Even without cheating, rich can buy admissions

I am shocked, just shocked to learn that wealthy people gain admissions to elite universities and colleges through bribery. As reported in the Wednesday Dispatch article "Admissions of Guilt?", wealthy parents paid as much as $6.5 million to have their children admitted to one of the elites such as Harvard, Stanford and even USC through a backdoor system of bribery and deceit.

Right now, university presidents and admissions officers are playing the victim game, trying to be convincing about wealth not buying admissions. One positive takeaway from the article is that wealth, privilege and celebrity do not have anything to do with intelligence. If these parents would have played it straight, there is a front door to college admissions open to the wealthy called legacy admissions.

As described in the book "Dream Hoarders" by Richard V. Reeves, upward of 40 percent of admissions to the elite private, nonprofit universities are given to sons and daughters of the wealthy — if they fork over enough upfront dough.

George W. Bush was a legacy admission to Yale after being rejected by University of Texas. The Bush family has given big bucks to to Yale over many decades. Jared Kushner was admitted to Harvard after his father donated less than half the amount of that bribe by a gullible celebrity from Hollywood. Does anyone believe for one second that any son or daughter of a billionaire would be rejected from admissions to The Ohio State University because their ACT was a couple of points too low? Come on, man!

Joseph A. Koncelik, Lewis Center

Solitary confinement is sometimes necessary

In The Washington Post book review of "Solitary" in Tuesday's Dispatch, the reviewer expresses empathy for the brutality of prison solitary confinement. However, she glosses over the reason the book's author ended up in solitary: He was found guilty of murder, and he later pleaded guilty to manslaughter for stabbing to death a "young prison guard" with a lawnmower blade.

The reviewer expressed no empathy for that 23-yearold prison guard — didn't even mention his name, Brent Miller. And the reviewer fails to note that solitary is often used to control gang activity. Perhaps the rest of the prisoners and the guards themselves need the protection solitary confinement offers.

J.M. Towarnicky, Westerville

Pelosi is just as autocratic as Mitch Mcconnell

In her Monday letter, T.J. Feldman raised an objection to Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell's refusal to allow a vote on Houseapproved H.R. 1. Feldman said it was not right that one man was able to shut down the vote with 99 others having no say.

Feldman failed to mention House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi's refusal to allow a vote on H.R. 962 not once, but 16 times. This is the proposed Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Seems to me what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

The same day's Dispatch saw a book review about John Downey. It spoke of Downey's early incarcerations and meetings with the Black Panthers, who taught men to read and then organized them.

Never once mentioned was the radical status of the party. The FBI itself said: "The Black Panther Party (BPP) is a black-extremist organization founded in Oakland, California, in 1966. It advocated the use of violence and guerilla tactics to overthrow the U.S. government."

David Thiel, Pickerington

Richard Bradley, Delaware

Parents can choose not to bring children to border

Oh, dear. I have just read the Wednesday letter from Chuck Ardo of Lancaster.

Ardo compares separation of children from parents on