Stanford University kicked out a student last week who is tied to the recent nationwide college admissions bribery scandal.
On April 2, the university said it had rescinded admission and vacated academic credits for the unnamed student after finding false information on their application. The student had “fabricated sailing credentials,” according to The Stanford Daily, the university’s student paper.
Stanford said the student was one of three associated with a $770,000 donation to the university’s sailing program from Rick Singer’s fake charity, Key Worldwide Foundation. Two of the students were not admitted to Stanford. The foundation donated $500,000 to the sailing program on behalf of this third student, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
Stanford fired its former head sailing coach, who pleaded guilty to charges in the case, but the student in question had not received any recommendation from the coach on their application and had no affiliation with the sailing program once on campus, per the university. The school said it received the donation several months after admitting the student.
Last month, the FBI charged dozens of people in an elite college admission scheme in which wealthy parents ― including celebrities Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman ― allegedly paid bribes to ensure that their children were accepted to schools such as Stanford, Yale and the University of Southern California. Parents allegedly paid to fraudulently change their children’s exam scores or have their children admitted as student-athletes even if they didn’t play the sport in question.
Huffman and more than a dozen others pleaded guilty on Monday to the charges brought against them in the case.
Stanford said it is taking steps to prevent future admissions fraud, including by reviewing every Stanford applicant involved in athletic recruitment. The university said it received no other donations from Singer’s foundation.