Five arrested in TOEFL cheating scheme to procure student visas for Chinese nationals

This post was updated March 13 at 5:53 p.m.

A UCLA alumnus was arrested by federal authorities Tuesday for involvement in a scheme that helped Chinese nationals obtain student visas by cheating on their English proficiency tests.

The scheme was allegedly led by Liu Cai, a 23-year-old who entered the United States on a student visa to attend UCLA, according to the Los Angeles Times. Cai graduated from UCLA in spring 2017, said UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez.

Cai and four other California residents were arrested after a federal grand jury indicted them Friday on 26 counts for charges including conspiring to use false passports, using false passports and aggravated identity theft, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release.

The defendants allegedly used fake Chinese passports to impersonate Chinese nationals and take the Test of English as a Foreign Language exam, according to the release. Cai has allegedly taken at least five TOEFL exams, and paid for and registered 14 Chinese nationals for the exam from 2015 to 2016, according to the indictment.

The scheme helped more than 40 people obtain admission to highly selective universities, including UCLA, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Foreign nationals who wish to study at a U.S. college or university must obtain an F-1 student visa after first applying to a school approved by the Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Many of these schools require foreign nationals whose first language is not English to achieve a certain score on the TOEFL to demonstrate their English proficiency, according to the release.

This arrest comes on the same day federal authorities charged UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo for involvement in a bribery scheme that helped students gain admission to universities as student-athletes despite never having played their sport competitively. The scheme, though unrelated, involved parents paying a third-party college preparation consultant about $25 million in total between 2011 and February to facilitate cheating on their children’s college admissions exams.

Editorial: Admissions scandal shows how broken system of American higher education is

The bar for higher education just got a lot higher – or lower, if you have a fortune to spare.

Federal prosecutors charged a slew of wealthy parents, college sports administrators, CEOs and celebrities in one of the largest admissions scams ever to come to light. The charges implicate 50 individuals for everything from conspiracy to commit racketeering, to money laundering, to conspiracy to defraud the United States, all in an attempt for the ultra-rich to secure their children a seat at the nation’s most prestigious universities.

Yes, that includes UCLA.

The scandal hit close to home, with UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo accused of taking $350,000 in bribes to grease the wheels so two students from wealthy families could get in. One of the students, the older daughter of Bruce and Davina Isackson, was brought onto UCLA women’s soccer in 2017 but played zero games. The other student had no competitive soccer experience and likely hasn’t been officially admitted.

The fallout has been imminent. UCLA put Salcedo on leave, but has yet to state whether he will be fired. USC fired a senior associate athletic director, Donna Heinel, as well as its men’s and women’s water polo coach, Jovan Vavic, both of whom received bribes adding up to more than $1.3 million and $250,000, respectively.

UCLA has obviously kept mum about its plans for Salcedo. If administrators are smart, they’ll see to it that the soccer coach of 15 seasons won’t have a place at this university.

But the repercussions are hardly the most important consideration. The fact remains that well-off parents bought their kids’ way through college admissions by paying others to take the ACT or SAT or signing fat checks to purchase the favor of athletics personnel.

That even UCLA, a public university which prides itself on its admissions rigor and commitment to equality, was ensnared in this fiasco means collegiate athletics, university admissions and higher education in this nation are woefully broken and unjust.

UCLA isn’t the victim here, and the truth has been obvious to everyone who cared to look. Collegiate athletics officials in this country have enjoyed the ability to scoop up students and offer enticing scholarships to court them into their teams. Federal prosecutors have implicated some of the biggest institutions in college basketball for accepting bribes and paying off student-athletes’ families to assemble competitive teams.

And even when athletics officials aren’t being bought off, the collegiate sports world is engulfed in big money interests from donors and invested alumni. Those dollar bills can dictate everything from which coach stays on the job to which players get signed on.

It’s no surprise that such a system, rife with murky-green Benjamins and special interests, would be susceptible to a Newport Beach circus ring involving a college admissions scam business and a pack of rich parents with money to flaunt.

In fact, the organization in question, the Key Worldwide Foundation, exploited our broken admissions system to systemically do what was always possible: receive millions in funds to falsify athletics records, cheat on college entrance exams and broker deals with athletics personnel to secure admissions into universities such as Yale, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest and Georgetown.

That’s in no way saying all student-athletes have an outsized advantage when being evaluated by prestigious universities. Rather it’s that the select few have had the power and pleasure to stomp on those with qualifications and real skill to ensure their children receive diplomas from top-notch schools. College athletics happens to be the broken vehicle facilitating the corruption.

In an ideal world, higher education would be an empowering opportunity for people to seek higher knowledge and pursue their career aspirations. The 50 indicted people in this scandal showed us how much of a pay-to-play the system is – and how we’re all suckers caught in it.

Baseball to play Long Beach State after losing another starting pitcher to injury

The Bruins have lost another starting pitcher to injury.

No. 2 UCLA baseball (11-3) will play at Long Beach State (2-12) on Tuesday, a day after freshman right-hander Nick Nastrini was ruled out for the season with thoracic outlet syndrome. Nastrini joined the rotation after No. 1 starter junior right-hander Ryan Garcia missed the start of the season with flexor inflammation.

In two starts and one relief appearance this season, Nastrini struck out 17 batters without allowing a run, but his shutout streak will be cut short after 10 2/3 innings. After Nastrini’s scheduled start against Pepperdine on March 5 was rained out, he was slated to start against the Dirtbags.

Coach John Savage announced Garcia will be the replacement starter Tuesday, making his first start of the season.

Garcia made 22 appearances last season, including 12 starts. He posted a 2.23 ERA and an 8-1 record in 76 2/3 innings.

Bruins surging, Dirtbags struggling

UCLA and Long Beach State will enter the game with opposite trajectories.

While the Bruins have the chance to match their best start through 15 games since 2013, the Dirtbags lost their first 10 games of the season to match their longest losing streak since 1980.

Offensively, Long Beach State has one hitter batting above .250 and a team slugging percentage of .280, just five points higher than UCLA’s .275 batting average.

Junior third baseman Ryan Kreidler has led the way offensively for UCLA, posting a slash line of .404/.475/.654. Kreidler also leads the Bruins in home runs with three, matching his total from last season.

“Kreidler has been one of our better offensive players,” Savage said. “He’s been much stronger. … He’s come back different, more confident. … He’s been a major difference this season.”

On the mound, the UCLA pitching staff gave up 15 runs this weekend across the three games of the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic, matching its total allowed through the first 11 games. The Bruins still lead the Pac-12 with a 1.91 ERA, more than two runs lower than the Dirtbags’ 4.41 mark.

Despite their disparities this season, UCLA and Long Beach State have split their 38 matchups since 2000. Last season, the Bruins lost both games by scores of 5-2 and 5-1, respectively.

First pitch will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

 

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to attend union rally at UCLA

Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will speak at a union rally at UCLA next week.

Sanders will speak at 12 p.m. March 20 at a rally for University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119. The location of the rally is still being determined as of this story’s publication.

UPTE-CWA 9119, which represents about 14,000 research and technical workers in the University of California, is striking to challenge inequality and privatization at the UC, according to a UPTE press release.

Members of UPTE Healthcare and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents more than 25,000 patient care technicians and services in the UC, will join the strike in solidarity.

Dan Russell, president of the UC Office of the President and UC Berkeley branch of UPTE, said there will be at least one picket line at 757 Westwood Plaza, but other picket lines are still being arranged.

The union is advocating for “A UC For the Many, Not the Few,” which aligns with Sanders’ message of robust public services, Russell said.

Russell said the union is happy that Sanders is attending because his presence will draw attention to unions’ struggle with the UC.

“We think it’s really going to help draw the lines between the union and what we’re fighting for and what UC execs are pushing for,” Russell said.

The UC and UPTE have been in negotiations for 22 months.

The Quad: History of daylight saving, how changing time policies could affect California

On top of finals, papers and the looming sense of anxiety that come with the end of the quarter, the last thing I needed this weekend was to lose an hour of sleep Sunday morning.

But when my clock sprang forward, so too did my sleep schedule.

Coupled with the annual exhaustion, daylight saving time actually has a complex relationship with local and federal governments across the world. Californians of voting age are sure to have some understanding of the clock change’s controversial connection to their home state, especially after Proposition 7’s success in the last election cycle. Understanding daylight saving’s humble beginnings is important in analyzing the recent legislation that has affected California and other states.

In the 2018 midterm election, Proposition 7, which aimed to put permanent DST back on the table, passed with a 60 percent favorable vote. With this measure, the California legislature has the power to vote to keep daylight saving time permanent – a decision that may consequently help stabilize student sleep cycles going into week 10 next year.

[RELATED: Editorial: Yes on Proposition 7]

The first recorded act of “saving daylight” was observed by New Zealand entomologist George Hudson in 1895. Hudson didn’t just propose to change clocks by one hour though – he proposed moving the clock two hours up, to have even more time to work under the sun.

Hudson never gained significant publicity for his idea though. However, William Willett, a British builder, managed to gain government recognition and support for an almost-identical concept, later, in the 20th century.

In his pamphlet “The Waste of Daylight,” published in 1907, Willett argued that moving unused hours of daylight from the morning to the end of the day would conserve energy and provide people with more time to spend outside in the sun after work. Despite the support from important dignitaries like Winston Churchill, Willett’s plan was never formally adopted by the British Parliament.

However, world leaders needed to think of fast ways to save money and energy when World War I broke out – and the simple solution was, quite literally, saving daylight. Once Germany made the decision to alter its clocks biannually in 1916, the other world powers quickly followed suit. The United States instituted its first daylight saving law March 9, 1918.

This militaristically driven decision has come to irritate the countries and states closest to the equator, especially Arizona, and most recently, California.

The tropical nations that lie in between both hemispheres typically do not observe daylight saving. Because seasonal changes in daylight are so minimal at the equator, there is little reason for countries to implement compensational policies.

Though not the closest state to the equatorial divide, Arizona has gone against the political grain and opted not to observe daylight saving. DST began at the outbreak of World War II as “wartime” was established and permanently adopted under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. This law called for every state to turn their clocks forward an hour at the beginning of spring. After enduring one sweltering summer, Arizonans realized more daylight meant hotter nights, more air conditioning and increased energy usage. The following year state legislators voted almost unanimously to remain in standard time year-round.

Unfortunately for other states trying to change time policies similar to that of Arizona, permanently rolling the clock forward has proven far more difficult than rolling it backward. The Uniform Time Act had a catch – states could opt to remain on standard time year-round, but could not choose to solely observe daylight saving time.

Aside from logistical concerns regarding the transition, new health concerns have grasped the attention of government leaders.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Stanford University found that shifts in daylight saving time causes spikes in the number of fatal car accidents recorded yearly. They noticed after the fall back change, more accidents occur over the weekend, likely related to long nights out, and during the spring forward change, more accidents occur on the following Monday, likely linked to sleep-deprived commutes to work.

Additionally, researchers from the Department of Public Health Sciences have also discovered a correlation between heart attacks and sleep deprivation. After comparing the incidences of heart attacks from the week after the spring forward shift and the rest of the calendar year, they found a significant spike in heart attacks after the time change.

Inconsistencies in state-to-state time changes will affect the United States as a whole. Looking to the future, if California legislature votes to formally adopt a consistently sunny clock, several logistical kinks will impact other states. No matter how much leverage each has, the actions of one inextricably affect the others.

But who knows – maybe this time next year, we won’t be changing our clocks. California may just be the first domino to tip, forever redefining what we consider “falling back” and “springing forward.”

Amid contract negotiations with UC, two employee unions announce they will strike

Two University of California employee unions, representing about 39,000 employees, announced a systemwide strike Friday.

University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119, which represents about 14,000 research and technical workers in the UC, issued a notice Friday that it will strike March 20.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the UC’s largest employee union, also announced Friday it would join the strike in solidarity with UPTE-CWA 9119. AFSCME Local 3299 represents more than 25,000 patient care technicians and services in the UC.

The two unions have been working to negotiate new contracts regarding wages and outsourcing with the UC since 2017.

Claire Doan, a spokesperson for the UC Office of the President, said in an email statement she thinks it is unfortunate that the unions are choosing to strike for the third time in less than a year.

“The University feels the way to a deal is at the bargaining table – not on the picket lines – and should not come at the expense of patients, students, the university and our communities,” Doan said.

Dan Russell, executive vice president of UPTE, said the union has been bargaining for 22 months, adding that the UC has been bringing similar offers to the table each time.

“We’re really concerned about the impact that’s going to have on the kind of education and health care and research that we’re able to do at the University because the work that we do is so integral to all those things,” Russell said.

Doan said the UC is disappointed in UPTE leadership for demanding double-digit raises, which she said are around 16 to 22 percent over the proposed terms of the agreement and larger than those given to other UC employees.

“Since negotiations began in 2017, our offers have been fair and substantial, guaranteeing competitive wage increases and excellent benefits,” Doan said. “Meanwhile, UPTE leaders have neither presented a realistic counteroffer nor have they let their members vote on UC’s proposals.”

Russell said the UC has not provided UPTE or AFSCME the same deals they are providing to others in the UC.

“UC has been giving great deals to their top executives and they gave a deal to the nurses union that was a lot better than anything that they’ve offered to us or AFSCME,” Russell said. “I think it’s kind of disingenuous for UC to come to us and demand that we provide a counteroffer or allow our members to vote when they’re clearly not giving us the kind of deal that really respects the work that we do.”

Doan said the AFSCME leaders distributed the press release announcing their intent to strike, while they were negotiating with the UC.

“We feel this is disingenuous,” Doan said. “It’s clear they are not truly engaging in the bargaining process, while we remain intent on making reasonable compromises to get a deal.”

John de los Angeles, an AFSCME 3299 spokesperson, said the union thinks the UC is shortchanging workers.

“By shortchanging workers, they’re eroding the quality of services that students and and patients have come to rely on and undermining the economic mobility they profess in the classroom,” de los Angeles said.

De los Angeles added that he feels the best way for students who care about the workers’ issues to express their support is to join the strike in person.

“There’s nothing more important than to show up on the line, to show UC just how many people care about these issues and be part of the physical display,” de los Angeles said.

UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo charged in college admissions bribery scheme

This post was updated March 14 at 12:34 p.m.

UCLA was involved in a bribery scheme helping admit students to universities as student-athletes who had not played the sport competitively, according to court records released Tuesday.

UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo was one of the many allegedly involved in the scheme, which included facilitation of cheating on college entrance exams.

Salcedo has been placed on leave and will have no involvement with the soccer team while this matter is under review, said UCLA spokesperson Tod Tamberg. Matt Taylor and Phil Marfuggi, assistant coaches on the team, will lead the team in his absence.

The scheme involved parents paying William Singer – the founder of the college preparation businesses Edge College & Career Network, LLC and the Key Worldwide Foundation – approximately $25 million in total from 2011 through February to have someone take the SAT or ACT for prospective recruits, according to court records. Records indicate that KWF, a nonprofit, was used to facilitate the transactions in these scandals.

Bruce and Davina Isackson, parents of a former UCLA women’s soccer student-athlete, were charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to a charging document released from District of Massachusetts Attorney’s Office.

Their older daughter was on the team in 2017 but did not play in any games and did not play competitive soccer in high school. She was not on the 2018 women’s soccer roster, but served as the women soccer’s team manager from 2016-2018, according to her LinkedIn page. She is also listed as a practice player in the UCLA women’s soccer media guide from 2017.

Salcedo received the daughter’s transcript, standardized test scores, and a falsified soccer profile in May 2016 from former USC women’s soccer coach Ali Khosroshahin, according to court records.

Records indicated Salcedo then forwarded the information to a UCLA women’s soccer coach and the student was admitted to UCLA as a student-athlete, under conditions that she completed her senior year of high school and participated on the UCLA team for at least one academic year.

Former USC assistant women’s soccer coach Laura Janke, who is the current girl’s soccer program director at the Geffen Academy at UCLA, was also indicted by federal prosecutors and charged for racketeering. Janke and Khosroshahin received a total of $350,000 after designating students as recruits and granting them admission to USC.

Steven Masera, a former accountant and financial officer for Singer’s businesses, emailed a $250,000 invoice to Davina Isackson that was said to be a “private contribution,” in July 2016, according to records.

Records state that Bruce Isackson asked Singer to confirm in writing the $250,000 would be returned if his daughter did not receive final admission to UCLA. Singer said he would return the money.

Later that month, Davina and Bruce Isackson donated 2,150 shares of Facebook stock to KWF as a purported charitable contribution, records showed. Masera and Singer sent the parents an acknowledgment of $251,159 for their contribution.

Singer also sent Khosroshahin a check for $25,000 drawn on one of the KWF accounts following the donation of the stocks, according to court records.

In another instance, records stated Singer mailed Salcedo a $100,000 check drawn from one of the KWF accounts in 2016. In exchange for the money, Salcedo designated the son of another of Singer’s clients as a recruit for UCLA men’s soccer, despite the fact the student did not play competitive soccer, according to court records.

UCLA stated it may cancel admission or take other disciplinary actions against any student that falsified parts of their application to the university, such as a misrepresentation as a student-athlete.

After the student’s admission, records indicated Singer again paid Khosroshahin $25,000 for facilitating the transaction.

Coaches from Stanford, Yale and USC were also allegedly involved in the scheme.

The federal court records indicate Bruce and Davina Isackson also used bribery between 2017 and 2018 to secure their younger daughter a spot on the USC women’s crew team.

In June 2017, Bruce Isackson transferred $101,272 of stock and a $15,600 check to KWF. Shortly after, KWF sent a falsified crew profile of the student to Donna Heinel, a senior associate athletic director at USC, alleging their younger daughter had a number of prestigious crew awards.

USC fired Heinel and Jovan Vavic, USC’s men’s and women’s water polo coach, Tuesday over the racketeering allegations related to the college bribery scandal, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Salcedo – who has helped bring in a No. 1 recruiting class seven times – coached his 15th season with UCLA and led the Bruins to a 10-9 record during the 2018 season, including an appearance to the first round of the NCAA championship.

In a statement emailed to the university Tuesday evening, Chancellor Gene Block said he was shocked and angered to learn about the charges against UCLA faculty. He emphasized the people charged with the crimes hid it from UCLA and other universities.

“Today’s indictment makes clear that UCLA, like the other universities, was the victim of an alleged crime,” he said.

Tamberg said UCLA will cooperate with the Department of Justice and conduct its own review to investigate the allegations.