The husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., helped an unqualified student get accepted into the University of California, Berkeley, an audit found.
According to The Mercury News, Richard Blum serves as a University of California regent. The news outlet cited the results of a state audit that concluded several dozen students were admitted to various UC campuses via connections, wealth, and exaggerated athletic backgrounds.
In the case of one student in particular, Blum intervened and wrote a letter to UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ to lobby for the student to be accepted. Based on the unidentified student's application, the person had a 26% chance of getting into the school. But Blum's letter prompted the admissions office to let the person in.
"It is therefore likely that the applicant whom the regent recommended would have been on a list that received priority admission from the waitlist," the audit reads. "Given the low likelihood of this applicant's admission and the prominent and influential role that regents have within the university, we conclude that the decision to admit this applicant was likely influenced by the regent's advocacy."
The incident, according to the audit, is "particularly problematic," because regents are only allowed to send recommendation letters via the normal process of admitting a student. Blum's decision to send the letter directly to the chancellor violated that rule.
Several celebrities, meanwhile, were caught up in a college admissions scandal that involved paying thousands of dollars to help their kids get into colleges and universities using falsified athletic records and SAT scores.
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