News
The Collegian: 4
15 April 2019
Parents, ringleaders charged in college admissions scandal Rick Singer led the 50 individuals that were part of a conspiracy to get children of wealthy adults into elite universities. Hannah Robbins Student Writer On March 12, U.S. federal prosecutors charged Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin and 50 other people in a scheme for wealthy Americans to buy their children’s attendance at elite universities. This investigation, entitled Operation Varsity Blues, involved approximately 200 FBI agents, millions of dollars and universities like USC, Yale, Wake Forest, Stanford and Georgetown. The scheme, headed by Rick Singer, started in 2011. Under the guise of a college preparatory business called Edge College and Career Network LLC (nicknamed “the Key”) and a non-profit charity Key Worldwide Foundation, Singer conspired with parents, athletics coaches and SAT/ACT test administrators to get children into universities without merit. This was referred to as using the “side door.” Singer’s scheme had several aspects to it. The first was test score fabrication. For a typical donation of between $15,000 and $75,000, parents could get a higher SAT or ACT score for their child. Singer was able to accomplish this by having the children ask for extended time, then have the test transferred to one of two locations that Singer controlled. Administrators bribed by Singer allowed Mark Riddell, one of Singer’s partners, the ability to take the exam for students or provide the students with answers. The second aspect of Singer’s operation was athletic recruiting deception. Parents
could pay money to bribe Singer to get their children designated as athletic recruits. Singer bribed various university administrators and coaches to allow these students this designation even if they lacked the skill to compete at the college level. Some had never even played the sports before. Bribed administrators include USC’s Senior Associate Athletic Director Donna Heinel and water polo coach Jovan Vavic, along with former Yale soccer coach Rudolph Meredith. Finally, Singer used his charity, Key Worldwide Foundation, to commit wire fraud. Instead of directly paying the Key for Singer’s services, parents would pay the charitable foundation, allowing them to write off payments in the millions as charitable donations to Key Worldwide Foundation, which claimed to help organizations like Friends of Cambodia and the LadyLike Foundation. Instead, the majority of the money went to paying the athletics departments that were receiving fake recruits. After the release of these charges, Singer pled guilty that same day. However, it was not as simple as that for all the parties involved. On March 28, Rudolph Meredith pleaded guilty on all counts. On April 9, 16 of the 33 parents charged in the case who had pleaded not guilty to original charges were also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. On April 11, a motion was filed to have the case of all 33 parents that pled guilty moved from a judge that had a reputation of harsh sentencing to another random judge, but this was rejected, and the current judge will be able to determine how the case will proceed from there. It is not clear if the students currently enrolled as part of this scandal will lose their enrollment.
courtesy Associated Press Jeremy Richman, father of a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting, in a 2013 town hall meeting.
Social impacts of mass shootings poorly understood After a spate of suicides related to mass shootings, experts are further exploring the relationship between trauma and mental health. Thomas von Borstel Student Writer The first week of April has been the only week since 2013 without a mass shooting. Shooting-related suicides are becoming repeated occurrences in the United States. The only growing category of homicide today is the mass shooting. In 2019, several suicides related to the aftermath of mass shootings have been publicized. Laymen and experts alike are questioning the nature of such trauma as survivors and secondhand casualties are being identified with severe PTSD and survivor’s guilt.
“The only growing category of homicide today is the mass shooting.” Some of the recent cases include surviving students from the Parkland shootings. Sydney Aiello took her life in March after suffering for months following the death of her good friend Meadow Pollack. Her family and the school mourn her loss as the shooting continues to take its toll. Her issues with PTSD manifested into a fear of being in a classroom, according to Fox News. A connection has been drawn between last year’s calamity at Stoneman Douglas and the young woman’s suicide. Following the funeral of Sydney Aiello, a second student was found dead by suicide. The young man, Calvin Desir, was 16 years old. His family described him as bright and said that he wished to become an engineer. Much less information about Calvin Desir has been circulated pertaining to his struggle with trauma stemming from last year’s shooting. The long term effects of mass shootings are beginning to become far more apparent.
Courtroom sketch of Joe Exotic from his early April hearing.
Emily Every Managing Editor A federal jury has convicted Joe Exotic, an Oklahoma native, zoo owner, YouTuber and former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, of attempting to hire a hitman to kill Carole Baskin, the founder of the Big Cat Rescue located outside of Tampa, Florida. Joe Exotic, 56, born Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, propositioned an undercover FBI agent in December 2017 to murder Baskin, a known critic of Maldonado-Passage’s past treatment of animals, for $10,000. The agent recorded the interaction, which the prosecution played for the jury during the trial. In the recording, Maldonado-Passage is recorded to have told the agent to “Just, like, follow [Baskin] into a mall parking lot and just cap her and drive off.” Maldonado-Passage opened a private zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma in 1999 that became controversial for its allowance of guests to play with its tiger cubs, reportedly until the paws of the tigers bled from overinteraction. His conviction for murder-forhire follows an October 2017 conviction for causing the death of five tigers, as well as November 2016 and March 2018 convictions for selling tiger cubs.
these tragedies, the incidence of fear and the feeling of environmental insecurity as cited in the academic journal Trauma, Violence and Abuse. The scramble to obtain a solution to this national epidemic is more heightened now with the widespread mourning of these tragedies. The enormity of the issue is leading many to find more questions than answers, as the standard procedure to provide counseling and psychiatric services following these cataclysmic events does not appear to be completely effective. Researchers are working rapidly, and many passionate individuals are constantly searching for an explanation, but the nature of this rampant issue remains obscure. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.
courtesy Todd Pendleton and The Oklahoman
Former gubernatorial candidate found guilty of murder-for-hire Joe Exotic paid an undercover FBI agent to take the life of a critic of his private zoo practices.
Seven years following the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Jeremy Richman, a parent of victim Avielle Richman, took his life within 10 days of Aiello’s death. Richman was a neuropharmacologist who founded a non-profit to study the nature of violence. Those surrounding him spoke on behalf of his intense grief and passion for motivating change and aiding prevention efforts against mass violence, according to ABC News. These are not the first trauma-induced casualties of a mass shooting. The Columbine shooting in 1999 saw two additional victims of suicide within a year of the catastrophe: Greg Barnes, a witness to the death of Dave Sanders, and the mother of Anne Marie Hochhalter. A causal relation has been identified between these terrible occasions, but researchers do not have a clear link between the two as of yet. What they have identified is a pattern and the connection between
Prosecutors also stated that MaldonadoPassage had paid Allen Glover, one of the workers at his zoo, $3,000 as a down payment in exchange for that worker to murder Baskin. Glover has since testified that he never intended to harm Baskin and that he allowed Maldonado-Passage to believe that the teardrop tattoo beneath his eye signified that he had killed before. Glover purportedly drove to Florida to warn Baskin, but ended up drunk and high at a beach party. He then told an anonymous informant about the Maldonado-Passage plot, who contacted authorities. Commenting on Maldonado-Passage’s trial, Baskin has stated on BigCatsRescue. com that she is “grateful that justice was served and Joe Schreibvogel-MaldonadoPassage hopefully will serve time in prison and no longer present a threat either to [herself] or to his former big cats.” She goes on to explain that “For years, a network of big cat owners like [Maldonado-Passage] who have engaged in cruel cub petting schemes and the exhibition of big cats have also been engaging in the illegal sale of tigers.” U.S. District Judge Scott Palk has yet to set a sentencing date, but MaldonadoPassage could theoretically expect up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. Several film crews and documentarians have approached Maldonado-Passage for the rights of his story, including “Dateline” producers, but it’s currently unclear what, if any, creative work will come from these meetings.
tucollegian@tucollegian.org
2018 – 2019 editor-in-chief
Justin Guglielmetti managing editor
Raven Fawcett news editor
Ethan Veenker sports editor
Brennen Gray variety editor
Emma Palmer commentary editor
Emily Every satire editor
Madison Connell photo & graphics editor
Conner Maggio
business & advertising manager
Brian Kwiecinski
social media & web manager
Sara Serrano
distribution managers
Jacob Lee
Jesica Santino and Katelyn Baker copy editor
Bryant Loney
The Collegian is the student newspaper of the University of Tulsa. It is distributed Mondays during the fall and spring semesters, except during holidays and final exam weeks. The University of Tulsa does not discriminate on the basis of personal status or group characteristics including but not limited to the classes protected under federal and state law. Inquiries regarding implementation of this policy may be addressed to the Office of Human Resources, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-9700, (918)631-2616. Requests for accomodation of disabilities may be addressed to the university’s 504 Coordinator, Dr. Tawny Rigsby, (918)631-3814. To ensure availability of an interpeter, five to seven days notice is needed; 48 hours is recommended for all other accomodations. Advertising Policy: Advertising appearing in this publication does not imply approval or endorsement by the University of Tulsa or the Collegian for the products or services advertised. For advertising information, email the Collegian at advertising@tucollegian.org. The deadline for advertising is noon on the Friday proir to publication. Letter Policy: Letters to the editor must be less than 500 words and can be sent to tucollegian@tucollegian.org. Under no circumstances will anonymous letters be published. The name of the person submitting the letter must be published with the letter. We reserve the right to edit or reject all letters. The deadline for letters is 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication. Editing Policy: The Collegian reserves the right to edit all copy submitted by all writers. This editing may take place in many forms, including grammar corrections, changes in paragraph structure or even the addition or removal of sections of content. Editorial Policy: Columnists are solely responsible for the content of their columns. Opinions expressed in columns may not represent the opions of the Collegian staff, the administrative policies of the University of Tulsa, the views of the student body or our advertisers.
@TUCollegian
2019 – 2020 editor-in-chief
Ethan Veenker managing editor
Emily Every news editor
Madison Connell sports editor
Brennen Gray variety editor
Piper Prolago commentary editor
Chris Lierly satire editor
Sara Serrano photo & graphics editor
Emma Palmer
business & advertising manager
Brian Kwiecinski copy editor
Hana Saad