Folks, yesterday saw guilty pleas of a dozen or so wealthy parents and coaches for bribery, illegal money transfers across state lines, and tax fraud among other charges. Felicity issued an apology, seemingly sincere. Here's an idea I want to refloat: When we get to the punishment phase, I want to reiterate the idea of a cy pres award. Elite colleges were harmed. True. But the whole incident shines a spotlight in inequality in education and across America. And, ironically, the bribes ostensibly went to help low income kids. Yup, that's the tax fraud part. So have those pleading guilty do just that: donate to a cy pres fund that benefits low income kids and the non-elite small colleges that serve them. Redistribute the cy pres to colleges with more than 40% Pell eligible students and/or 50% first gen students and under 1200 students and endowments under $10 million. Then use the funds for scholarships and institution sustainability. The cy pres agreement would be part of a court ordered settlement and the distribution could be decided by a cy pres committee or designated court appointed official. Make lemonade out of lemons. Force these parents to do what they actually said: give to help low income students. Do good from bad.
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