College admissions scandal: David Mamet defends Felicity Huffman after her arrest
The playwright has known Huffman for 35 years and Macy for 50 years, having founded two theatre companies with the latter
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Your support makes all the difference.David Mamet has written an open letter in defence of his longtime friend Felicity Huffman and her husband, William H Macy.
Huffman was one of 50 individuals arrested in the US in connection to a large-scale university admissions scheme to get students accepted into elite universities by helping them cheat on college entrance exams.
“That a parent’s zeal for her children’s future may have overcome her better judgment for a moment is not only unfortunate, it is, I know we parents would agree, a universal phenomenon,” Mamet wrote.
The playwright explained that he’s known Huffman for 35 years and Macy for 50 years, having founded two theatre companies with the latter. “I’m crazy about them both,” he added.
He then proceeded to lambaste the admissions policies of America’s elite universities as an “unfortunate and corrupt joke”, referring to the policy of “legacy” admissions, where preferential treatment is given to the family of alumni.
“I do not see the difference between getting a kid into school by bribing the Building Committee, and by bribing someone else,” he wrote. “But, apparently, the second is against the Law. So be it.”
You can read the full letter below:
“I worked for very many years in and around our Elite Universities. I am able to report that their admissions policies are an unfortunate and corrupt joke.
Harvard was once sued for restricting the admission of qualified Jews; a contest currently being waged by Asians.
The unqualified may be accepted for many reasons, among them, as Legacies, and on account of large donations made by their parents. I do not see the difference between getting a kid into school by bribing the Building Committee, and by bribing someone else. But, apparently, the second is against the Law. So be it.
I’ve known and worked with Bill Macy for nearly fifty years. We started two theatre companies together, one of which, THE ATLANTIC is still in operation in New York, after 35 years. I’ve known Felicity Huffman for those 35 years, she was my student, my colleague, worked in many of my films, and created roles on stage in three of my plays.
I’m crazy about them both.
That a parent’s zeal for her children’s future may have overcome her better judgment for a moment is not only unfortunate, it is, I know we parents would agree, a universal phenomenon.
If ever there were a use for the Texas Verdict, this is it. For the uninitiated, the Texas Verdict is: ‘Not Guilty, but Don’t do it Again.’”
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