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What a great way to polarize more people in this political environment if some of these parents are let off the hook.
by iscrewyou 7y ago
What a great way to polarize more people in this political environment if some of these parents are let off the hook.
- protomyth 7y agoPeople have been giving buildings and endowments for hundreds of years. It is not illegal to give buildings and money for the endowments. What these folks did was run a scam on the university.
- iscrewyou 7y agoI completely agree with you. I’m just commenting on the fact that these people should not be let off the hook just because they donate a building.
- protomyth 7y agoThere is no hook or wrong doing in giving a building. It benefits a lot of people. These folks actually did something illegal. Grouping people who actually gave to the university with people who paid a scam artist is wrong.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- lotsofpulp 7y agoThere's nothing wrong with giving, but there is something wrong with giving and calling it a donation, when in reality it's a quid pro quo transaction. Which is illegal, but unprovable. Matt Levine's comment quoted elsewhere in this thread is describes the only difference in the scenarios.
- TheCoelacanth 7y agoWhat law is broken by an explicit quid pro quo for admission? I'm pretty sure there's nothing illegal about that, it just is avoided because it doesn't look good.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoThere isn't, but there is against a "donation" being quid pro quo. They're free to call it what it is, tuition to bypass admissions requirements.
- CydeWeys 7y agoThe problem comes down to taxes. Donations to universities are tax deductible, but if it's an explicit quid pro quo for admission, then it's no longer eligible. So any quid pro quo donations that are written off on taxes are tax fraud.
- vkou 7y ago> There is no hook or wrong doing in giving a building. It's not giving if you're expecting a quid-pro-quo. The word you're looking for is 'bribe'.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y agoHrm, I don't think that's illegal in and of itself. I engage in quid pro quo transactions all the time. For example, when I go to the grocery store, I give them money and I get bananas. This for that. Quid pro quo is only illegal when the money is in exchange for otherwise illegal behavior, such as bribing a government official to assign a contract to your company. Of course, it's not illegal to admit someone to a university for a price. The donor couldn't deduct the donation from your taxes, or at least the portion of it which was required to secure enrollment for a given student. But other than that, I'm not aware of any law which would put someone "on the hook" for this.
- vkou 7y agoWhat these folks did was to bribe the employees of the university, as opposed to the university itself.