Dear Commons Community,

As if the fallout earlier this year from the college admissions scandal was not bad enough, a Chinese family worth billions of dollars is reportedly behind a $6.5 million payment to ensure that their daughter got accepted into Stanford University. When prosecutors unveiled the case, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, they did not list the identity of the person who was responsible for payment. The payment was the largest sum of money collected by William Rick Singer, who was the ringleader of the college admissions scandal.

According to the Los Angles Times, the family of Yusi Zhao met with Singer, who devised a plan to ensure she got accepted to the prestigious school. Singer reportedly created a fake athletic profile for Zhao and tried to have her recruited by the school’s sailing team, even though she had no experience in the sport. While there are no indications that Zhao ever joined the sailing team, U.S. prosecutor Eric Rosen said that her acceptance was “partly due to the fact that she had fabricated sailing credentials.”

Zhao was admitted to Stanford in 2017 and was a sophomore when news of the scandal broke. Stanford expelled Zhao not long after they discovered that parts of her application were falsified. Zhao even made a video posted on social media where she claims “I tested into Stanford through my own hard work.”

Yusi’s father, Tao Zhao, is the chairman and co-founder of a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company based in Heze, China. Neither Zhao nor her parents, who both live in Beijing, have been charged by prosecutors in the case.

We need to stop the sanity of putting so-called “elite colleges” on a pedestal!

Tony

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