Professors at Ivy League Pennsylvania University (“Penn,” a private school, not to be confused with Pennsylvania State University, which is the flagship public university and also a fantastic academic institution), have asked Trump’s alma mater to investigate his admission to the university due to new allegations that Trump fraudulently submitted SAT scores, To Wit: Paying a smart person to take the test for him.

According to the Washington Post, Professor Eric Ortis is one of six Penn professors who asked Penn’s provost to launch an investigation into how it was that Trump transferred into the school. Part of the request notes that Mary Trump’s book includes an allegation that Trump didn’t take his own SATs.

There are problems establishing who took the test, and the word of a family member trying to sell a book – while totally believable – probably shouldn’t be enough on its own to lead the university to take action:

The provost, Wendell E. Pritchett, replied to Orts on July 20 that “we certainly share your concerns about these allegations and the integrity of our admissions process. However, as you suggest in your message, we have determined that this situation occurred too far in the past to make a useful or probative factual inquiry possible. If new evidence surfaces to substantiate the claim in the future, we will continue to be open to investigating it.”

Though Mary Trump published the detail in her book, the allegation actually originated with Trump’s aunt, Maryanne Trump-Barry, the judge. Maryanne said that she had driven Trump around New York to look at colleges and that Trump started at Fordham, which Trump attended for two years before transferring to Penn, allegedly on the back of the test scores.

Perhaps the most illuminating aspect of the entire ordeal is that generally, a university would willingly give away a building to be known as the alma mater of a president, or at least name a building after that president. This situation is not like that, apparently. It seems that Penn would just assume people forget that Trump ever attended the university. Perhaps it is because every time Trump opens his mouth one wonders how he ever completed high school. It doesn’t reflect well upon Penn.

The man who purportedly took the exam died over ten years ago, so the most obvious “proof” of fraud is unavailable. Still, knowing all we know about Trump and his willingness to use his money to cheat any rule or law that ever stood in his way, the story – while not proven, is entirely believable.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom