In the largest college admission scam to ever be prosecuted by the Department of Justice, according to CNN, 50 people were charged on March 12, 2019, with various accounts of bribery, fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. BYU–Hawaii students said they think the scandal is unfair because most people have to work hard to get a decent education, while faculty members said universities should focus on the students and minimize the role parents play in college admissions.
The scandal itself
Among those indicted are “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer, Mossimo Giannulli; “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman; and William “Rick” Singer, a college admissions consultant who has pled guilty to being the mastermind behind the scandal.
According to the official indictment found on the New York Times, Loughlin and her husband agreed to pay $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters designated as recruits to the University of Southern California’s crew team, even though neither one had ever participated in crew before.
Other clients of Singer’s who were involved in the scandal, including Huffman, paid to get their children unlimited time to take college entrance exams. Singer also arranged for a third party to pose as students and take the tests for them, or to change the students’ test scores on behalf of various clients.
Staff reactions
“These scandals are always a gut check for our department to reflect on best practice for being fair and ethical,” commented James Faustino, director of admissions.
“We try to do a good job to ensure people come here for the right reasons. We have an administration that is very vocal that we are a school emulating Zion, that we are a disciple training center. It’s our goal in admissions to ensure that’s what we accept into our university.”
BYUH’s admissions strategy to fight corruption, according to Faustino, is keeping the focus on the applicant. “The motivation behind the scandal was personal motivation for parents who want the best for their kids but they go about it in unethical ways.
“We fight that by working with individuals who are applying and while we notice parents, our responsibility is to the student. That includes one-on-one interviews, correspondences, and keeping students information private even when parents are asking about it.”
Faustino continued, “If these universities had followed [protocol], they would be able to see their students’ desire. We keep corruption in check by connecting personally with students and following equitable guidelines in admissions. Money isn’t everything. There is still the matter of admissions and you can’t buy your way past that.”
Elder Lesuma, a senior missionary who serves in the Honor Code office, reflected on his own experiences dealing with admissions fraud at BYUH. He said, “Students occasionally falsify grades and experiences and don’t fully disclose past activities that affect their spiritual worthiness. We sanction and adjudicate appropriately, and in some cases, students may have to go home.”
BYUH admissions international, he continued, also prove to be a balancing act as the emphasis is kept on the student, but he said inevitably parents play a big part when students interview to come, especially IWORK where the parent makes a substantial commitment.
Lesuma continued, “This scandal is unfortunate since it involves a whole lot of money to pay for those services and favors… I’m not sure that has happened here. I doubt it very much, just because of the economics. [IWORK] parents don't have the money and we mostly get their bare minimum income.”
Lesuma referred to the filtering BYUH staff as another check on corruption in admission. “Being a Church school, people involved in the submission of applications are people that are closely vetted and people with a long history of Church service.”
Why these particular schools were targeted in the scandal is unclear, Faustino added. “The value of a particular college is subjective and value systems are different for every person. After all, undergraduate degrees all do the same thing.”
BYUH’s sale pitch, he said, is, “Small school, diverse student body, church school, faith-based, along with a certain code of conduct expected by students and staff.”
Faustino continued by giving his advice to students in applying ethically to a competitive graduate program. “It’s similar to getting a job. You have to present yourself in the best way and as such the individual should be advocating for themselves.
“It would behoove the applicant to be associating with the school beforehand. Ask yourself, ‘What could I contribute to the school given my talents, testimony, and spiritual preparedness?’ Your application should be around the purpose of serving the school and its community.”
The students’ reactions
Lily Tuivai, a freshman majoring in communications from Australia, said, “It’s unfair. Some people, such as myself and people I know, have to work extra hard to even get here. I can get a good education in Australia but it’s too expensive… that’s why coming here is the best option for me. I get to work and not be a burden on my parents, which is good because I’m one of six kids.”
Thinking about the children of these celebrities, Tuivai asked, “Are they even gonna do well in school? Because for me… when you work for something, naturally you treasure it more because it’s something you worked for, but if those parents are just going to throw them at school, are they even going to try? You can’t cheat your way through life like that. Eventually, it’ll just catch up to you somehow.”
Tuivai shook her head. “It’s not going to be a priority to them.”
Ailona Masoe, a freshman majoring in information technology from Samoa, said she thinks the scandal is unfair because not everyone is on the same level financially. “Some people are really working hard to be successful but if other people are taking a shortcut by bribing others to get what they want, it’s not fair to those who are really doing their job. It’s sad, but then it’s also reality too.”
Masoe said working hard pays off as she’s made a huge sacrifice working and studying at the same time. “Other students don’t have to work but for me, as an IWORK student, I need to pay off the stuff I’m using here at BYUH. I get little time for myself. Plus being away from my family is another big sacrifice. I’m far away from them so I can get a better education.
“It’s hard but I feel like it’s going to be worth it... If you work hard you’ll reap the rewards afterward.”
Elder Lesuma finished with, “This is a really special place. The Lord is watching over this school, especially the parents and the students. I don’t think the Lord would allow [a similar scandal] to happen because of the negative impact it would have, especially on parents.“
In an article written by In-Touch Weekly, Josie Rhodes Cook shares what Loughlin’s daughter, Olivia Jade Giannulli, a 19-year-old YouTube star, has had to say about the scandal. According to Cook, Giannulli hasn’t added a new video to her channel since March 10 and she’s disabled comments on her social media accounts.
Cook writes, “Her Twitter is also a dead zone at the moment–and a quick look at those comments reveals that she’s getting a lot of hate in the replies to her latest post there. It doesn’t seem like she’s spoken publicly about what went down since news of her parents’ alleged involvement broke.”
Giannulli has had a lot to say about school on her YouTube channel, as Cook notes. In one of her videos, which has since been deleted, Giannulli says, “I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend, but I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all… But I do want the experience of game days and parties. I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.”
Writer: J. Eston Dunn and Emi Wainwright