U of I President Pledges to Kill Admissions Clout List and Set New Admissions Policy

University of Illinois President Joseph White says it's no surprise that the university developed a 'Category I' list politically connected applicants for whom inquiries had been made by trustees and politicians.

But he told the Governor's Admissions Review Commission Monday in Urbana that he'd only recently heard of the list, and intends to kill it. White says flagged applications have been around a long time, but he was surprised that applicants he assumed had been rejected ended up being admitted.

White says the University should now take a leadership position on admissions --- one that bars top administrators from interfering in the admissions process. He says that policy would apply tio anyone above the level of dean, and include the Development and Government Relations offices.

"I think that in a year," says White, "we will know whether conventional wisdom is right, and we've really hurt ourselves in terms of donations and how legislators feel about it, et cetera."

During two hours of testimony... White did not make specific recommendations about the U of I Board of Trustees, some of whom had made inquiries on behalf of applicants.

But in testimony earlier in the day, U of I presidents James Stukel and Stanley Ikenberry both told the commission that the Governor should remove either some or nearly all members of the Board of Trustees. Stukel suggested that Board Chairman Naranjan Shah, trustee Robert Vickery, and former chairman Lawrence Eppley all be removed. Ikenberry suggested that all trustees be removed by Governor Pat Quinn with the exception of Ed McMillan, who was recently appointed by the governor. Quinn would then have the authority to interview and re-appoint trustees at his discretion.