| Show iS Student impostors V JL a get s a a P for fo dt deception t. t e pt J i 1 Richard rd C. C Paddock Times Los Los Angeles it itA itY A V f 1 Y David Vanegas was Rice University in Ib 1 Houst iston n school officials say he he gravitated to large classes where he lie wouldn't stand out At mealtimes he never had his ID card and relied on friends to let Iet him into the thening dining ning hall In the evenings He persuaded students to let him stay overnight in their dorm rooms But Buth his schoolmates ch ol t q began ga r tv f. v to 19 noti notice notice e odd things about h him m like he never seemed to pave ave any homework Then In September of his second y year ar at Rice one friend dis discovered that Vanegas had used someone mail address to create his student page and nd challenged Vanegas to toI I prove prove he was a student y Vanegas His career at the Texas university was over Now ow 20 I lie e is scheduled to go gon goon goon on on n trial al in June on charges of tf f ste stealing J ng in university food He said the reason he did this was that his mother was ill and he didn't think she could stand the disappointment of his not being a Rice student said university spokesman BJ Almond Apparently he was vas a very smooth operator How he could do it for a year I dont don't know Student impostors a are infrequent but they have popped up in recent years at af universities across the thc United States including Princeton Yale arid acid the thc University of Southern California In May Stanford rd University discovered that year 18 year old ld Az Aza a Kim of f Fullerton Fullerton Calif had been posing as a's a stu student student and living Jiving in fn campus residence halls for eight months Kim j joined ined the ROTC at nearby Santa Clara University r j 4 i 1 attended classes on military ry history and tactics tactics tand and received t more than 1000 obo worth of uniforms and other gear gear An Army spokesman called it a h harmless prank but Stanford police investigated her c campus stay and ana forwarded their findings last week t to the Santa Clara County district attorney It is well known that some job applicants puff up their resumes by claiming degrees they d didn't earn And some students have won admission under false pretenses like Lon Grammer Crammer who was a month from graduating from Yale in 1995 when school officials learned he had submitted forged tran transcripts from Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo Calif that ra raised sed his grades from a C to an A average But what motivates motivates' someone to go to school and attend classes without any prospect of getting credit Jerald Jellison a former University of of Southern California psychology professor or who specialized in the study of lies said some some charlatans take on ona a a. a anew new identity to JO jo hide a criminal nal pa past t. t But impostors such as Vanegas typically begin their charade to win approval from someone important such as their parents The first lie is a relatively small lie said Jellis Jellison n who left SC last year rk s sa a management consultant Once you tell that lie you have to tell more lies to support that initial lie Once you get started down that road it really is impossible to go pack back until you are found out out completely Denise Pope a lecturer in Stanford's School of Education said the deceit often starts in high school when a student facing enormous pressure to get into an elite university might lie about being accepted They literally cant can't bear bea to tell the truth said Pope These kids arc are lying in high school about where they are going to college because they are embarrassed Whatever their motives impostors such as Kim and Vanegas exploit the open atmosphere of college where young students living on their own for the first time are surrounded yr V p J l lip 9 4 p i I i l l Los Angeles Washington Times Post wire ire service photo courtesy of Stanford Daily Stanford student non-student Azia Kim right The Army called it a harmless prank but Stanford police investigated by new faces In the dorms overnight guests are common Students o often stay with their boyfriends or girlfriends sometimes for days Friends may visit from out of town and attend a few classes On occasion students who flunk out remain on campus for fear of returning home But to pose as a student for months or years requires a special talent for deceit and good fortune The problem with telling a lie is you have to remember all the lies you told said Jellison author of the book Im Sorry I Didn't Mean To and Other Lies We Vc Love to Tell There are a hundred tests a day Some are easy and you can tell an easy lie but some are difficult It takes luck and cunning It didn't take long for Kenneth Fosters Foster's luck to torun run nun out at University officials say say say- he arrived in January 2005 began attending classes and hung out at Somerville Place in Fluor Tower Tower- residence hall Calling uca Foster said he transfer was an year old student and biology major on a track scholarship and he quickly made friends among the freshmen When he said he was having roommate trouble in his own residence hall the Fluor students let him stay with them About two months into the semester some of his new friends became suspicious and decided to check him out on Google Searches for his name and his high school track record came up empty But had mentioned his sisters sister's name and a search l for r her led his shot to photo a mug attached attach d to a 2003 Crime Stoppers bulletin from North Carolina University at Chapel Hill It said Kenneth Leon Foster then 20 was wanted in 2003 in connection with the theft of ofa a car from a student The students called police who escorted Foster from campus In the mid NBC television aired the short short- lived series Hank about a college in drop who is so determined to get getan getan getan an education at Western University that he dons various disguises and goes to class impersonating absent students Hell get his degree his Phi Beta Key and get getem getem getem em em both for free T That's ats at's Hank went the theme theme song Hank is nabbed in the final episode but receives a full scholarship ship because of his academic skills and his speed on the running track In real life things didn't turn out so well for James A. A Hogue Hogue was serving time in a Utah prison for stealing bicycles when he applied to Princeton He called himself Alexi Santana Indri and said he was a self-educated self ranch hand who trained as asa asa asa a long-distance long runner and herded cattle in a canyon known as Little Purgatory He named his horse Good Enough Princeton admitted him hirn himin in 1988 on the basis of hi unique and impressive iye life story said a university official After his acceptance Hogue asked to defer enrollment for a year Only later did Princeton learn that he was still in prison As a student Indri Santana prospered He made the track team won two meter races and placed in several others But his success was his undoing At a meet near the end of his sophomore year yeara a Yale student recognized him from from PaJo Calif alif where he had been caught posing as a high school student at age 26 By the time he was caught at Princeton he was 31 a decade older than he had claimed A Acourt court ordered him to payback payback pay payback back the Princ Princeton ton gave him in financial aid He made two 50 payments and then stopped said university spokeswoman Cass Cliatt |
