Op-Ed: Varsity Blues
Parents under-punished for abuse of privilege in admissions scandal
Emilie Schumacher / Op-Ed Contributor / The USD Vista
Spoiled kids have a few guarantees in their life. Well, certainly more than just a few, but these are the main ones: they can do what they want, they can spend what they want, and their punishment will be minimal, if it even exists. It sounds like the life, but for other kids who receive fair or even sometimes too much punishment for their actions, it breeds an understandable resentment. They start to ask themselves, why does that kid get away with anything that they do, and I don’t?
Spoiler alert, it doesn’t get better with age. The Varsity Blues college admissions scandal has made the news yet again, this time for the sentencings of Felicity Huffman and Devin Sloane. If these sentencings say anything about how the rest of the parents will be punished, then we’re in for a lot of minimal, spoiled-kid punishments. Just like how the lives of spoiled kids are seen as unfairly privileged to the other kids, the lives of these spoiled parents are, and should be, seen as unfairly privileged to other parents.
Many have taken this opportunity to compare these two sentencings with the sentence of an African-American woman from Ohio, Kelley Williams-Bolar. According to ABC News, In January 2011, she was convicted of two felony charges for using her father’s address to enroll her kids in a better school district. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail, three years probation, and a $70,000 fine. Huffman admitted to paying $15,000 to raise her daughter’s SAT scores for a better chance at getting into an elite university. On Friday, Sept. 13, CNN reported that she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, one year of probation, 250 hours of community service, and a $30,000 fine. Sloane admitted to paying $250,000 for his son to go to the University of Southern California as a fake recruit to the water polo team. According to National Public Radio (NPR), on Tuesday, Sept. 24, he was sentenced to four months in prison, 500 hours of community service, and a $95,000 fine.
At the time of Williams-Bolar’s sentencing, Judge Patricia Cosgrove told ABC that she “felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school districts.” What Williams-Bolar did was still wrong, regardless of the reasoning, and using the sentencing as an opportunity to deter other parents who might go down the same route was smart. At Sloane’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani made the point that the crimes committed by many of these parents did not concern basic necessities, but rather “getting your child into a college that might be called exclusive.” She then questioned whether they were doing so for their children or for their own status.
That question of reasoning is at the center of the obvious comparison between Varsity Blues and Williams-Bolar’s case. Williams-Bolar knew that her kids would face immense difficulties based on the color of their skin, difficulties that parents like Felicity Huffman, Devin Sloane and their children never had to face and never will. It’s no secret that better public school districts reside in more affluent neighborhoods, and this contributes to keeping districts largely racially concentrated. In other words, American schools are still segregated, not by law, but by opportunity. Williams-Bolar was trying to give her kids better opportunities. Huffman and Sloane’s children already had those opportunities. Williams-Bolar’s actions were arguably much closer to concerning basic necessities than any of the parents indicted in the Varsity Blues operation.
What Judge Cosgrove said at Williams-Bolar’s sentencing also would have been wise to consider in Huffman and Sloane’s cases, as the punishment they both received will not deter others. Fines of $30,000 and $95,000 are chump change for them, and reporting to a probation officer and doing community service don’t affect their lives nearly as much as others. A fine of $70,000 for Williams-Bolar most definitely was not chump change, and three years probation and 10 days in jail affected her ability to get a job, be considered for a loan, or anything else where a judge of her character is necessary. Williams-Bolar’s punishments could have been significantly lighter and still have deterred other parents from doing the same as she did. Huffman and Sloane’s punishments will not deter others.
With such a lenient public punishment, the rich and famous of the world know that they can still cling on to and inflate their opportunities, with little to no penalty. If the rest of the sentencings continue in this pattern, then make no mistake — there will be more scandals like Varsity Blues. Whether or not they see the light of day is to be determined, but they certainly won’t go away. Parents will still bribe their kids’ way into selective universities, universities such as our own.
Our very own campus was marred by this scandal on March 12, as the news broke that the University of San Diego was involved in the Varsity Blues operation. For the majority of students who got in on merit alone, to find out that someone allegedly got in on an abuse of privilege is incredibly disappointing, especially considering what USD preaches about fostering an inclusive and diverse environment. Our school is also the perfect example of why every university should be worried about future scandals like this. In a long list of highly-selective and sought-after schools, USD stood out as a less-selective, small, private university. We don’t fit the mold of a school that’s expected to be involved in something like this, which sends the message that no university is safe from abuses of privilege.
College admissions offices can tighten the screws and implement as many preventative measures as they want, but there will always be different loopholes and opportunities for exploitation. Most admissions offices also don’t have the finances or power to close every single one of those possible loopholes. Ideally, they wouldn’t have to. With the sentencings of Felicity Huffman and Devin Sloane, there was a missed opportunity to send a message that if you choose to go through the side door, you will be fairly punished for it.
The Varsity Blues scandal promised to put an end to the advantage given to the elite in the college admissions process, and they still can. If these parents start getting tougher sentences that actually fit the crime, then maybe this can foster change. Fairly punishing the parents of the Varsity Blues situation won’t magically give students from all financial, racial, and educational backgrounds a fair shot at a higher education, but it would be a start.