Further Statement from NACAC CEO, Joyce Smith, about the Admissions Scandal
This week, the news media featured extensive coverage of criminal
indictments alleging fraud and bribery aimed at securing students’
admission to selective colleges and universities across the country.
While, at this point, no NACAC members on either side of the desk have
been named in the investigation, the story is still a shock and a
challenge to our profession. Members, institutions, and sister
organizations might take a moment to consider the context of these acts
and what can be done to help restore trust in the college admission
process.
We understand too well the pressures that can be brought to bear on the
admission process, on both the postsecondary and secondary sides, and
from both inside and outside our institutions. The current scandal has
come to light at a moment when the US college admission process seems to
be under challenge on several fronts – as Harvard University is on
trial for alleged discrimination against Asian American applicants, and
an impassioned debate is underway concerning the essential fairness of
policies such as Early Decision and legacy, and NACAC’s own code of
ethics is the subject of a “restraint of trade” investigation by the
Department of Justice.
The scandal also draws into stark relief the role of wealth and
privilege in college admission and in our society in general. While this
week’s news reveals an extreme case, where the indicted individuals are
accused of trying to influence admission decisions in a clearly illegal
way, we know that wealthy people have always enjoyed many legal
advantages in the process, such as the ability to pay for tutoring, test
preparation, and application coaching, or for the truly wealthy, to
make sizable donations, fund scholarships, or endow buildings or faculty
seats. And we know that economic status affects one’s educational
choices at every stage of life.
This case also sheds light on what some have called the
“commodification” of higher education, where gaining admission to a
selective institution becomes the goal itself, and prestige and status
matter most of all — and where securing bragging rights becomes more
important than finding the college or university that is the best fit
for the student’s life and career plans. Parents and students alike need
to understand that college is not a commodity to be bought or sold, and
that there are deeply-rooted phenomena in our culture that allow wealth
to be used to preserve privilege, particularly in areas that are
“public goods,” such as education.
We recognize that the shameful behavior revealed in these high-profile
indictments is not common. Most colleges work diligently to admit and
serve the full range of applicants, and NACAC’s members remain committed
to integrity within the admission process. We also recognize that
colleges and universities can be large operations comprising many
different divisions that, by necessity, rely on trust and respect in
their dealings with one another. Whatever the structure, our members
assume that we can trust the counsel and recommendations of other campus
representatives on prospective students and their unique talents or
abilities, and we assume our colleagues throughout the institution work
with the same values, integrity, and ethics as we do.
The problems associated with wealth and privilege in our country have
been well understood and require comprehensive solutions that focus not
only on educational inequities but also extend well outside higher
education. Our hope is that this extreme case will inspire discussion
among stakeholders across our country, including policymakers,
university presidents, administrators, and others, about fairness and
equity in higher education in general and the college admission process
in particular.
These issues require the input of a wide range of persons of different
perspectives so that we can better understand the scope and realities.
Our members’ voices will be vital as this conversation proceeds.
Joyce Smith
NACAC CEO
