Trump University Students Say They Were Pressured to Give Rave Reviews

Professors stood by and watched their students complete the class evaluations and, in some cases, instructed the students to give them the highest rating.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Plymouth State University, February 7, 2016, in Plymouth, New Hampshire.

By Rachel Stoltzfoos

Published on March 11, 2016 •

Some students at Trump University were pressured into giving the rave reviews the Republican presidential candidate is now using to fend off a class-action lawsuit against the defunct school.

“It’s absolutely a con,” former Trump University student Robert Guillo told The New York Times. “The role of the evaluations were a defense against any legal actions.”

Interviews with Guillo and other former students and teachers, and hundreds of pages of legal documents show students were directly or indirectly pressured to give good reviews of the program, reported The NYT. The lawsuit alleges consumers were scammed into spending thousands of dollars on the classes with deceptive promises of wealth.

Teachers sometimes instructed students outright to give favorable evaluations, and remained with the students as they filled them out, declining to offer explicit anonymity to the reviews. Some teachers allegedly asked for the evaluations in return for graduation certificates.

One of the mentors said the university made it clear professors’ jobs depended on good evaluations, and acknowledged the process made it awkward for students to voice disapproval. He recalled regularly asking students to fill out the evaluation form in front of him at a coffee shop or in a restaurant, reported The NYT. At that point he said students were likely thinking: “I want this guy to be my friend, I need his help.”

Another former student who spent $35,000 on classes at Trump University said his teacher demanded he give top marks in the evaluation. “I won’t leave until you give me all 5s,” he recalled the teacher telling him. “When it was time to fill the evaluation out, he put it in front of me — right between the two of us on the table — and reiterated that he expected all 5s while he watched me.”

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Kietha Richey

At the 03/10/16 debate, D Trump subtly admitted that he could fix the problems because he had the inside information, had taken advantage of the problems, he used the loopholes, & he donated to both parties to gain an advantage (of you owe me – I just bought you!). Unless you are naive you are aware that wealthy businesses donate to BOTH parties to their advantage – this is typical.