Adam Semprevivo (COL ’20) filed a lawsuit against Georgetown University Wednesday, as the university announced its intent to rescind his admission and dismiss him and one other student from the school in connection with the admissions bribery scheme.
Semprevivo is suing Georgetown for a wrongful disciplinary process following the university’s intent to dismiss him and one other student. (Full disclosure: Semprevivo previously served as a cartoonist for The Hoya.) The Department of Justice indicted 50 people, including parents of university students and administrators of college entrance exams, in the admissions bribery case March 12. Semprevivo’s father Stephen Semprevivo and former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst were both included in the indictment.
Semprevivo’s father pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud May 7 after paying an intermediary $400,000 to have Ernst designate his son as a tennis recruit in the admissions process, according to the indictment.
Georgetown imposed an undue disciplinary process in choosing not to follow its disciplinary procedures when deciding against Semprevivo, according to the lawsuit. Semprevivo, who claims he was not aware of his father’s payment, is imposing an injunction to prevent Georgetown from enforcing academic discipline, including expulsion, against him and revoking his academic credits from his three completed years at the university, according to the lawsuit.
The prosecution at Semprevivo’s May 7 hearing presented email evidence of instructions William “Rick” Singer, who led the college admissions scheme, sent to Semprevivo and both of his parents about his application essay which falsely claimed Semprevivo played tennis, according to USA TODAY.
Semprevivo is arguing the university is depriving him of due process, and that its disciplinary actions constitute a breach of contract, according to the suit.
Georgetown did not abide by its Honor Council System Procedures, which serve as a contract between students and Georgetown, in not following the university’s disciplinary process for Semprevivo, according to the lawsuit.
The HCSP, however, did not apply to Semprevivo, because his application to Georgetown was falsified before he was enrolled as a student, according to an April 15 email listed in the lawsuit from Georgetown’s lawyer Adam Adler to Semprevivo’s counsel.
Submitting inaccurate information on the Georgetown application qualifies students for expulsion, according to university spokesperson Meghan Dubyak.
“Knowingly misrepresenting or falsifying credentials in an application can be cause for rescinding the admission of the student and dismissal from Georgetown,” Dubyak wrote in a Wednesday statement. “Today, we informed two students of our intent to rescind their admission and dismiss them from Georgetown.”
Dubyak declined to name the students whose admissions were revoked, making it publicly unknown if Isabelle Henriquez (COL ’20), whose parents were also named in the March 12 indictment, is the second student Georgetown intends to dismiss.
Singer pleaded guilty to four charges including racketeering conspiracy March 12. Singer’s college consulting company assisted student admission into universities including Yale University and Stanford University by facilitating bribes collected from parents that he distributed to college coaches.
Semprevivo applied to Georgetown with a 1980 SAT score and a 4.067 weighted high school GPA, according to the complaint. While Singer did not assist Semprevivo on his academics or scores, he made arrangements with Ernst for Semprevivo to be falsely designated to the tennis team. Singer also submitted Semprevivo’s Georgetown application and typed his name into the signature box, according to the lawsuit.
“Singer submitted Semprivivo’s application to Georgetown and typed in Semprevivo’s name in the signature block. At no time did Semprevivo ever sign the application,” the lawsuit said.
David Kenner, Semprevivo’s attorney, hopes Semprevivo can either remain at Georgetown or leave the university with his three years worth of credit, according to NBC News.
“Failing to get him back into Georgetown, we want him to be able to leave with credits intact with no negative reference in his transcripts,” Kenner said in an interview with NBC. “We don’t want three years wasted of his life.”