Punish harshly the thugs in college-admission scam

Until this week, Yale Uni- versity shined most brightly as the alma mater of five presidents and 62 Nobel laureates, Georgetown University distinguished itself as the oldest and venerated Catholic-affiliated institution in the nation, and Stanford University soared near the top of rankings for the most research-intensive colleges in the world.

Those claims to fame, as well as the images of bedrock integrity long attached to about a dozen other prestigious American institutions of higher learning, took a deep and dishonorable dive. Today, they’re better known as stained bastions of cheating and corruption.

Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, as well as other top-tier universities such as Wake Forest, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California and others, found themselves smack-dab in the bull’s-eye this week of the largest college-admission scandal ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, the nationwide sting resulted in the arrests of 50 people, including Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman of “Desperate Housewives” and Lori Loughlin of “Full House” and a rogues’ gallery of athletic coaches, administrators and admission-test proctors. They all dishonored reputations centuries in the making.

Collectively, the parents are charged with forking over more than $25 million in bribes to ensure their already privileged and pampered children gained acceptance at the elite schools. Merit was thrown casually to the wind.

The massive scam has unleashed outrage throughout the nation, justifiably so, given the reprehensible hijinks of parents and the sleazy antics of some university officials who enabled these pay-to-play schemes to run their twisted course.

DESERVING STUDENTS SHORTCHANGED

In so doing, many hard-working, studious and responsible young applicants unjustly got knocked out of contention for a prized spot in these cr ®me de la cr ®me higher-education bulwarks simply because their parents lacked the supersized wherewithal and hubris to rig the system for selfish gain.

As the sordid details of this shameful scheme unfold, we expect nothing less than stern and resolute corrective action on several fronts.

For starters, maximum punishment must be meted out to parents, coaches, recruitment agents and others who ran slipshod over the high standards universities must maintain to safeguard their reputations as hallowed halls of learning.

The book should be thrown particularly hard at Rick Singer, founder and CEO of a college-recruitment company called The Key, who authorities dubbed the ringleader of the scandal.

Singer pleaded guilty this week to money laundering, racketeering, obstruction of justice and tax evasion for his leading role in the scheme. He faces a justly deserved maximum sentence of 65 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine.

Operation Varsity Blues also should serve as a clarion call for the busted institutions as well as all public and private colleges and universities across the United States to review all policies and procedures of their admissions operations. A focus should be placed on safeguards to ensure fair and honest protocols with no possible wiggle room through seedy side doors to acceptance.

We’d hope stern punishment to the likes of Huffman, Loughlin and the other privileged but misguided parents caught in Operation Varsity Blue’s snare will serve as a wake-up call to other would-be collegiate con artists. Those mothers and fathers who try to beat the system not only are setting bad examples for their children, they also are defiling the honor and respect public and private colleges struggle assiduously to build and maintain.

To be sure, such corrupting influences as those revealed in the DOJ investigation are no less repugnant than corruption uncovered in politics, government and business.

In all of those domains, offensives must continue to ensure greed and privilege are never allowed to corrode fairness and equity.