A Bully in the Pulpit: The Tribune Hammers the University of Illinois to Submission
The Tribune has been obsessed for several months now over the admissions process at the University of Illinois, the flagship public university in the State of Illinois system. As the Tribune had it, students using political clout were being provided with preferential admission to the competitive U of I system. The Tribune editorial board demanded the University Trustees and President resign for participating in preferrential admission procedure. Most of the Trustees resigned a few weeks ago. Today, the Tribune got it’s wish: University of Illinois President Joseph White has resigned.
I added up over 100,000 words in the Tribune a few weeks ago devoted to this subject. Which begs the question…is preferential admission really a problem? Most every private university has some non-quantitative method of admissions. Letters from an alumni, recommendations from clergy, and yes recommendations from politicians are routinely used at colleges and universities all over the United States. Gasp! West Point requires a political recommendation for admission.
Oh, and most public graduate and doctoral schools require some sort of recommendation letters for admission. In many states, a letter from the Governor is considered a good thing, adding some credibility to an applicants status.
Given that the Tribune has not only refused to cover many simple cases of political corruption (Robert Creamer anyone?) in the State of Illinois, they have also participated in skulduggery aimed at Blair Hull, Jack Ryan, and anyone else who does not fit the Tribunes narrative, perhaps some discretion would have been advised in this case. The State of Illinois has plenty of corruption to go around without making up a scandal where not much of one exists.
Take a look at some numbers. Out of 120,000 student applications, 800 (.6%) were set aside for additional consideration, CLOUTED, per the breathless newspaper. Fifty percent of the clouted applicants were accepted, vs. 40% of all waitlisted applicants being eventually accepted. An average of 12 students (out of 42,000, or .02%) per year over the last 5 years were accepted who would not otherwise gain admittance to the U of I.
Maybe the practice of recommending students for special consideration is flawed. Many universities and almost all graduate programs would disagree. On the other hand, maybe the public wants the University of Illinois to be managed by the Press rather than our elected officials and trustees, which given the state of our political class is a distinct possibility.
I’ll toss out the fact that President White introduced a distance learning program that was extremely unpopular with faculty and alumni. It has been suspended. As an alum, I thought the distance learning program was a ill-formed idea myself. But as bad as it may have been, I certainly don’t think that University Governance should be fundamentally changed based on the ramblings of the Chicago Tribune. The University of Illinois is in sound condition today, as it has been during President White’s tenure. Ask yourself, do you really want the editorial board at the Tribune, the same editorial board that turned a blind eye to ACORN for over 20 years now, running one of the country’s premier research universities?
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John Powers is the President of the Chicago Daily Observer. He was admitted to the University of Illinois in 1981 via the competitive early admission process.
Wells aid, John!
The old Iron Eyes Cody ads should be trotted out to add (or rather AD) a poignant visual to go along with all of the Tribune’s Harrumphing and ‘Golly-Gee-Mercifuls, Murials’ on this non-issue.
Rather, why not point some bright and tenacious young ink-slingers out on the Old Trail of Tears to Count Coup on the clout that gave Billy Ayers his sinecure.
Heck, them old Clouted Wizards like Stan Ikenberry were more than tickled to Harrumph along with Abner Mikva and Friends about Clout in the classrooms.
“Wells aid?”
Sorry – Well Said, John.
Whale Oil Bee!
The Tribune’s feigned outrage is highly selective. Why not investigate legislative scholarships to the University of Illinois?
Why does no one ever mention the political clout employed by several major private college and universities based in Chicago to limit educational opportunities to resident Chicago students in the Windy City. For example, is it purely coincidental that there is no law school in Chicago sponsored by the University of Illinois?
Carbondale, Champaign and DeKalb rate public university law schools, but not Chicago? The difference in the cost of tuition between public and private law schools is huge, but in Clout City the powers that be refuse to allow a public university to offer a law program.
“Out of 120,000 student applications, 800 (.6%) were set aside for additional consideration, CLOUTED, per the breathless newspaper. Fifty percent of the clouted applicants were accepted, vs. 40% of all waitlisted applicants being eventually accepted. An average of 12 students (out of 42,000, or .02%) per year over the last 5 years were accepted who would not otherwise gain admittance to the U of I.”
Thousands of applicants were not admitted. Every one of them has a legitimate grievance.
Hugh,
Of course, millions do not even apply to the U of I. Does that mean millions are effected by the net displacement number (around 60). Sixty students come down with food poisoning on a good weekend at the U of I.
Why is this such an issue?
JBP
Good piece. As a UofI grad and CHIEF lover…what the heck is wrong w/the Trib?
What a waste of resources and time. So what!
I guess unless you (or even worse, your child) were denied admission in favor of someone with lower scores, then it WOULD be too much for you to understand the anger the process engendered and why many of us celebrate having BJ White’s head on a pike and will be happier still when Chancellor Herman walks the plank too.
Darryl M.
Illinois – ‘80
Good to see that the Governor is continuing to ignore the crisis at Chicago State University. The political mismanagement by the friends of Emil Jones continues unabated and the university is at risk of losing its accreditation due to its abysmal graduation rates, but the Quinn administration could not care less.
Hire Ikenberry !!!! Let’s finally Rid Illinois of any claim to Lincoln!!!
http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2009/09/once-lincoln-is-ridden-out-on-rail-lets.html
I don’t understand why you don’t support the Tribune’s efforts to make sure that the applications process at the University of Illinois is pure and not tainted. They’ve done so well keeping city and state government in Illinois clean, surely you can see that?
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