Trump University: the Plot Thickens

There are three class-action lawsuits involving Trump University and its namesake, the apparent GOP candidate for President of the United States.  Yesterday, the judge in one of these suits released hundreds of previously sealed documents.  This morning on the way in to work I heard a discussion of this document release and the underlying suits on NPR.  Several facts stand out in my mind:

1.  Trump is personally named as a defendant in these suits.

2.  With little or no media fanfare, he sat for two depositions while pursuing the GOP nomination.

3.  Although the consultants/instructors at Trump University were said in the promotional literature to have been hand-picked by Trump, in these depositions he could not identify these gurus either by name or from a photo line up, according to Yahoo's chief investigative reporter, who appeared on NPR.

4.  Also according to the guest commentators on NPR, the recruiting sessions for Trump U. more closely resembled sales pitches for time-shares then admissions programs for a real university.  Instructions made public yesterday indicate that the salesforce was told to focus on those attendees best able to write a check on the spot and to use hard-sell tactics to get them signed up.  Some litigants claim they paid up to $35,000 in tuition and got little for their money.

5.  Apparently Trump's defense is that written feedback proves that many students did benefit from their studies of Trumps' business techniques.  The plaintiffs counter that the pre-printed evaluations were stacked in favor of producing favorable data.  (A colleague of mine has always asserted that a professor who can't write a student evaluation form that will guarantee positive comments shouldn't be allowed in a classroom.)

Trial is set in one of the cases for a few days after the national election.  Should Trump win in November and the case not settle, this will make for an interesting transition period for the President-elect.