Backlash Over U. of Illinois 'Clout' Scandal Spreads to Trustees and News Media

Finger-pointing continues to spread over an admissions scandal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Last week four former university leaders blamed the Board of Trustees while a group of law professors criticized the Chicago Tribune for allegedly slanted coverage.

A state committee is investigating allegations, raised by the newspaper in a continuing series of articles and editorials, that the university gave special consideration to 800 well-connected undergraduate applicants over the last five years.

In a letter sent Friday to the committee, two former presidents of the University of Illinois system and two former chancellors of the flagship campus said the Board of Trustees had laid the groundwork for flaws in the admissions process by undermining administrators and meddling in operational decisions, including admissions.

After the state’s governor was given the power to appoint board members, in the 1990s, some trustees “pursued personal interests and saw themselves accountable only to the governor,” the former university officials said. “The power and authority of the university’s administration were eroded, and some trustees delved into operational decisions across a broad spectrum including admissions.”

The Tribune last week published a lengthy letter from 16 faculty members in the university’s law school. The professors say the newspaper has hyped the story and unfairly demonized university leaders, rather than focusing on state lawmakers and trustees who pressed the university to admit unqualified applicants.

“University administrators make easy targets,” they wrote. “They themselves have no clout, and can be attacked in the press with relative impunity.” —Paul Fain