Thursday, November 26, 2009

Education

University of Illinois President Promises Reforms

August 13, 2009 04:36 PM ET | Jessica Calefati | Permanent Link | Print

University of Illinois President B. Joseph White says he will reform the school's admissions policies in just eight weeks, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports. White's pledge comes one week after a state panel blamed the school's administrators and trustees for an admissions scandal that erupted in May.

Planned reforms include abolition of the "Category-I" list, a classification that allowed applicants with favorable connections to university administrators to receive preferential acceptances to the 70,000-student university. White also said Illinois will build a "fire wall" around the admissions process to further protect it from the whims of influential university officials. "We must leave admissions decisions to the admissions professionals," he says.

Though the panel called for the resignation of all the school's trustees, neither White nor the chancellor of the university's flagship Urbana-Champaign campus, Richard Herman, have said they plan to follow all of the panel's recommendation. White did, however, publicly apologize Tuesday for his role in the school's unacceptable admissions practices.

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Tags: Illinois | college admissions | colleges | University of Illinois

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Reader Comments

WRONG

Category I was NOT for the entire university system; it was ONLY for the Urbana-Champaign campus. Read the report: Administrators at the Chicago campus were praised for not having such a list and for resisting pressure from White, trustees, and politicians. In fact, the report suggested using the protocol of the Chicago campus as a model. When you claim Category I was for the entire 70,000-student university system, you insult people who fought hard to remain principled.

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