:52:27 pm »
I always think I'll get caught. That's honestly a huge motivator for me. I think it's supposed to be the "basest" motivation in psychological terms, but it seems to work for me, so... The main times when I've gotten "in trouble" as an adult have been when I honestly didn't think it through enough to realize I was doing something wrong/offensive, or it was a split-second decision (same thing I guess).

Then again, I am not someone who takes major risks and ends up reaping the rewards of money and/or fame, so that psychology probably plays into it as well. Actors and business people who are quite successful, do have to take some serious risks.

But seriously, what happened to the good, old-fashioned method of donating a lot of money to the college where you want your kids to go? ::) Colleges usually have some discretionary spots they can award to whoever they want, and it's not very nice but technically no rules or laws have actually been broken. Of course, you aren't going to get anything for just $15,000 (which Felicity Huffman allegedly paid). So they are not only trying to buy what they haven't earned, they are also being cheap about it!

Offline lowspark

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2019, 04:24:15 pm »
LOL I'm the same way... scared of getting caught! But clearly not everyone shares that concern! :)

Yeah. Back in the day, you'd just buy a building or set up an endowment or some such for the university and then your progeny would have some kind of guaranteed entry for the next few generations. Guess that ain't as cheap as it used to be! hahahahaha
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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2019, 04:51:30 pm »
...snip
But, like, who even cares what college Lori Loughlin's kids went to? Why do they need to go to college at all? Both girls are apparently "social media influencers" and one has posted repeatedly about blowing off classes to party and attend ball games. Just send them on a trip around the world to build their brand and dabble in "fashion," rather than doing something starkly illegal to get them into a college they aren't even going to use.

I heard part of an interview someone had with one of the girls, who wanted to go to college for the "experience". Not of studying and learning anything, but for the experience of going to parties etc. That was her whole reason for going to college, more or less to have fun with other college aged people.

Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2019, 11:43:41 am »
...snip
But, like, who even cares what college Lori Loughlin's kids went to? Why do they need to go to college at all? Both girls are apparently "social media influencers" and one has posted repeatedly about blowing off classes to party and attend ball games. Just send them on a trip around the world to build their brand and dabble in "fashion," rather than doing something starkly illegal to get them into a college they aren't even going to use.

I heard part of an interview someone had with one of the girls, who wanted to go to college for the "experience". Not of studying and learning anything, but for the experience of going to parties etc. That was her whole reason for going to college, more or less to have fun with other college aged people.

Massive eyeroll... ::) ::) ::) What's wrong with partying in all those chic Mediterranean clubs with other young people? It's not my scene, but if that's what you want to do with your time, it's a lot easier, not to mention considerably less illegal, than cheating your way into college!

Offline Winterlight

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2019, 07:45:00 pm »
I think Lori Loughlin is going to take a much bigger hit down the line career-wise than Felicity Huffman. Her entire image is based on being nice wholesome Aunt Becky and she parlayed that into a career on Hallmark (not mocking the channels, but it's a very wholesome kind of place. Think of what they did to the Aurora Teagarten mysteries- Aurora got boiled down to Ye Olde Quirkee Girl Detective instead of being the stealth badass she was on the page.) Hallmark has already dumped Loughlin, and she's going to have a very hard time finding another gig she is so well suited for.

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Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2019, 10:23:05 am »
Loughlin definitely paid more in ($500,000 allegedly) and her two daughters, who were blatantly called athletes when they weren't, have some social media presence, so I think they're easy targets to be tarnished. Huffman paid in much less ($15,000 allegedly--a bargain!) to get her one daughter a faked test, and I haven't heard about the daughter herself being a public person, so she might be able to lay low and hope other people get more of the bad press. Especially with the wiretaps and emails, it will be hard to claim any of them were duped or misled.

But I think the biggest damage could be inside their families. Huffman was allegedly recorded contemplating having a test faked for her younger daughter, too, though ultimately she didn't. She said something like, "She's so driven academically, she'll probably want to take the test a second time to improve her score, no matter what, so let's have her take the test for real at first, and then the second time we'll substitute in a faked one." I mean, the utter disgust I feel at those words, I don't think I can express. My daughter is academically driven, I'm so proud of her! But she can't get a good enough score on her own, so let's fake one. While letting her think she did it herself. As her daughter I would just turn to her and be like, "I've never been good enough for you, have I?" At age 17, 18, that's going to be a deep, deep hurt and it will take a long time to heal, if it ever does.

I'm sure they will claim, to their families and to others, that they were just trying to help their kids, to do something good for them. But we all know of people who claim they want to "do something good" for others, but really, they just want to do something good for themselves. And they don't really care if the others want that "good" thing or not. It's probably a lot about the parents having bragging rights--"My kid goes to this prestigious college!" Honey, you aren't playing along with my fantasy where you're the perfect daughter, thus indicating I'm the perfect mother! Now shape up!

It's just insidious. You know, it's not like some kind of violence or child molestation or something like that, but it's emotional manipulation and disregard and deep-seated disrespect. Sometimes it seems like if you have something you can define and explain--"My parents beat me as a child"--you can then work towards dealing with that and healing the problems it caused you. Whereas this is more subtle, such that you might take a long time to realize how long and how deeply it's been affecting you, poisoning you. Probably at least half of advice forums are full of people who have grown up and gotten married and had kids without realizing how poorly their own parents have treated them, and it's only because their spouse keeps speaking up, or they see the pattern being repeated on their children, that they start to understand how selfish and calculating their parents actually are, and always have been--even as they claim, and perhaps even believe, that they just "want to help" others.

Offline Winterlight

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2019, 11:27:09 pm »
I'm sorry for Huffman's daughter as well. It sounds like the kid was working in good faith and doing her best, but that wasn't enough for her parents- Macy wasn't arrested but he did know about the scam.
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Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2019, 01:49:02 pm »
I just read that USC, one of the colleges that students falsely got into, including Lori Loughlin's kids, has placed the accounts of affected students "on hold," meaning they can't register for classes or get a transcript of their grades while the school reviews them. It sounds like the school is prepared to expel those students (having already fired two employees and placed a faculty member on leave, who were involved in the case).

My mom was telling me about a murder mystery she watched, set at a college, where this same sort of thing happened (it's not even an original idea!). Some of the students didn't know their parents were cheating for them, and (on this fictional show) at least one student killed themselves. I really hope we don't get that kind of tragedy repeated here. That reaction aside, I am totally fine with them expelling those kids and completely nullifying any credits they've earned. The students themselves may or may not have been aware of the situation, but their parents can't be allowed to profit from the scam, by letting them stay in the chosen college or keep any credits. If the students have actually been doing a good job on their own, they can do a good job in some other school that they get into fairly. If they can't, again, these have literally all been rich people who don't actually have to work or get a college education at all, so I don't feel at all sorry for them. They have plenty of money and other advantages to try another school or otherwise land on their feet.

The only terrible thing would be if someone was so distraught at the humiliation their parents caused them that they tried or succeeded in killing themselves (or committing some other violent crime). I really hope that doesn't happen.

Offline Winterlight

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2019, 11:03:45 pm »
I agree that the kids should be expelled- while I'm sympathetic with the Huffman-Macy child and also with any others who were genuinely trying and didn't know, they still got in via fraud. Not their faults, but they cannot be allowed to stay now that it's known.
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Offline STiG

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2019, 07:16:34 am »
I agree with them being expelled because they got into the school under false pretenses but I think they should be able to keep any credits they legitimately earned, to transfer to another school, if another school will accept them.  I doubt Loughlin's two earned any credits but some of the others may have.  I do hope, for the sake of the ones who didn't know what their parents were doing, that they are accepted at another school where they pass the admissions test.  It might mean they have to retake their SATs but for those that genuinely want to go to school, I don't think that would be a big deal.

Offline Kiwi Cupcake

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2019, 07:18:39 am »
Since this story broke, I've read many stories of and about kids with pushy parents. They are stressed to the point of depression. One person's mother even said she will disown them if they transfer out of the prestigious school they are currently attending and enroll in a state university like they wanted.

These types of parents just see their kids as trophies to show off and don't really want what's best for them.

Did you see the court sketch of the two actresses? The artist said Felicity Huffman at least acted humbled but Lori was arrogant. That glare! Like "What am I doing here? Where's my people?"

Offline Winterlight

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2019, 07:04:02 pm »
I think it becomes more complicated if you consider that this has been going on for seven years. Presumably, a number of kids graduated under this system. Do the universities yank their degrees retroactively? I know  some schools have revoked degrees for various reasons, including falsified transcripts. Stanford University revoked an MBA that had been granted to Mathew Martoma ten years earlier, after they found out he'd  failed to mention that he had been expelled from Harvard Law School after forging a  transcript.
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Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Operation Varsity Blues college cheating scandal
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2019, 11:23:32 am »
I think it becomes more complicated if you consider that this has been going on for seven years. Presumably, a number of kids graduated under this system. Do the universities yank their degrees retroactively? I know  some schools have revoked degrees for various reasons, including falsified transcripts. Stanford University revoked an MBA that had been granted to Mathew Martoma ten years earlier, after they found out he'd  failed to mention that he had been expelled from Harvard Law School after forging a  transcript.

That's a good question. I wonder how many people we are talking about? I think I would first set a hard limit, like everyone who's done less than 3 years at that school gets expelled, or who has less than X credits, and for the others, I would go case-by-case, including those who've already graduated.

If a student got in under false pretenses but then legitimately did the work on their own and earned their credits and degree, I can see the argument for letting them keep that, especially if they've already graduated. However, I think the students would be tainted by the idea that if they (their parents) cheated their way into college, they might also have cheated their way through classes. So I think it's only fair, in a sense, that they come under extra scrutiny. No one should assume they've kept cheating, but it's not a crazy, illogical thing to wonder about now, and as a school administrator I would want to do everything I can at this point to double-check. Talk to their professors and TAs, check samples of their work from every class, look for any plagiarism in essays or suspicious activity surrounding tests, etc..

If you take Loughlin's girls, especially the one who repeatedly, publicly stated she was just at college for the party scene, you have to wonder how she stayed in college if she didn't focus on her classes. My university where I work is pretty quick to come down on kids who aren't doing well, first offering them support and opportunities to improve, and then increasing levels of discipline. (We had a student worker in our office who was actually expelled from the university for failing to keep his grades up... totally preventable on his part, but he just refused at many points to do the sensible thing.) So if you have a kid like that, who brags about never going to class, it's more than fair to wonder how they are keeping their grades high enough to stay in school, and if it's now known they (their parents) cheated their way in, it seems an obvious question to ask, if they have cheated to stay.

To me, that's a really important issue--potentially, someone could argue that it's unfair to punish the kids if they knew nothing of what their parents were doing. But, if the kids were continuing to cheat while in school, which they could not possibly have failed to notice or participate in, that brings them into being fully culpable, and those credits/degrees should be revoked. And since I wouldn't want to make a blanket judgment, I'd have to look at each one individually, at least the ones that have gotten a certain distance in their academic career. Anyone can make a single mistake or lapse in judgment, and potentially be forgiven; but if someone is following a pattern of repeated bad behavior to get what they want, that should never be rewarded.

And again, these are all wealthy people, or the children of wealthy people. They have more than enough resources to start over, even if they have their degree revoked and lose their job. It would be humiliating, of course, and make their lives difficult for the next few years, and it would probably be damaging to their professional reputation for a while. But, if they got into another college legit, did the work, got the degree, and started over at the bottom and worked their way up through their own talent, I think most of the bad stuff in their past would be wiped out. Or, they could go into another profession, perhaps one that doesn't require a degree, if they really aren't academics (which there is nothing wrong with... another problem I see in this scenario is trying to force kids into a certain mold, of having a college degree, when that clearly isn't what they want or are suited for right now).