Admissions Scandal brings down U of I President

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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<p>"University of Illinois President B. Joseph White plans to resign, the latest casualty of a ballooning scandal at the state-run school over a tainted admissions process. </p>

<p>Since May, when news reports uncovered a system in which politically connected applicants were labeled "Category I," tracked separately, and given preference over more qualified candidates, six members of the university's Board of Trustees have been replaced and the Faculty Senate called for replacing both President White and Chancellor Richard Herman."</p>

<p>Admissions</a> scandal brings down University of Illinois president | csmonitor.com</p>

<p>Giving preference to relations of potential donors and the politically well-connected doesn't seem that strange, and surely happens at many private and even public schools. In the Illinois situation, though, the numbers of applicants who received special treatment was over 800 in five years. To add fuel to the fire, one of the students who received the special treatment was related to convicted political fixer Tony Rezko and pushed by discredited governor Rod Blagojevich.</p>

<p>One wonders if this will cause preferential admissions at other public universities to be investigated by the press.</p>

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<p>I am sure it will set off a witch hunt of sorts.</p>

<p>I am just disappointed that my diploma is signed by those clowns.</p>

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<p>Yes, but private schools aren’t funded (as much) by tax dollars. I’m sure many other publics participate in these practices as well, especially the top ones, but I bet they’ll be more careful about covering their tracks in the future.</p>

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<p>Meritocracy in America is a myth. Always has been. Likely always will be.</p>

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<p>Pardon my lack of willingness to join the tar & feathering committee which is being whipped to a frenzy by the news media. Truly, is anyone honestly surprised about this?
It happens in Admissions Offices all over, under different guises. Kids of all of those people who’s faces fill the pages of the weekly glossy magazines don’t have to worry about grades, test scores,etc-their families are their ticket to an Ivy. Ever wonder which two kids were rejected from NYU when the Olsen twins decided to play at being students for a while?
I’m glad that so many are being held accountable in Illinois, but I still have to think that there are still others, even higher up, who were pulling the strings. It would be interesting to know what the “big guys” got out of all of this.</p>

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<p>Exactly right.</p>

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<p>There’s something to be said for admitting kids of celebrities, powerful people, etc. It can be good for the school (money and influence) and for the students (potentially interesting classmates). Of course, these admits have to be capable of doing the work, and there shouldn’t be too many.</p>

<p>The #1 institutional goal of every college, usually unstated, is survival. A modest number of these kind of admits can support that goal.</p>

<p>It sounds like what was happening at U of I was more like a political patronage system iin which just about anyone who was politically connected was admitted.</p>

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<p>This just reinforces the notion that admissions at many colleges, including the elites are flawed–and U of I proves it to be severe.</p>

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<p>Well, sometimes the rich & famous are also smart. I just read that Mayim Bialik (“Blossom”) got a PhD in Neuroscience. She took some time off to raise a child (children?) and now is going back into acting.</p>

<p>Others come to mind…Jodie Foster at Yale, Christopher Reeve’s son Matthew at NYU, an actress whose name is on the tip of my tongue at Columbia…famous or well-connected people who are talented & smart.</p>

<p>But admits just because they are politically connected…that’s wrong.</p>

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<p>im from illinois and i have been reading a lot about this in the papers. Apparently the main function of the system had been highly connected religious and community leaders recommending kids to be admitted to UoI. In return, the leaders promised to raise funds for state legislators connected to UoI. There were a lot of “son of state senators kids” that got in, but most of the kids AFAIK were in the above scenario.</p>

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<p>lol, Chicago machine politics at work</p>

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<p>emma watson at brown? all though i hear she’s actually smart.</p>

<p>unrelated: a kid who graduated my HS is in her freshman class and got to dance with her at a party or something. So jealous.</p>

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<p>Whoa, whoa, whoa – if college admissions is anything, it is not a meritocracy. Consider how the system works. </p>

<p>First, let’s focus on private colleges. Basically, they can admit anyone they want, for any reason. They are under no obligation to admit kids who are tops academically. We who are on the outside looking in, think they should, but basically they can do whatever they want. If it’s a private school, and if they decide one year to fill their class with redheads, they can do that. (Obviously there are laws against discrimination of certain groups, but that’s a different story.)</p>

<p>As far as public colleges – Well, Texas tried to overcome having to make any decisions about who’s worthy and who’s not by admitting the top 10%. Seems to me I’ve heard a lot of complaints about that system too – “My child would have been in the top 10% at another high school!”</p>

<p>I agree with the poster who pointed out that UofI takes tax-payer $$$ and therefore has an obligation to the public. I agree that a system of political patronage and flagrant I’ll-admit-your-kid-if-you-raise-lots-of-money-for-us stinks to high heaven. But at the end of the day, even public schools are allowed to admit whoever they want, for whatever reason. I guess I don’t understand the outrage.</p>

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<p>Hey, the Chicago Machine got an unqualified guy in the White House…getting the unqualified into U of I is small potatoes.</p>

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<p>I’m not really suprised. Is anyone surprised?</p>

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<p>Schmaltz, you are a tiresome man. </p>

<p>Columbia, Harvard Law, president of the Harvard Law Review, civil rights attorney in Chicago, teacher at the University of Chicago Law School, oh, and let me think… senator? How qualified would you like him to be? Shall we raise the spectre of the smarts of Sarah Palin here?</p>

<p>I don’t see why preferential treatment for anyone is acceptable at all over there. As far as I know, it isn’t in the UK, period. Why don’t people mind?</p>

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<p>Deprofundis, your post shows that President Obama is smart. Schmaltz said President Obama is unqualified. I think you are both right. President Obama has never run a business or a city or a state, as Sarah Palin has. In his resume, is there anything that provides him the experience needed to run anything? Has he ever been employed in the public sector? Has he any real world experience? Smart “academics” are a dime a dozen. That does not make them capable of running city, a state, a small business, a Fortune 500 company, or the United States of America. They are not qualified simply by virtue of their education or IQ.</p>

<p>But, back to the topic of this thread, I think Sarah Palin and President Obama and all of their offspring and distant relatives and political connections and campaign contributors and dog groomers and dry cleaners should apply to U of I while there is still time…</p>

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<p>Geez, hyperbole much? How many people do you think were affected by this? What percentage of “Category 1” applicants were given undeserved admission, relative to the total applicant pool?</p>

<p>There’s certainly some small percentage of people who gain “things” by virtue of ‘connectedness’ or ‘celebrity’, whether it’s admission to a state school (which would make them a small-time celebrity, indeed), or a table at the trendiest restaurant in town.</p>

<p>But if you think that anything more than the tiniest fraction of admissions decisions are tainted by connectedness, legacy status, celebrity, etc, then you really need to get that persecution complex sorted.</p>

<p>I think you’ll have a much stronger case if you talk about the biases awarded to URM, athletes, etc - not many people are getting into college with a 820 SAT and a C average without a great crossover dribble. Of course, when it comes to athletics, what can be more of a meritocracy than that? I don’t see any football scholarships being handed to guys who are 5’8", 150, with a 6.00 flat in the 40, just to provide balance with the guys who are 6’0", 220 with a 4.3 40. </p>

<p>Once in, whether you graduate summa cum laude and get a full ride to med school, or take 6 years to graduate with a degree in physical education, that’s <em>all</em> up you.</p>

<p>The “system”/society is definitely not a pure meritocracy; neither is a glass of water pure water. </p>

<p>But these “systems”, whether it’s college admissions, hiring, or most any other competitive thing, are far more meritocracies than otherwise. </p>

<p>Of course, what constitutes merit isn’t always what you’d like - when someone better-looking than you gets a date from the girl who turned you down, is that “merit” or just plain shallow? Does the answer change when you get the date, and the short, fat kid gets rejected? </p>

<p>Carrying the sour belief around in your head that the system is rigged against you will <em>not</em> serve you well in life.</p>

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<p>Actually, it was the Chicago campus which refused to accept a politically connected student.</p>

<p>All things being said, White has been a decent UofI president. He did make the mistake with the Global Campus. He did remember UofI has three campuses and not just Urbana. In all honesty, I doubt the president of a major university system is really that involved in everyday admissions.</p>

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<p>How bad of a student do you have to be to be turned down by U of I anyway??? Is it that hard to get in that people have to cheat their way in to the school? Good Grief, if I was going to cheat, I would at least go for something other than a midwest university. (P.S.–I did go to a midwest University!) In my University you can get in pretty easy, but its hard to stay in so I wondered how these kids did once they got in?</p>