Ethical bad behavior: It’s in the Illinois water

July 24th, 2009 at 10:39am Linda Grist Cunningham

If ever there were an example of “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” then the University of Illinois’ admissions scandal will top the list. Personally, I think the “clout-for-admission” debacle is worse than the litany of governors-and-politicans-without-conscience.

A superficial recap for those not following: For years the University of Illinois has maintained a “clout list” that ensured the offspring and acquaintances of powerful people got admitted to the university even if they were dumber than doors. It appears that the trustees and assorted high-ranking administrators all considered it “the way we do things here.”

The Chicago Tribune has done the shoe-leather reporting that continues to break news in this muck. I love this from a recent editorial: “Applicants on the “Category I” clout list, meanwhile, could count on regular updates relayed through lawmakers, university trustees and other sponsors, who insist they were only checking and absolutely not trying to influence the admissions process. … As a group, the clouted candidates had higher acceptance rates — and lower credentials — than their overall freshman classes. That means applicants with clout were admitted at the expense of more-qualified students.

“But,” as the editorial continues, “it turns out the special privileges didn’t end at orientation. Trustees have used their influence to solve friends’ housing problems or get relatives into oversubscribed classes, jumping over hundreds of others in line. One lobbied to get his niece into an honors program for which she had failed to apply.”

There’s just no way to justify that kind of behavior. Yet, it appears the trustees and assorted  high-ranking administrators still don’t get it. Today’s breaking news is the poll taken by the university to determine which of a series of “explanations” would play best with folks out here in the real world.

Seems the trustees et al don’t get it. They don’t need a poll. They’re scum. Smart, educated, gifted, priviledged scum with holes in their souls. They need to resign. All of them. Anyone who ever approved or turned a blind eye to this “admissions-for-clout” process. Resign. Apologize. Ask God for forgiveness.  You’re not getting it from me, nor, I suspect, will you get it from the rest of us in great unwashed land.

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