EDITORIAL
Colleges subject
to applicant lies
These days, it isn't essential to have a flawless tran
script and a 10-page resume to get admitted to the best
colleges In America, All you really Deed, it seems, is an
A-plus in Deception 101.
Two recent examples of applications fraud at Harvard
and Yale demonstrate how a student with a questionable
record can get into a top-notch school — although they
both also go to show how even the best-laid deception
plans can go astray.
The first incident to gain national press attention was
tlx* case of a V. plus community college student from Gal
ifornla who forged his high school and college tran
scripts and concocted glowing letters of recommenda
tion from non-existent faculty members to gel into Yale.
He was caught, reportedly, when one of his professors
decided his work was way below Yale quality and start
ed .isking questions although the student had man
aged a H average at Yale and was only a few terms away
from his degree when he was discovered.
The second case involves a student whoso acceptance
to Harvard was rescinded after it was learned, through
an anonymous tip. that she had beaten her mother to
death with a lead crystal candlestick Harvard admis
sions officials say that when she failed to mention her
probation on the application, she defrauded the univer
sity.
Both of these cases illustrate the ease with which
application deception can he achieved, particularly at
the ”l>est" colleges with the largest number of applicants
.md !he niu-.i inflated requirements But they also shed
light on the fallings of the applications process, in two
very different ways.
First, the Yale case shows that a selection process with
too much dependence on numbers and grades fails, on
occasion, to find the best students Although this guy
"didn't belong” in Yale, according to his real credentials,
he apparently was good enough to get above average
grades one e he was there.
And the Harvard vase raises questions about the type
of information requested on college applications. Yes,
it would seem, she deceived the university, but what
business is it of theirs whether she was on probation?
Why is sik h information relevant, and if it is so impor
tant, how s ome the university relies on the good word of
the applicant alone to find out about it? After all, if it
weren't for somebody in the student s hometown send
ing In newspaper clippings of the murder. Harvard
would've been none tie* wiser, ilm identally, the student
has been accepted at Columbia.)
Admissions officers at Yale and Harvard claim that
they catc h most applic atlon fraud, and we’ll have to take
their word on that But these incidents provide a glimpse
of some of the things that are wrong at the nation's best
schools — and provide another reason to question
whethei they should reall) be t onsldered the “best "
after ail.
Oregon Daily
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ROBERT MC NAMARA
SAfS TMF. VIETNAM
WAR WAS A MISTAKE,
I
TOO flAP WK
DIIK T WRITE
ms memoir^
IN' 1<X/K
I
■ OPINION
Some candidates just don’t cut it
Primp A. J. Font am
I t's ASl JO nkidion season once
again. so as a good opinion
writer should. I'm going to
endorse one of the tit kets for the
ASl!() Executive
In order to do this, however.
I ll start at what nun s««em like an
odd place the Student Senate
Joseph Lyons, currently a stu
dent senator, is a candidate in the
race for Msit 2. in which he is run
ning against three other people
List week. presumably in order
to decrease his competition,
Lyons petitioned the Elections
Hoard to combine the candidates
for seals 1 and 2, as has been
done in the past, making the eh*
lion a su-person contest. He pro
posed that the top two vote recip
ients would each he rewarded
one of the seats That means the
odds for a candidate winning
would In? 1 in 3, rather than seat
2 s current odds of l in 3
The board called the Constitu
tion Court for a decision The
i ourt rejected tht* decision,
bee auxe each seat has a different
term length After this defeat.
Senator Lyons appealed with a
motion to combine the race for
seats 2 and 3 — the same as he
had proposed for seats 1 and 2.
The court refected his appeal
Lyons has also posted notices
for a write-in campaign for him
self in seat t, so he is a marked
candidate in seat 2 and a write
in for 1 This means that if his
motion had been accepted, he
would have been a t andidate for
not only two. but three seats
lust to add an additional ele
ment of intrigue to these shenani
gans, Senator Lyons had some
celebrity cosigners for his first
petition ASUO Executive can
didates Student Senator Chris
Kantrowitz and Niki Scott
This sort of Little Kockian
elbow-rubbing may bu accepted
in the Clinton White House, but
we certainK should not allow it
here in Eugene If you feel that
such gerrymandering is inappro
priate in proper elec loral proc e
dure. make sure that you let
Lyons, Kantrowitz and Scott
know it at the ballot box.
Now. on to the Executive
Because of their involvement
with the aforementioned Lyons
affair, I cannot find a moral jus
tification to endorse the
kantrowitz/Scott ticket, no mat
ter what the merits of their plat
form. On to bigger and better
things
One of the most interesting
tii kets to watch has been Nat
Famam and Eli Elder's Neither
of them has been part of the
ASUQ in the past, and they are
positioning themselves as the
"outsider ticket Although they
stress the importance of the
campus’ relationship with the
outside community. an
admirable topic, some elements
of their platform are problemat
ic They stress the importance of
low rent for students, and in the
April 13 issue of the Fniero/f/,
said they want to set up "a dis
trict where rents are more rea
sonable. “
I don't know what this i-nt.nK
nor have I discovered the
answer in any subsequent cam
paign literature. Off-campus
housing prices are beyond the
si ope of the ASUG Executive,
and for a ticket to express its
importance so greatly without
proposing a cohesive course of
action uulii ates a lack of realis
tic planning
Another ticket m the outsider
league is Doctor (and Student
Senator) Justin Good and Rev.
Thom S< hoenborns. two of the
malcontents from The Common
tator. These two have some big
ideas, which include building a
micro-hrewerev in the EMU as
a fund-raising activity and bull
dozing Deady and Viilard Halls
Yeah, whatever dudes
One candidate who hopes she
i an reach a more informed stu
dent body is Kenya Euvert
l.uvert is the current student
assistant for the Black Student
Union and has served the cam
pus population in a number of
other capacities. To her < redit,
she has stressed one of the most
important problems facing this
campus students who don't
understand the issues that affect
their lives
However, one drawlrai k to her
campaign is her lack of a run
ning mate l.uvert told the Emur
old last week that if elected, she
would have a vice president
appointed by a selection com
mittee The ASUO vice presi
dent should have ideas and
views that coalesce with the
ASUO president's to make for
an effective Kxecutive, which is
why they run together as a sin
gle platform. This leaves
l.uvert's ticket only half-corn
plete.
Last, hut not least, is the tit k
et of Jennifer Williamson and
Zachary Kelton, which 1 whole
heartedly endorse.
Their platform is well
defined. not only mentioning
the standard issues that every
t andidate discusses, such as
financial aid and open commu
nication between students and
the ASUO, hut new ones as
well.
Most importantly, they plan to
emphasize teaching, rather than
reseats h. in our faculty by focus
ing on evaluations, professorial
reviews and tenure awarding.
When 1 decided to give them
this endorsement. Williamson
and kelton assured me they'd
"be willing to break tradition if
it's In the best interests of the
students," That will be a great
change from two years of status
quo stagnation, which none of
the other tic kets tan offer.
When all of thu factors are
weighed, no ticket can match
Williamson and kelton's
Primo A I Fontana is a colum
rust for the Kmerald
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