Photo illustration by Ron Coddington/Photo by Jessica Rinaldi, The Boston Globe, Getty Images
Dozens of people, including famous actors, college coaches, and a university administrator, have been charged by federal prosecutors for their alleged roles in an admissions-bribery scheme involving Yale, Stanford, and several other elite institutions.
The alleged scheme had several facets, including bribery of college-entrance exam proctors, substitute test-takers, and designation of applicants as recruited athletes even if their athletic ability was spurious.
A cooperating witness described the scheme as a “side door” to guarantee admission to the children of wealthy families in California, according to a Justice Department affidavit.
Here’s more of The Chronicle’s coverage.
Operation Varsity Blues
Operation Varsity Blues felt like an earthquake when it struck higher education one year ago. But did anything change?
Admissions
Operation Varsity Blues shook an entire profession. At the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s annual conference, experts discussed how institutions can respond constructively to questions raised by the bribery scheme.
Admissions
Faculty members at Yale and the University of Southern California are looking to expand their involvement in admissions following this year’s Varsity Blues scandal.
News
A spate of scandals has drawn attention to how the process of applying to college benefits the elite. College counselors say that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Genesis of a Scandal
The University of California at Los Angeles questioned Rick Singer, who orchestrated a vast criminal admissions scheme, in 2014. The report, published here for the first time, presages the pay-for-play mentality that federal prosecutors say inspired widespread corruption in college admissions.
News
The criminal actions of a few rogue coaches and parents have shined a spotlight on the role that elite colleges play in perpetuating wealth and privilege.
Admissions Scandal
Outrage swirled after “Operation Varsity Blues” went public last week. So we asked the admissions gatekeepers if reform was necessary.
News
The admissions-bribery scandal has poured gas on the fire of a university already smarting from corruption in the athletics department and in the upper administration.
News
Jerome Karabel, author of a lengthy history of Ivy League admissions, thinks the recent headlines can shed light on more deep-seated problems.
News
Harvard, Michigan, Rice, and other universities subscribe to the popular career resource for graduate students. Now, with the foundation’s leader indicted, the service’s future is uncertain.
Admissions
They say their applications to universities named in the unfolding scandal weren’t fairly evaluated in a system “warped and rigged by fraud.”
News
Some made millions in bribes by using such slots as a commodity in an arbitrage scheme.
News
What the admissions-bribery scandal reveals about parenting toward a narrow definition of success in an anxious age.
News
Those who decide who gets in are powerful, even if they are not to blame.
'Invisible Disabilities'
In the scandal over admissions fraud, some of angriest voices are those of advocates for people with learning disabilities.
Admissions
The children — many of whom were admitted thanks to their parents’ alleged involvement in admissions-bribery schemes — have not spoken publicly. Those with high-profile families have tuned out of social media.
Admissions
The U.S. Justice Department’s 204-page affidavit, outlining a scheme that allowed the rich and famous to secure admission for their children at elite colleges, reads like a Hollywood script.
Admissions
The details of an elaborate scam for buying seats at elite colleges are striking. But the themes at the heart of the saga are all too familiar.
News
A primer on the wide-ranging scheme.
Admissions
Here’s a peek at online reactions to the bribery scheme that’s rocking elite colleges.
Admissions
A company used “side doors” to gain admission for its clients’ children to elite colleges, according to federal prosecutors.
Admissions
Eleven people at Stanford, Yale, and other universities were among the dozens indicted for their alleged roles.
The Review
Colleges should be forced to defend their decisions in public.
The Review
The rich and powerful have been buying spots at elite institutions for years.
The Review
The admissions-bribery scandal offers a convenient and cartoonish scapegoat for a complex system of affirmative action for wealthy people.