I seem to recall Lori Loughlin and her husband getting jail time for this sort of thing.

[catbyte]

Link to tweet

Maya Lau 🦅
@mayalau
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's son, who was not a top tennis prospect, made it onto Duke's competitive tennis team while DeJoy & his wife donated to Duke's athletic dept. In all they gave at least $2.2M https://latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-08-30/postal-chief-dejoy-has-long-leveraged-connections-dollars

[a kennedy]

1. Ah yup, EXACTLY the same.

[Dustlawyer]

2. I used to work with a lawyer who did not have an undergraduate degree.

His billionaire attorney father-in-law insisted that he become an attorney. He took him to Baylor University where he had donated millions. They went to the Dean of the law schools office and went right in. His father-in-law handed the Dean a $250,000 check and the Dean welcomed this young man to law school. Not wanting to go the young man told him he was 30 hours shy of his undergrad degree to which the Dean replied that they take experience into account. The Dean said you have been a Marine in the war (Kuwait) and have this man, his father-in-law, to gain enough experience to let you in.

[greenjar_01]

6. Pretty sure that's an accreditation issue

[BKDem]

3. Has this belligerent shihead ever done anything he didn't have to cheat at?

A perfect Republican. Perfectly corrupt. Morally bankrupt. All-around asshole.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. The article is unclear if donations bought admission to Duke.

Maybe the kid got accepted to Duke on his merit.

The donations probably made it easier for the kid to "make" the tennis team, probably third string, never to actually play against prime competition.

If the donations were made to the university, instead of paid under the table to a coach or agent, then it's not quite the same thing as Laughlin's case. It's just "normal" privilege given to the spawn of a large donor. Probably nothing to see here.

[GoCubsGo]

5. Felicity Huffman and dozens of others, as well.

A lot of them also paid hefty fines on top of their prison sentences. Larcenous Louie will probably get away with it.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. What year did his son get into Duke?

[Cicada]

8. Duke has gotten insanely selective, sounds crooked to me

I saw a you tube video on people reacting to getting college admissions news. A girl with Chinese immigrant parents with 1570 SATs and pretty close to perfect grades was rejected by Duke. She went to MIT instead. I really doubt this Lovejoy son would have gotten into Duke without the fake athlete boost.

[Zeitghost]

9. If I understand it correctly...

Where Laughlin and others went afoul of the law was bribing coaches to defraud the school. Making large donations to private institutions so your kids can get in is certainly shady and reeks of unjust privilege, but it's legal and a time honored tradition with just about all of the elite private universities.

[Midnight Writer]

10. Yes, Laughlin bribed the wrong person.