People went to jail for those bribes. It’s not a legal tactic to begin with

orangecat 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

They went to jail because they bribed people who were not authorized to accept bribes instead of the people who were (with the latter people charging much more, of course).

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lotsofpulp 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Just because the bribes were too small. If they were large enough to help build a building, then they become legal again.

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energy123 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

It was because the bribes benefited a small number of administrators instead of being equitably distributed across administrators

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rahimnathwani 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

No, it's because the money went to individual employees directly, rather than being received by the institution.

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lotsofpulp 6 days ago | parent [-]

While I was being glib, that is an insignificant detail in the context of this post about legacy admissions.

The point is you can gain admission via some nebulous definition of merit, some combination of merit and knowing someone who gained admission before, or paying for admission.

Also, while the “institution” receives the money, I guarantee some people (the highest admins and their friends - fund managers, construction contractors, etc) gain more than most others (e.g. adjunct teachers and students).

	▲	ivape 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		You’re defining a country club. Every layer of our society grosses me out.