 Herman testified before a state commission formed by Gov. Pat Quinn
to investigate the role political clout played in the university's
admissions process. The commission, led by former federal Judge
Abner Mikva, is due to issue a report next month.Herman admitted
he pushed for politically connected students to be accepted over the
objections of admissions officials and that clout -- not academic
merit -- got some students into the university.
But he said he didn't feel he could refuse demands from trustees,
particularly from Lawrence Eppley, former board chairman, who often
presented candidates on behalf of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"I'm not sure," Herman said. "I felt my job in danger, but did I
feel some need to do what would secure the broader best interests of
the institution? Yes."
Herman wouldn't specify what repercussions he felt would come
from turning down clout applicants or how the school specifically
benefited from accepting them.
A message left at Eppley's law office after business hours Monday
was not immediately returned.
The clout list, dubbed "Category I" by university officials, has
existed for decades and was set up to track applicants who were
recommended by trustees, lawmakers and donors, among others, Herman
said.
After the Chicago Tribune reported on the list in May, the
university suspended its use, and President Joseph White has pledged
to cooperate with the investigation.
Herman said he plans to recommend that the university get rid of
the clout list and enact reforms such as requiring all requests on
applicants' behalf to be made in writing.
"Category I was implemented in a way that was not equitable and
transparent," Herman said.
Critics have said officials used the list to exert pressure on
the admissions process. Newly released documents also suggest the
university used it as a bartering tool.
In 2006 e-mails, Herman asked Eppley to help get jobs for five
law school students in exchange for admitting one underperforming,
politically connected applicant whom the law school wanted to
reject.
He said Monday that he felt Eppley, a law school alum, owed his
alma mater something in exchange for lowering its standards. He said
he didn't think any jobs were eventually given.
[to top of second column] |
Paul Pless, assistant dean of law school admissions, told the panel
later Monday that over four years, the university forced the College
of Law to admit 24 politically connected students who wouldn't have
been accepted otherwise. During that time, about 900 students were
admitted overall.
Pless said the number of forced admissions gradually tapered off
after peaking in 2006, and that there haven't been any this year.
Pless, who has worked for the university since 2003, said he
always opposed clout admissions but didn't feel he should make a
formal complaint.
"I thought of this as distasteful and wrong. I never thought of
it as illegal," he said.
Pless said after the hearing that he also didn't know where to
turn.
"At the time that this was going on, who could I go to?" he said.
"Gov. Blagojevich?"
The situation has caught the eye of U.S. Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald, who already is prosecuting the ousted Democrat for
political corruption and has subpoenaed the University of Illinois,
Southern Illinois University and Northern Illinois University for
any correspondence about students from Blagojevich and four former
associates.
As the only school that complied with Fitzgerald's request by
Thursday's deadline, Southern Illinois revealed Friday that it found
Blagojevich submitted recommendation letters in 2005 on behalf of
only two applicants to the Carbondale campus law school. Neither
applicant was admitted, the university said, without identifying the
prospective students.
University of Illinois spokesman Tom Hardy has said his school
still was looking through documents. Northern Illinois says it has
been given until Aug. 15 to comply.
[Associated Press]
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