 According to a prepared statement White read at the beginning of a
closed-door meeting with leaders and admissions officials from the
university's campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield,
he said that the school will follow recommendations made by the
Illinois Admissions Review Commission in a scathing report last week
to Gov. Pat Quinn about the admissions scandal. The report confirmed
that unqualified students were admitted because of their political
connections.White declined to say, however, whether any
university officials who answer to him will lose their jobs.
The reforms include building a so-called firewall around the
admissions process, making it one that bars high-level university
officials from admissions; setting up a procedure for handling
inquiries from lawmakers or anyone else inquiring about student
applications; and creating an admissions code of conduct.
"If I were to write a one-sentence code, it would be this:
Everyone above the dean level and everyone whose jobs does not
involve direct responsibility for admissions will stay out of
admissions," White told reporters after the meeting.
Rep. Mike Boland, the chairman of the Illinois House Higher
Education Committee, said he would reserve judgment on White's plan
because he doesn't expect the president to keep his job.
"I think when the new trustees come on, they may decide that they
want somebody else," the East Moline Democrat said in a telephone
interview. "Personally, I don't see how he'll be able to stay."
Commission members did not call for White, Herman or other
administrators to step down, but said the next board of trustees
should decide whether they keep their jobs. The trustees are
scheduled to meet next on Sept. 10.
The university suspended the use of the special admissions list,
called Category I, shortly after its existence and the role it
played in admissions in Urbana-Champaign came to light in news
reports in late May.
White said that as of Wednesday, the list is done.
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Quinn appointed the commission to examine admissions at the school
after the news reports.
The panel's report recommended that the nine trustees who oversee
the three campuses resign and faulted White for both failing to
oversee admissions officials involved in the scandal and for
participating himself.
The commission also heavily blamed Urbana-Champaign Chancellor
Richard Herman for his role in admitting underqualified students. In
news interviews this week, he's acknowledged fault.
Herman did not meet with reporters after Wednesday's meeting,
which he attended, but in a statement called it productive.
"The time frame before us is ambitious," he said. "The changes we
implement will ensure that we continue to attract the highly
qualified and diverse pool of students each year who will go on to
become the leaders of their generation."
White said Wednesday that decisions about campus personnel
involved in the scandal would follow the reform process of the next
eight weeks.
Quinn has asked for trustees to step down. So far, three have:
Niranjan Shah, chairman; Lawrence Eppley; and Ed McMillan.
The governor said Wednesday that he will give them a few more
days and vowed to act within "a short period of time."
"We're not going to let it fester," he said in Chicago.
[Associated Press;
By DAVID MERCER]
Associated Press writer Caryn Rousseau
in Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. |
