Mt. Vernon Register-News

Opinion

June 30, 2009

Our View: Pity the students who never had a chance

As it turns out, the admissions controversy at the University of Illinois is even larger than originally believed. What started as rumblings that some qualified students were turned away in favor of students connected to, well, favors, has led to allegations by a former admissions official that a specific plan was in place to accommodate the state’s politically connected.

According to The Associated Press, Abel Montoya told the state’s Admissions Review Commission that his job was to track the list, which contained between 150 and 165 students — most from affluent high schools in the Chicago suburbs — in the last few years.

He also said, according to the wire service’s report, there were twice yearly meetings, just before the December and February admissions notification deadline, during which university officials discussed the so-called “Category I” list on a case-by-case basis.

Should these charges be proven, a massive overhaul of the state’s largest university is in order, in terms of admissions. We feel for those who were “on the bubble” and not granted admission to the University of Illinois so that those connected could attend.

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