Rescind Admissions and Degrees to Students Involved in the College Admission Bribery Scheme

Petition to Georgetown University Administrators

Dear Dr. John DeGioia (President) and Dr. Robert Groves (Provost):

As a proud alum of Georgetown University, I am deeply disappointed that GU, along with Stanford University, Yale University, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, University of Texas, Wake Forest University, University of San Diego, University of California Berkeley, and Harvard University, is involved in the college entrance bribery scheme.

I implore the administration to take the following actions:

1) A written public apology needs to be made to all university alumni and students as well as applicants/families of those who were deferred or not admitted at these cheaters' expense.

2) Rescind admissions to current students involved in this scandal.

3) Rescind any degrees conferred to all students involved in this scandal.

4) The Dean of Admissions, Mr. Charles Deacon, needs to take responsibility for this scandal by resigning from his post.

There are three main reasons:

1) History will repeat unless there are direct consequences coming from the university. Unless the university takes action to discourage future cheating, wealthy parents of unqualified students will do this in the future for their unqualified children. Parents with enough resources who are willing to sacrifice for their kids will certainly do it for their unqualified children in exchange for a brief stay at a minimum security white-collar prison. The only strong deterrent to such behavior will be the university rescinding fraudulently obtained degrees.

2) Leaving these unqualified children of bribing parents severely degrades the standards and prestige of Georgetown University. All of the hard work that we as alumni and current students did to receive admissions fair-and-square is thoroughly degraded by having these severely unqualified applicants receive admission and any subsequent degrees because of their parents' financial ability to bribe university officials.

3) The reputation, honor, and future of our university will remain permanently tarnished unless Georgetown University wipes the stain off by erasing these frauds from its history, including all who benefited from this scandal and graduated or are currently enrolled in the university as students.

If you are an alum/student, please include your school and graduating year.

Thank you for supporting meritocracy and upholding the standards of The Hilltop!

Sincerely,
Mickey Lee
Georgetown University, College of Arts & Sciences 2005
Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program Interviewer since Fall 2005
Georgetown University Tae Kwon Do Founder/Volunteer Instructor 2001-2015

Reference Materials

The Wikipedia page on the College Admissions Bribery Scandal is a very helpful resource filled with general information and links to numerous news articles covering a variety of angles on the issue.

Television Interviews regarding this Petition aired on Fox 5 DC News Interview on March 20, 2019, WUSA 9 News Interview on March 21, 2019, and The Hoya on March 21, 2019.

The Hoya cited our second e-mail to GU administration including our 4th demand on March 27, 2019.

The Hoya cited us in a Adam Semprevivo drops his sham of a lawsuit about Adam Semprevivo (one of the 2 current students who were expelled) and him dropping his publicity stunt of a lawsuit against the university on July 17, 2019.

Commonly Raised Questions & Answers

Question I: What if the students who cheated their admissions "didn't know" what was going on?

Answer I: They DID know because it is impossible to not notice someone feeding you answers to your SAT/ACT exam—even going as far as someone else taking the test for you—or putting you on a tennis team when you are obviously are not a Division 1-caliber athlete (i.e. one cheater did not even play competitive tennis!).

Question II: What about all of the "hard work" the cheaters did while in college to earn their degree?

Answer II:

A) This premise is under the assumption that these frauds did NOT CHEAT while in college.  They do not warrant our trust when they clearly showed their true colors in stealing others applicants' legitimate admissions spots and proceeding to cheat the university for the next 4 years simply by being there.

B) Fraudulent admissions makes their entire stay in the university a fraud, which makes the degree fraudulent.

C) More qualified admissions candidates would have done at least as good of job had they been rightfully admitted instead.

Question III: Isn't it harsh to take away degrees of these cheats?

Answer III:

A) We need to stop and reflect on our personal biases with regards to feeling sympathy for socioeconomically-privileged individuals while not batting an eye for others who commit comparable crimes but come from more difficult personal circumstances.

This is why we have someone like Judge Aaron Persky defending the privileged and well-connected Brock Turner—even when he was caught sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a woman.

B) These cheating students are NOT the victims.  Here are the real victims:

i. Children whose rightful admissions that were stolen after at least 12 legimate years of hard work;

ii. The students and alumni who rightfully earned their admissions and degrees only to see it tarnished by these cheating frauds;

iii. The faculty and staff whose place of employment that has become disgraced by the scandal.

C) Children are tried as adults in the court of law in this nation all the time for serious and petty crimes.  The only difference between them and these admissions cheats is the former lacking the financial resources and social connections to spare them from being lumped together with adult felons.

D) Just as these cheaters grow up with the benefits and privileges of their wealthy parents, they must also deal with the consequences and repercussions of their parents' choices as well.

E) Do you want an under-qualified cheat to preside over your heart surgery? Would you want a known cheater taking responsibility over your money or taxes as a lawyer or personal accountant? How about write your national legislative bills?

Elite academic universities cultivate our future leaders in important positions, which makes it a vital responsibility to correct their mistakes by rescinding admissions and degrees to these cheats before they cause wider destruction in society.