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* I think one of the most important question about this U of I “clout” story has never really been touched upon.
Did the school’s admissions process change when Gov. Rod Blagojevich was elected?
Legislators have helped parents with admissions for years. Most of that assistance was just basic constituent services. They help a lot of constituents, like editors of big, powerful landmark newspapers who want the best tee-times at public golf courses.
* Anyway, the chutzpah of the most news-worthy admissions requests makes it look like this was more of a Blagojevich problem than an historical, systemic crisis. Like today’s revelation…
In one e-mail exchange, University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman forced the law school to admit an unqualified applicant backed by then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich while seeking a promise from the governor’s go-between that five law school graduates would get jobs. The applicant, a relative of deep-pocketed Blagojevich campaign donor Kerry Peck, appears to have been pushed by Trustee Lawrence Eppley, who often carried the governor’s admissions requests.
When Law School Dean Heidi Hurd balked on accepting the applicant in April 2006, Herman replied that the request came “Straight from the G. My apologies. Larry has promised to work on jobs (5). What counts?”
Hurd replied: “Only very high-paying jobs in law firms that are absolutely indifferent to whether the five have passed their law school classes or the Bar.”
Hurd’s e-mail suggests that students getting the jobs are to be those in the “bottom of the class.” Law school rankings depend in part on the job placement rate of graduates.
Now, that’s pretty darned outrageous. But, so far at least, there’s been no other evidence presented to back up the Tribune’s lede: “What does it cost to get an unqualified student into the University of Illinois law school? Five jobs for graduating law students, suggest internal e-mails released Thursday.”
If that’s the standard cost for everyone, then the Trib is gonna need more than one instance from somebody besides the former governor to back up that very bold statement.
It would also help to know if Blagojevich’s appointments to the U of I trustee board have been much more involved than their predecessors with admissions.
The reason is obvious. If it was a Blagojevich problem, then the newspaper’s hysteria is somewhat unwarranted because the man is gone and his trustees can, and should be fumigated. If it’s a more generalized problem, then new laws are obviously needed.
* Related…
* Blagojevich Co-Defendents May Testify Against Him
* Trial date set for Blagojevich as former aides set to change pleas
* Judge sets Blagojevich trial date
* Patti Blagojevich: Time in jungle a ‘welcome break’
* U. of Ill. releases e-mails about clout admissions
* SJ-R: Madigan should push UIS to release records
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:21 am
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If it’s a more generalized problem, then new laws are obviously needed.
No, new laws ARE needed. How can we be sure there will never be another Gov. like Rod? Recent history suggests we can be sure they will be one.
And have we checked into the G Ryan years? I find it REALLY hard to believe he wasn’t doing that.
Comment by Pat collins Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:28 am
The BOT should be elected. And bring back Chief Illiniwek!
Comment by Fire Ron Guenther Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:33 am
I agree that new laws are needed. But do laws prevent the political pressure? My (uninformed) sense is that the political pressure will always be there, new laws or no.
The pressure might not manifest itself in explicit e-mails — or such obvious horse trading — but won’t it always be there in some way? Someone, somewhere will bow to the pressure and grease whatever wheels are able to be greased.
Doesn’t the fact that the university is a state entity mean that it’s always, always open to some form of covert or overt political pressure?
Comment by Macbeth Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:36 am
When the government runs something politics lurk in the background. Blago saw everything for sale. It’s time to separate education from state. But, don’t hold your breath. I doubt Blago was the first Governor in Illinois to think getting involved with admissions is “constituent service”. After all, this is Illinois. I wonder is Barack Obama got involved ?
Comment by Steve Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:42 am
It’s not such a black and white issue. For someone who has worked for a number of elected officials, is it wrong for me to ask one of them for a letter of recommendation? It should not, but under this hysteria of political coruption, it would easily be taken out context of an employer recommending a former employee as clout. A new law might not take this situation under consideration. How often do we pass sensible laws during bouts of hysteria?
There is no doubt that the other former Governors made recommendations on behalf of the children of political allies. The real question is how hard did they push the schools to accept these kids and were there threats made against the school administrators for ignoring the request.
As long as schools receive money directly from the state through budgets controlled by politicians, this will always be a problem.
Comment by clj Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:43 am
C’mon Rich. All problems were caused by blago, which is why all have been solved since his departure.
Comment by Anon Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:44 am
Maybe a good QOTD might be: “Define ‘clout’” or “Define the difference between ‘constituent service’ and ‘influence peddling.’”
I think CLJ’s definition is appropriate. Providing a genuine letter of recommendation or reference for an applicant whom one knows personally, or informing them of an appeals process which they have a right to take advantage of if denied admission, is one thing. Applying extreme pressure in favor of a clearly unqualified applicant, or threatening the school in some way (loss of funding, having someone fired, etc.) is another thing entirely.
Comment by Secret Square Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:54 am
I think the Trib drew some blood with today’s story.
For a couple of presumably smart academics, Herman and Hurd are remarkably careless in their email exchanges. Here’s a hint: Even if you hit the “delete” button, emails never really go away.
It sounds like a conversation between Johnny Sack and Tony Soprano, divvying up no-show jobs.
If you want to roll that way, you should probably do walk-and-talks in shopping malls, under bridges, parking lots, etc. Stay off the phones and email.
For everyone’s sake at U of I, I hope no one was dumb enough to host a shredding party. You know what they say, it’s always the cover-up that gets you.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:56 am
Rich, here is a link with the e-mails.
http://cdn.news-gazette.com/media/pdf/June25_UI_docs_06-25-09.pdf
Comment by Fire Ron Guenther Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:58 am
rich, your big point is very well taken. but, regardless of how long this pay for admission thing has been worming it’s way through Illinois public academia, it is horrible and those involved must be fired.
Comment by Amy Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 9:59 am
Boy, isn’t that just pouring gas on a fire?
You should read the PDF, especially the data on how the “special admits” underperform in class, and get in trouble more often.
Comment by Pat collins Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:04 am
Its enough to make one want to be a Republican
Classic quote from poor abused Heidi.
Come to the dark side, Heidi, be honest, sleep well at night, and reject unqualified people.
Darth Pat
Comment by Pat collins Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:07 am
Oh no, I think it isn’t only Blago. In fact, reports are that nobody asked for more students to be admitted than Hizzoner Michael Madigan. This goes way beyond just Blago.
Comment by pmels Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:08 am
How much money did David Doris give Blago? and who approved this quote from Doris: “He said exceptions can be made for some applicants with subpar academic records, such as athletes, but “the fact that Rod Blagojevich puts pressure on is not an extenuating circumstance.”
Comment by WOW Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:17 am
They have been doing special admissions since at least 2000 (one of the emails notes a study showing that “special cases” is “respectable”.
I can’t comment on how respectable, since it SEEMS to be defined as just graduating. Somehow I dont think so.
Comment by Pat collins Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:22 am
===reports are that nobody asked for more students to be admitted than Hizzoner Michael Madigan. This goes way beyond just Blago.===
Again, there’s a difference between asking legit questions about legit admissions and cutting deals like the one the Trib outlined today. A big difference.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:23 am
Special treatment for special people is deeply ingrained in our political culture in illinois. It happens at all levels. Not just the UofI.
In a town payroll you can see how many of the same surnames show up, check the summer hires and see how many kids have a relative working for that unit of government, in a county department it was demonstrated that nearly the entire department came from on family. All this come from a feeling that the unit of government belongs to the office holders and employees, not the people. Hence the misappropriation of public resources.
In a private corporation the owner has the right to place anyone anywhere he wants because it is his company. It should not be the case in a taxpayer funded activity.
The voters remain sheep and vote for the incumbents each time, so why should the rapscallions do the right thing?
Comment by Plutocrat03 Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:23 am
nobody asked for more students to be admitted than Hizzoner Michael Madigan
I saw that also. I wonder if its a case of:
1) People in his district know he’s important, so they go ask more often;
2) Madigan does requests for members in tough districts. That is, he “covers” for them, so they can’t be hit with it at campaign time.
Comment by Pat collins Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:25 am
The issue is that this isn’t just one isolated story. Everyday we open our newspapers see more layoffs, more allegations of corruption, and more plans for the democrats responsible for the mess to move to higher office.
The democrats have not earned the benefit of the doubt on this given their recent behavior. If I was a university of Illinois alum, which I am not although my grandparents are graduates, I would be extremely pissed that the university has been this arrogant and permanently sullied the reputation of what is supposed to be one of the state’s crown jewels.
Comment by shore Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:26 am
kids who dont pass the bar and can’t think are close enough for Gov. work.
Poor H may want to go visit Argentina for a while. She certainly unloads her frustration!
Comment by Pat collins Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:28 am
Today’s story is way different then the previous ones.
The earlier stories had Dem and GOP lawmakers writing letters of recommendation and making inquiries for prospective students. Some got in, some didn’t.
Today’s story has the Chancellor and Law School Dean trading admission for an unqualified candidate for jobs.
Quid. Pro. Quo.
Way different.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:30 am
It is very hard to believe that the nine trustees are not involved in this up to their necks. These trustees with their free tickets for friends, junkets with the team, playoff special treatment were as involved as the legislators were. There does not seem to be any heat on the trustees in this investigation. If the school leaders felt they had to curry favor with the legislators, then they must have felt they had to keep the trustees happy as well.
A new group of trustees is warranted.
Comment by Tom Joad Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:42 am
AA is really hot under the orange and blue collar after reading this batch of e-mails. I had thought that Hurd was the only top-level person over there with any integrity-my opinion has now been uh, redacted.
To the question, this behavior arguably-but not definitively-heated up when Herman became Provost ca. 2000. In this time frame, the UI also picked up wheeler-dealer Jerry Shea as a Trustee and lost some long-time administrators who wouldn’t stand for this behavior.
Also, the N-G had a pretty good piece a couple Sundays ago featuring interviews with Ikenberry, Stukel, and a couple of the retired legislative directors. Worth a read-the takeaway is that the volume of requests was a small fraction of today’s (20-25%) and none of these folks expected their inquiries to affect or alter admissions decisions. Those were the days.
Fianlly, it can’t be a co-inky-dink that the Big U has posted and advertised for a position that sounds exactly like the one that one of the two “lobbyists” that helped cause this mess currently occupies. That’s a good start.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 10:50 am
Oh yes, it is totally appropriate for politicians to be involved in the college admissions process. One wonders what normal people think when Michael Madigan asks them a question. Hello Mr. public school system VIP, my name is Mr. Michael Madigan, you may not have heard of me, I don’t have much power round these parts….Hello Mr. Madigan, what can I do for you? Well, I have a question about this student who didn’t get into our school….ummhmm… yea, why didn’t she get in, it seems to me that she should have….ummmhmmm….well, I hope you give it a second look, capisch….uhhh, yessir….good boy, I’ll be checking on you….uhhhh yessir, got it.
Say I want to ask a “question” about this undeserving student.
Comment by pmels Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 11:02 am
I think the UI admissions story is simply the way that buniess has been done for eons in every sector of the public economy;academia;contracts; jobs; and everything else. Maybe the U of I story resonates more with the general public. But it’s no more outrageous than the way all public business routinely is conducted in the land of lincoln. Nothing is “on the square” - the fix is in on almost everything.
Comment by Captain America Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 11:10 am
you ask the right question here Rich.
Answer: Yes, this case is an example of a Blagojevich problem.
Too bad the Tribune just views all issues of politics, clout, negotiations, constituent service and corruption as all the same and all bad. It is the Tribun who needs to learn to see the shades of grey, not CapFax.
Comment by siriusly Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 11:13 am
that any UI lobbyist/administrator who loses their job over this will be given another one someplace else in the system.
Comment by I Will Bet... Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 1:16 pm
You may have more people ask madigan for a reference for law school based upon the fact that he is an attorney, head of the dem party and speaker of the house.
Comment by Ghost Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 1:17 pm
Government attorneys don’t need to think? Wow. Elitist much? And it’s nothing but brilliant bulbs in the private sector?
Comment by Anon Friday, Jun 26, 09 @ 6:30 pm