Bribe or Donation? New Varsity Blues Brief Rebuts Charges

(from Inside Higher Ed) One parent involved in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal last year is now arguing in a legal brief that his contributions to the University of Southern California were not a bribe but a donation. The brief, which includes lengthy transcripts of calls between college consultant Rick Singer and the parent, portrays Singer as a liar and USC officials as being willing to mix the admissions process and fundraising.

The brief notes that a spreadsheet for admissions officials included their donor status, and that this was especially true for athletes. In one case, a USC official was quoted as writing a memo saying that an applicant “came through Athletics due to father endowing our community services position for [$]5 million," to which the admissions office responded: “I have just been directed to admit this student.” In another case documented in the brief, the athletics director offered an athletic scholarship to the daughter of a donor of $500,000. In this environment, was Wilson wrong to presume that donations were commonplace and legal, the brief asks?

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