Two college students have sued the University of Southern California (USC), Yale University, and other colleges embroiled in a bribery scandal. The federal suit, filed Wednesday in San Francisco, claims the alleged scheme, in which parents paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to guarantee their children’s admission to elite schools, resulted in unfair advantages for unqualified students. Plaintiffs Erica Olsen and Kalea Woods said they were denied an equal opportunity for admission to Yale and USC. The lawsuit also names UCLA, Wake Forest, Georgetown University, and others.

Top college coaches, university administrators, Hollywood actresses, and others have been charged in a widespread college admissions bribery case unsealed in federal court on Tuesday. The case is the largest college admissions scandal ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said Tuesday at a news conference in Boston. Authorities say coaches at schools, including Georgetown, Stanford, Southern California, Wake Forest, UCLA, and Yale University, accepted bribes in exchange for admitting students as athletes, regardless of their ability.

I’ve discovered that if you live long enough, “history” is something you actually remember. In a sense, it’s you. When I entered high school, Churchill and Eisenhower (only recently deceased) were history, while JFK still seemed current. In my 40s, I was shocked to realize that the Vietnam War had become history. Wait a minute—I lived through that!

Interim Michigan State University President John Engler will resign immediately following disparaging remarks he made about Larry Nassar’s sexual assault victims, the school’s Board of Trustees said Thursday. Nassar was a doctor who worked at the university and was convicted of abusing competitive gymnasts and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

A Whirled Views roundup of U.S. religious news and views.

Un-great awakening 

The spiritual decline of many colleges and universities with religious beginnings isn’t a new development, but I was reminded of it again when I wrote about pro-life efforts at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

The university has been independent from the Methodist Church since 1937, but it still bears the name of John Wesley—one of founders of Methodism and an important figure in the Great Awakening. 

Not the least of the pleasures you missed if you are a millennial or a Gen Xer is “Professor” Irwin Corey, “World’s Foremost Authority.” And that is how he was introduced—on Mike Douglas’ daytime show in the 1960s, on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show in the ’80s, and until old age. He died at 102 and required less and less of a studied stoop and unkempt hair for his shtick as the rambling academic on the interview circuit.

In 1861 and 1865 war surged to Virginia farmer Wilmer McLean’s front doors. In 2017 and 2018, mass shootings rocked pastor Jim Crews’ communities.