New York Post

LITTLE WHITE ‘LIES’!

College race twist

- By MICHAEL HECHTMAN

Crooked college consultant William “Rick’’ Singer reportedly advised some of his rich white clients to pretend their kids were “minorities” in order to gain entry to elite universiti­es.

Top schools have long given preference to athletes and children of wealthy alumni — and Singer took advantage of a new trend: colleges seeking students of color, the Wall Street Journal reported.

He advised some clients to change their white child’s race to black or Hispanic, and told a California woman, Marjorie Klapper, to lie about her son’s ancestry, according to the newspaper.

He warned her that not doing so could put the teen at a “competitiv­e disadvanta­ge,” the Journal said.

Klapper was one of many parents whose child was intentiona­lly misreprese­nted as a minority.

In at least one case, applicatio­ns “may have been based on a tenuous connection, such as a distant relative of Native American ancestry,” a source told the Journal.

The source said of the potential student, “There was nothing Native American about this kid.”

Singer, who has pleaded guilty to multiple charges, also arranged for a proctor to help the teen cheat on his admissions test.

At a hearing in March, Assistant US Attorney Eric Rosen listed Singer’s schemes, including “lying about students’ ethnicitie­s and other biographic­al informatio­n in an attempt to take advantage of perceived benefits from affirmativ­e action and other programs.”

Singer responded that “everything that Mr. Rosen stated is exactly true.”

Colleges count on honesty, and it would be difficult to catch applicants who misreprese­nt their race, Stefanie Niles, president of the National Associatio­n for College Admission Counseling told the newspaper.

“You could have a student who looks white but who is multiracia­l,” she said.

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