Michael Hiltzik: In admissions scandal, the students should be expelled

Speaking as someone who suffered through the rigors and travails of the college admissions process - for myself and my two children - I don't have any difficulty finding the answer to the burning question of what should happen to the kids who got into college via fraud.

They should all be expelled.

I'm talking, of course, about the admissions scandal unveiled last week by federal prosecutors. They charged more than 30 parents, 11 athletic officials and coaches at USC and other universities and several other individuals, including the alleged ringleader, William "Rick" Singer. The fraud and conspiracy indictment filed by the federal government alleges that they connived to get the parents' kids into those universities by faking students' athletic credentials or submitting fraudulent scores on college entrance exams, or both.

A few defenses of the students have surfaced in public, mostly centered on the idea that they didn't know that their parents had committed bribery and fraud on their behalf, and therefore they're innocent