 The Chicago Tribune filed
a lawsuit on Tuesday in state court demanding the university turn
over the applicants' high school grade-point averages or ACT test
scores.
The school previously released 1,800 pages of documents but has
declined to turn over the academic information the paper wants,
saying doing so would violate students' privacy rights.
"The university believes it has a strong legal case and we are
prepared to make it," said university spokesman Tom Hardy.
The paper contends disclosure of the information would not violate
the privacy rights of the students because the paper only wants the
academic information and not the names of individual students.
 The lawsuit is the latest chapter in a story that's dogged the
school since the paper revealed that its university's flagship
campus in Urbana-Champaign keeps a list of well-connected applicants
and admitted, among others, a relative of convicted political
influence peddler Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
The paper found that dozens of current and former elected officials
-- including former Govs. Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan and Jim
Thompson, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, and Illinois House Speaker Mike
Madigan -- were among those pushing for students on the school's
so-called Category I list.
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The news also prompted calls from at least one lawmaker for the
resignation of U of I President B. Joseph White and any trustees
involved in trying to influence admissions. It also led Gov. Pat
Quinn to appoint a special commission to investigate the school's
admission practices.
___
Information from: Chicago Tribune,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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