U of I kept secret clout list
The state’s flagship school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, maintains a secret list of student applicants backed with clout, a “Category I List’’ of relatives and friends of politicians, trustees and senior administrators.
About 170 names make the list each year. The school got 26,000 applicants this year.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
One of the politicians who sought to get students clouted in was former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who gave a letter of recommendation on behalf of two students to then-U. of I. Board Chairman Larry Eppley in 2005. Eppley said he gave the letter to U. of I. system president Joe White.
White said Thursday that while he passes on information about applicants to help admissions officers “make a more informed decision,” he doesn’t apply pressure. He denied intervening on behalf of unqualified students.
“I have never interceded on behalf of an applicant who was denied admission to the University of Illinois,’’ he said.
Asked if someone who was denied admission was ever admitted, a source with knowledge of the admissions process said: “I’m sure it happened.’’
The applicants on the
“I List” were tracked closely through the admissions process, university officials and sources said. Whether the applicants were admitted, deferred or denied was then relayed back to the official who made the inquiry in the first place.
Even some members of the the school’s board of trustees didn’t know about the list. Officials acknowledged Thursday there could be a perception that the applicants got preferential treatment — especially as competition to get in has soared. Eppley said the school should examine if the list is even necessary.
“Do [admissions] people react differently to it by virtue of who we are? We hope not, and they don’t need to. Maybe the inquiries should be blind,’’ he said.
In addition to the letter from Blagojevich, Eppley said he made five or six inquiries a year on behalf of friends — or sometimes complete strangers — as did other trustees and lawmakers.
“There have been cases where somebody who is on the list has been denied and has appealed and has wound up being admitted,’’ university spokesman Tom Hardy said. But, he noted, any student can appeal a denial.