Until those who would do the right thing step forward, deception and outright cheating will continue.
Finding an edge is a way of the world. No matter what it takes, we’re told over and again, battle to the end and don’t be denied your goal.
We all know, however, that sometimes “don’t be denied” gets funneled into “at all costs.”
What we’ve learned in the last few weeks tells us a great deal about such costs. If one has the means, they’re not too much.
Last week was the shocking revelation that one of our state’s esteemed universities, Wake Forest, was caught in a bribery scandal. Wake Forest? Yep, right in there with the likes of Yale, Georgetown and Stanford.
Southern Cal, UCLA and Texas, too.
One group sounds like a gathering of academic models, the other like the best of New Year’s Day football — sans the Wake Forest part.
Instead, it was a bribery scandal of the rich and famous.
Ten coaches and athletics officials are charged. So are 40 others, including famed actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin among dozens of well-to-do parents.
Shocking North Carolinians is getting tougher. Let’s face it — if we had asked two weeks ago for a list of universities from our state that might be involved in a college admissions bribery scandal, how many would have lifted Wake anywhere near the top?
Sadly, it’s just another tawdry tale for the Old North State. Last month, we learned more about the 9th District political shenanigans. State Board of Elections Chairman Bob Cordle said there was corruption, an absolute mess with the 2018 election.
N.C. State has been sweating bullets for nearly a year, since it got named with other schools and sneaker companies in an FBI basketball corruption scandal. The best players, the Justice Department says, were swayed to colleges by illegal payments to families.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill spent several years earlier this decade under the cloud of multiple investigations, some because of improper gifts to athletes, others because more than 3,100 students got credit for classes that didn’t happen over an 18-year stretch.
All of these cases of alleged cheating are tied by the enablers, those who knew but wouldn’t step forward and do the right thing.
Mary Willingham finally did at UNC.
Marty Blazer, a Pittsburgh financial adviser, swung a deal to avoid prison in an unrelated matter when he put the FBI on the heels of college basketball’s elephant in the room.
Whatever Joshua Malcolm’s motivation, he stopped the 9th District verification of results. We now have testimony and indictments, even if no real assurance it won’t happen again.
That’s really what we hope for in all of these — that it won’t happen again.
We have to do our part. If we know information and don’t come forward, we’re an enabler.
Cheating needs to stop — whatever it takes.