YALE DAILY NEWS · ALUMNI EDITION 2019 · yaledailynews.com
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THIS YEAR’S NEWS
“I believe there’s too little patience and context to many of the investigations I read or see on television.” BOB WOODWARD, B.A. ’65 AMERICAN JOURNALIST
Yale implicated in nationwide admissions scandal
COURTESY OF SAM RUBIN ’95
Meredith resigned from his position as women’s soccer coach last November. BY KELLY WEI STAFF REPORTER In a Boston courtroom on March 29, former Yale women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith stood before a judge and pled guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges in relation to his role in what federal prosecutors have called the largest college admissions scandal ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. The scheme, dubbed “Varsity Blues” by investigators, involved over 50 individuals, including prominent figures such as “Full House” actress Laurie Loughlin, and their children who attended elite colleges across the nation. According to court documents, Meredith “accepted bribes in exchange for designating applicants to Yale as recruits for the Yale women’s soccer team, and thereby facilitating their admission to the university.” His actions led to the admission of one student, whose
admission was rescinded in March. Yale believes that Meredith was the only University staff member involved with the scheme, according to a March 12 communitywide email sent by University President Peter Salovey in relation to the scandal. In an interview with the News, Director of Athletics Vicky Chun said that “the Department of Justice made clear that Yale has been the victim of a crime. The University has fully cooperated with the investigation and will continue moving forward.” The ringleader of the scandal and owner of a California-based forprofit admissions company William “Rick” Singer, received $25 million in bribes and kickbacks for helping more than 750 students gain admission into elite colleges nationwide. The Department of Justice claims that Meredith began working with Singer in April 2015. According to court documents, Singer agreed
to help “Yale Applicant 1” gain admission to Yale in exchange for $400,000. Allegedly, Singer collaborated with former women’s soccer coach for the University of Southern California Laura Janke to create a falsified athletic profile that would be included in the applicant’s Yale application. “[C]ould you please create a soccer profiles asap for this girl who will be a midfielder and attending Yale so she has to be very good,” a Nov. 10, 2017 email that Singer sent Janke stated, according to court documents. “Needs to play Academy and no high school soccer… awards and honors — more info to come — need a soccer pic probably Asian girl.” According to court filings, Singer forwarded the profile to Meredith who knew “at the time, [the applicant] did not play competitive soccer.” On March 24, University spokesperson Tom Conroy told the News
that the student’s admission had been rescinded. Meredith had also attempted to receive an additional $450,000 for facilitating the admission of “Yale Applicant 2” into the University. After a meeting with the parent in a Boston hotel in April of 2018 — which the FBI wiretapped — Meredith actively began to work as a cooperating witness for four months. During this time, Meredith made several tapped phone calls to Singer on behalf of the FBI, which led to its discovery that the Yale-related bribery was part of a much larger national scheme. In addition to Varsity Blues, two former soccer players alleged that Meredith pressed players to edit and write portions of his graduate school papers while he pursued a master’s degree at Ohio University. One player said that the team members had brought their concerns to the Department of Athletics as well as University President
Peter Salovey. After an investigation led by former Athletics Director Tom Beckett, the University took no action against Meredith despite various complaints. Beckett retired from his position in 2018 and was replaced by Vicky Chun. Since news broke of the admissions scandal, Chun has aimed to implement new policies to “ensure that student-athletes receive an excellent education at Yale and to enhance the quality of [Yale’s] athletic programs.” In addition, Chun will work alongside Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan to implement “more robust training for all coaches to ensure they understand” Yale’s recruitment policies. Other schools implicated in the scandal include the University of Southern California, Wake Forest and Stanford. Contact KELLY WEI at kelly.wei@yale.edu .
Yale admits 2,178 to class of 2023 BY PHOEBE LIU STAFF REPORTER Yale College offered 2,178 students admission into the class of 2023, which represents 5.91 percent of a record 36,843 applicants from both the early action and regular decision pools. Keeping with recent trends, the number of applicants increased by 4.3 percent this cycle, and the pool represented a greater number of students who identify with a minority group or who will be first-generation college students than in years past. With this admissions cycle, Yale’s acceptance rate dipped below 6 percent, for the first time in recent memory. And, about a third of the class of 2023 was accepted from the early action pool, the early action cycle with the highest number of applications since 2013. “All of our admissions officers continue to be impressed with and humbled by the number of highly qualified applicants in our pool,” said Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan. “We’re thrilled that the expansion of Yale College has allowed us to offer admission to more high-achieving students from such a variety of backgrounds.” The class of 2023 represents the third expanded class to be offered admission into Yale, following the opening of two new residential colleges colleges in 2017, named after Pauli Murray LAW ’65 and Benjamin Franklin. The additional space has allowed class sizes to expand by about 15 percent, or 200 students per class.
Quinlan said that the admissions committee was again able to select a larger class “without any significant changes to the holistic process.” In their press release on the admission of the new class, Yale reiterated its commitment to financial aid. “My colleagues and I look forward to working with the admitted students to the class of 2023 to ensure that cost of attendance is not a barrier for any admitted student when considering Yale,” said Director of Undergraduate Financial Aid Scott Wallace-Juedes. Mark Dunn, director of outreach and communications for the admissions office, said that outreach efforts from the admissions office, the QuestBridge National College Match program — a program that “matches” high-achieving and low-income students to one of its partner colleges with no parental contribution or student loans —and other factors contributed to a 110-percent jump of applicants from students “living in lower-income census tracts.” The admissions office focuses on making the Yale admissions process as transparent as possible through both their online presence and mail outreach, especially in lower-income areas, Dunn said. Additionally, according to Quinlan, “recent enhancements” to undergraduate financial policies to increase the accessibility of Yale to students with the greatest financial need include free hospitalization insurance coverage and a $200 “startup grant” intended to subsidize the cost of computers, clothing and
other necessary items. Admitted students were invited to Bulldog Days and Bulldog Saturday in April — two
events designed to showcase Yale to admitted students. The final decision date for commitment to Yale College was
May 1. Contact PHOEBE LIU at phoebe.liu@yale.edu .
ELLA STARK/PRODUCTION & DESIGN STAFF