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U.S.|Suit Accuses Georgetown, Penn and M.I.T. of Admissions Based on Wealth
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/us/lawsuit-georgetown-wealthy-students-admissions.html
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The schools were accused of giving special treatment to wealthy students who might not otherwise have been admitted.
Dec. 17, 2024, 3:13 p.m. ET
For years, Georgetown University’s longtime president, John J. DeGioia, flagged 80 students to be added to a special admissions list — but not, apparently, for their academic or athletic prowess, documents in a lawsuit claim.
Those on Dr. DeGioia’s president’s list were virtually assured of admissions simply because of their family’s wealth and donation potential, according to a motion filed on Monday in a long-running lawsuit against a set of 17 selective universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Notre Dame, Cornell, Johns Hopkins and Caltech.
The new motion argues that the universities were supposed to be “need blind” and not take into account a family’s income when they decided who to admit and how much financial aid to offer. The plaintiffs argue that the schools gave preference to wealthy students in a way that violated provisions of a now-expired law permitting them to agree on financial aid formulas.
Defendants argued that considering student wealth in admissions was not a violation of the law, which required instead that universities would not discriminate against poorer students because they needed financial aid, and that the plaintiffs are attempting to redefine it.
At M.I.T., two children recommended by a wealthy banker with ties to a university board member got special treatment, according to the documents. In a deposition, the school’s director of admissions said the two children, who appeared on a “cases of interest” list, were among those who “we would really have not otherwise admitted.”
At the University of Pennsylvania, some students designated “B.S.I.,” or bona fide special interest, had a dramatically higher rate of admission than other applicants, according to expert testimony filed in the lawsuit.
