In a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Boston, actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among those arrested in a multi-state sting for allegedly conspiring to commit illegal activities dating back to 2011, namely paying bribes, cheating on college entrance exams and getting athletic coaches to accept their children for sports teams when the students were not athletes.
At a time when improving diversity and inclusion of minority and other underrepresented groups on college campuses is a major concern, news of the scandal did not sit well with equity advocates.
Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin
“From paying psychologists to say their child is ‘gifted’ to paying for fraudulent SAT scores, rich people often demonstrate that they don’t really believe in a meritocracy in education,” said Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, president and CEO of the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network, professor of counseling psychology at Howard University and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Negro Education.
“They believe in inherited privileges,” Toldson continued. “The worst aspect of these alleged crimes is that their mediocre children will grow up believing they are entitled to unearned rewards and that it’s okay to deny opportunities to others with less money. These children can grow up to be social parasites with no regard for earned achievement, only a false sense of entitlement that motivates them to manipulate systems and prey on those with less money to get ahead.”
The scandal underscores the perception and reality that a degree from a prestigious school means social and economic cache, which could be a way of maintaining social advantage gained through resources and influence, suggested Dr. Stella M. Flores, associate dean for faculty development and diversity in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University.
