Stanford impostor also fooled people at Santa Clara University ROTC / Azia Kim excelled in classes as a cadet, apparently gave fake transcri

PENINSULA / Stanford impostor also fooled people at Santa Clara University ROTC / Azia Kim excelled in classes as a cadet, apparently gave fake transcripts to military

Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 30, 2007

 

Azia Kim (far right) looks at the camera during an ROTC rifle assembly line training exercise on Oct. 18, 2006. During fall quarter, Kim regularly attended both a military class and lab each week, posing the whole time as a high-achieving Stanford freshman. Mandatory Credit: The Stanford Daily We have permission to use it and are waiting on higher resolution version. Photo: The Stanford Daily

Photo: The Stanford Daily

Azia Kim (far right) looks at the camera during an ROTC rifle assembly line training exercise on Oct. 18, 2006. During fall quarter, Kim regularly attended both a military class and lab each week, posing the whole time as a high-achieving Stanford freshman. Mandatory Credit: The Stanford Daily We have permission to use it and are waiting on higher resolution version.Azia Kim (far right) looks at the camera during an ROTC rifle assembly line training exercise on Oct. 18, 2006. During fall quarter, Kim regularly attended both a military class and lab each week, posing the whole time as a high-achieving Stanford freshman. Mandatory Credit: The Stanford Daily We have permission to use it and are waiting on higher resolution version.

A young woman from Orange County who posed as a Stanford University freshman also simultaneously fooled the Santa Clara University's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program where she excelled in classes as a cadet.

Until she was discovered 10 days ago, Azia Kim, 18, spent eight months living at Stanford in two dormitories with unsuspecting roommates.

The Stanford Daily reported Tuesday that she used her guise as a Stanford student last fall to sign up for Santa Clara University's ROTC program, which accepts students from other campuses. Kim took military science classes at Santa Clara until March, said Bob Rosenburgh, spokesman for the Western Region Cadet Command at Fort Lewis, Wash.

 

Rosenburgh said Kim did not break any laws in participating in ROTC.

"She was not a contracted cadet, and ROTC is not an accredited course at Stanford, and that's where she slipped through the cracks," he said. "Reporting requirements at Stanford are nominal for ROTC. ROTC says they are looking to close that loophole with better communication."

Santa Clara University spokesman Karen Crocker Snell said she could not provide any details about Kim.

The student newspaper reported that Kim had to show academic progress to ROTC officials and provided a fake transcript with grades that earned her the Dean's Award, a special ribbon for her uniform.

Efforts to reach Kim and her ROTC classmates were unsuccessful.

Stanford banned ROTC programs in the 1960s, so now Stanford students attend military classes at other schools. Stanford generally has about a dozen students who participate in ROTC each year.

Rosenburgh said Kim took military science courses on such topics as military history and military equipment.

"She apparently did well in the classes and took some tests and did well," he said.

Kim was issued military equipment including a uniform, pack and canteen worth less than $500 but did not receive a scholarship because she never signed a contract to become an Army officer, Rosenburgh said. The equipment has all been recovered.

"If she tried to become an Army officer, it wouldn't have made it past the first hurdle," he said. "There would have been a background check and a variety of other checks."

Stanford University spokeswoman Kate Chesley said she could not comment on the latest twist in Kim's hoax other than to say the university has added her ROTC participation to its investigation.

"It is one of the many pieces of the puzzle," she said.

Kim, who graduated from Troy High School in Fullerton last year and told people back home that she had been accepted to Stanford, apparently was able to keep up her deception at Stanford for almost an entire year.

She persuaded students in two different dorms to let her share their rooms and then to leave the window open -- allowing her to slip into her dorm room even though she didn't have a school-issued card key. She apparently socialized with other students, relaxing in the dorm lounge and talked about tests she apparently never would take.

Last week, student affairs staff members in one of the dorms raised questions about the young woman, and within hours she was asked to leave the campus. The university then opened an investigation and will forward information to the Santa Clara County district attorney's office, which will decide whether to prosecute.

[http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/PENINSULA-Stanford-impostor-also-fooled-people-2558089.php]

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