Giving Compass' Take:

• Andre Perry argues that the privilege of wealthy students revealed by Operation Varsity Blues is an argument for affirmative action which aims to compensate for those advantages. 

• What changes must be made in order to ensure that college admissions are equitable? 

• Learn more about affirmative action. 

The revelation by the FBI that more than 50 people are charged for fixing admissions decisions in elite colleges may be the “largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted,” but it’s a crime that’s indicative of the reality that America has never had a merit-based system for college attendance. American higher education has always been rigged for the wealthy. The folks charged in the “Operation Varsity Blues” FBI probe, including admission officials, athletic coaches and 33 wealthy parents, reflect the egregious lengths families will go to in order to maintain enclaves that reproduce inequality.

The high-flying corruption alleged in this recent case should put a spotlight on the current efforts to dismantle affirmative action. Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, a lawsuit filed in the Massachusetts District Court in 2014 against Harvard College’s admissions practices, was heard by the Supreme Court in February of this year. The lawsuit claims that the university practices a discriminatory quota system that unfairly penalizes students of Asian descent who have the highest test scores among the major racial categories. Harvard argues that it exercises its constitutional and moral right to set diversity goals and considers race in admissions decisions in order to reach them.

Rachel Kleinman, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told The New York Times that opposition to affirmative action plays to “this fear of white people that their privilege is being taken away from them and given to somebody else who they see as less deserving.”

Actually it’s wealthy parents who are robbing underrepresented groups opportunities to climb the social ladder.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Andrew Lelling, remarked at the press conference outlining the Operation Varsity scheme that the indictment is “not talking about donating a building so that a school is more likely to take your son or daughter” but instead “talking about deception and fraud.”

But beyond the question of illegality, I honestly don’t know what’s worse — giving a donation for the sole purpose of getting your child admission to a university, or paying a bribe.

Read the full article about affirmative action by Andre Perry at The Hechinger Report.