2 Student “Athletes” Have Now Been Expelled in the College Admissions Scandal Fallout
Stanford University has expelled a student in the fallout from Operation Varsity Blues, the college admissions scandal that swept up Silicon Valley, the world of elite higher education, and Hollywood last month. The Stanford student is the second person to be removed by one of the affected schools after Yale University expelled a student last month when it was confirmed that they had connections to William “Rick” Singer’s Key Worldwide Foundation, which helped wannabe admits gain admission via, among other practices, posing as potential student athletes.
Stanford did not identify the student by name, but The Stanford Daily reported that she “included fabricated sailing credentials” in her application to the university. She was not recruited and was admitted through the standard process, the Daily reported, after which Stanford’s sailing program received a $500,000 contribution from Key Worldwide paid through John Vandemoer, a former coach named in the Justice Department’s investigation who was fired after pleading guilty in the case. Those charges were related to $270,000 in bribes he received linked to two students who did not actually end up attending Stanford, so he has yet to face charges related to the $500,000 donated to the sailing team.
On March 25, Yale became the first school to rescind admission based on information from Operation Varsity Blues; the university said that two students had applied as potential soccer team members through women’s coach Rudy Meredith, who was on Singer’s payroll. One of those students was still not admitted despite the endorsement. The other was, and that student’s parents paid a whopping $1.2 million to Singer in the spring and summer of 2018. Meredith is cooperating with officials and has pleaded guilty to taking bribes and helping applicants pretend to be athletes to gain admission.
The student-athlete-recruitment portion of the investigation has shed light on how the murky rules regarding walk-on players provided room for manipulation and corruption, which made Singer millions of dollars from parents willing to help fake their kids’ athletic abilities. Lori Loughlin’s daughters, Olivia Jade and Bella, both posed as rowers who would be contributing to the University of Southern California’s crew team. At Stanford, at least, potential student athletes will receive separate background checks to prove they haven’t just, you know, bought water-polo equipment on Amazon.
