Admissions on Corrupt Admissions: University of Illinois and College of Law Officials Testify They Tried to Get Jobs for Law School Grads and Additional Scholarships for Being Forced to Admit Clouted Students to Law School

Testifying before the Mikva Commission that is investigating corruption in University of Illinois admissions, Chancellor Richard Herman admitted he sought jobs for law school graduates after being forced to admit to the University's College of Law under-qualified students from politically connected families. See LLB's early post, Did the University of Illinois Barter Jobs for Law School Grads in Exchange for Law School Admission of Under-Qualified, Politically Connected Students? The answer is "yes." According to this Chicago Tribune story, no evidence was presented that law grads were hired but the College of Law did receive additional scholarship money for accepting the "special admits."

Bargaining Jobs for Admissions. The Chicago Tribune reports Chancellor Herman tried to downplay disclosed email exchanges with then Dean Heidi Hurd about the jobs-for-admissions scheme as being "sarcastic and facetious," a claim Hurd made in a letter to the Chicago Tribune. Commission members were not persuaded.

"I love jokes, but I have to tell you that this isn't something I would think you would want to joke about or Dean Hurd would want to joke about. The law school was giving up something of importance. When you were asking for something to compensate you weren't joking. That was a serious request," Mikva said.

"That would be a fair characterization," Herman replied.

Herman said he discussed the jobs only after being forced to admit the student and said there was no "bargaining beforehand."

"I like euphemisms," Mikva said. "But sometimes you have to say a spade is a spade, a cow is a cow."

Commissioner Doris Lowry also chided the chancellor's actions. "Once the bargaining opportunity presented itself, you chose to bargain," she said.

Additional Scholarship Money to Avoid US News Law School Rankings Hit for Admissions. The Tribune story also reports that U of I College of Law admissions dean Paul Pless testified that the College of Law insisted upon additional scholarship money so the law school could entice better-qualified students in exchange for admitting politically connected students with weak credentials. The goal was to counteract any negative hit to the rankings. Mikva, a former federal judge, pointed out that the scholarship funds, which came from the chancellor's budget, could have gone to other students if they had not been allocated to the law school.

"I honestly believe that my intent was to manage the situation," Chancellor Richard Herman said. "It is only looking back on it in aggregate, which the recent revelations brought to light, that one can step back and say we shouldn't have this process."

A open letter from a group of University of Illinois law professors that accuses the Tribune of being overly harsh in its reporting on university officials can be found here. Has the Tribune been too harsh? [JH]