# Trump and Obama's College Transcripts **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 8, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854 "2012-08-08T14:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/1 "2012-08-08T14:07:23Z")
First off, my deepest and sincerest apologies for bringing this nonsense up again. 😃 In [this](http://frontporchpolitics.com/2012/08/trump-offers-up-trade-for-obamas-sealed-records/) clip, Donald Trump says, “You know, Obama spent over 4 million dollars in legal fees to keep these things quiet…”, referring to Obama’s college records, college applications, and passport records. As far as I know, you can’t just waltz in and demand such information from government agencies or college admission offices and expect to get it, thus there would be no need to spend money on lawyers trying to keep it private. Am I wrong? And is there evidence that Obama has spent such money? And most important, is there a bigger [“maroon”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Kh7nLplWo) on earth than Donald Trump? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/2 "2012-08-08T14:17:20Z")
A student, or former student, certainly can demand copies of his college transcripts. It’s not like Harvard, Columbia, or Occidental College would refuse to give those to Obama if he requested them and paid whatever administrative fee the school requires. Not sure about applications. They would not, could not, release those records to anyone else without Obama’s consent. Seems reasonable to me. I wouldn’t want random reporters, businesses, or nosy neighbors being able to order such information on me without my consent. See [FERPA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_Privacy_Act) So it makes no sense that Obama would have spent any significant amount of money to hide his college records. A simple letter and a first class stamp would be more than enough to inform his colleges that he exerts his rights under FERPA (which is the default stance anyway) and not to release any records without his consent. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/3 "2012-08-08T15:59:19Z")
And as long as Trump is demanding birth certificates and college transcripts, maybe it is time he also demanded some IRS forms from the past 12 years from his buddy, Mitt? Come on now - full disclosure for everyone, Donald…play fair. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/4 "2012-08-08T16:03:33Z")
Not to mention that some info that the folks demanding the transcripts want to see (attendance, for example) wouldn’t BE in said transcripts. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/5 "2012-08-08T16:09:02Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > And as long as Trump is demanding birth certificates and college transcripts, maybe it is time he also demanded some IRS forms from the past 12 years from his buddy, Mitt? > > Come on now - full disclosure for everyone, Donald…play fair. Well, actually, in the clip I linked to Trump says “if Obama opened up his records maybe Mitt should give his returns and that would be a great trade. I guarantee it would be a really wonderful trade.” The “records” he is referring to here are the ones I mentioned in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/6 "2012-08-08T16:18:56Z")
To be fair, if someone DID have a catastrophically embarrassing secret in their college records, relying on normal privacy may not be enough, they may have to proactively combat people trying to get it illegally. However, based on not much but you’re link, I will _assume_ that Trump is completely lying, and Obama hasn’t done anything particular to hide it other than not deliberately release it. (He’s done some bad things, but I don’t see any particular reason to think he’s gone to particular lengths to hide anything specific here.) ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/7 "2012-08-08T16:28:16Z")
For the sake of humanity, I wish that thing on Trump’s head would hurry up and finish eating him. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/8 "2012-08-08T16:30:54Z")
I think where this is heading is that Obama attended college as a _foreign exchange student_. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/9 "2012-08-08T21:41:59Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > And as long as Trump is demanding birth certificates and college transcripts, maybe it is time he also demanded some IRS forms from the past 12 years from his buddy, Mitt? > > Come on now - full disclosure for everyone, Donald…play fair. I wanna see Mitt’s birth certificate. I mean, comon, do any of us really _know_ that Mitt Romney was born in the US? Did any of us see it?! He could be like, Russian, or _French_, for all we know! ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/10 "2012-08-08T22:06:52Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > For the sake of humanity, I wish that thing on Trump’s head would hurry up and finish eating him. Dying of laughter over the above! I don’t know what we’re looking for in those college transcripts now .. the man’s only been POTUS for 3.5 years. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/11 "2012-08-08T22:08:05Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I wanna see Mitt’s birth certificate. I mean, comon, do any of us really _know_ that Mitt Romney was born in the US? Did any of us see it?! He could be like, Russian, or _French_, for all we know! I heard he was born on a polygamist compound in Mexico, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/12 "2012-08-08T22:15:19Z")
I think where the legal expenses might be coming from is that nutcases all over the country are filing lawsuits where they issue subpoenas for (among other things) Obama’s records or are filing lawsuits trying to get a court to order the release of these records. Obama (or the local Democratic party if they are, for example, trying to get Obama kicked off the ballot) then has to pay a lawyer to appear in court and have the lawsuits thrown out or the subpoenas quashed. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/13 "2012-08-08T22:17:17Z")
> [@Vita\_Beata](#): > > I don’t know what we’re looking for in those college transcripts now .. the man’s only been POTUS for 3.5 years. Extra-curriculars go a long way toward a really \*decent \*career. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/14 "2012-08-09T07:19:01Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > I think where this is heading is that Obama attended college as a _foreign exchange student_. Yes, the origin of this is an April Fool’s joke/hoax from 2009. > **[Was Barack Obama a Foreign College Student?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-foreign-student/)** > > Recently released records do not document that Barack Obama received college financial aid in the U.S. as a 'foreign student from Indonesia.' ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/15 "2012-08-09T07:49:05Z")
“Hm…A+ in English Composition…B+ in Physics…A in History of Western Civlization…A+ in Document Forging…Oooh, a C- in Calculus…A+ in Seminar: Marxist Analysis of Resistance to Colonialist Oppression…A- in Colloquium on 17th Century English Metaphysical Poets…A+ in Advanced Seminar on Foreign Infiltration of American Society…aaand a B+ in Sociology. Yeah, nothing really to see here.” ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/16 "2012-08-09T09:20:09Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > “Hm…A+ in English Composition…B+ in Physics…A in History of Western Civlization…A+ in Document Forging…Oooh, a C- in Calculus…A+ in Seminar: Marxist Analysis of Resistance to Colonialist Oppression…A- in Colloquium on 17th Century English Metaphysical Poets…A+ in Advanced Seminar on Foreign Infiltration of American Society…aaand a B+ in Sociology. Yeah, nothing really to see here.” I dunno, do we really want a guy who only barely passed Calculus to be in charge of the economy? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/17 "2012-08-09T09:28:44Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > He could be like, Russian, or _French_, for all we know! No way. Did you _hear_ that accent? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-obamas-college-transcripts/630854/18 "2012-08-09T10:07:53Z")
It really keeps working, no? Dem partisans demand Mitt’s tax info. Rep partisan Trump spindoctors this into “we will only give those if you give us Obama’s college transcripts”. Trump wins because: 1. he suggests there is somethign shady about Obama’s college transcripts 2. he draws the focus away from Romney’s tax info; 3. he suggests both sides start even, forgetting that the claim for Romneys tax info was a retaliation for the birthers demanding to see Obama’s perfectly valid birth certificate; 4. He suggests Trump himself isn’t rich or powerful enough to demand Obama’s college transcripts if he really wanted to do so, thus making Trump an ordinary American up against the Big Governement; 5. He reminds everyone that Obama is an elitist because he went to college and Jo the Plumber didn’t;