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Monday, August 03, 2009
Law - More on "Illinois Law Dean Announces New Admission Policy in Wake of Scandal"
Updating this ILB entry from July 12th, the Chicago Tribune has a breaking news report this afternoon headed "U. of I. trustee board chairman resigns." It begins:
The chairman of the University of Illinois' Board of Trustees, Niranjan Shah, resigned his seat today amid a highly-publicized scandal of the school's admissions system that favored well-connected students, including several of Shah's own relatives and his employees' children.An Oak Brook businessman and deep-pocketed political donor, Shah leaves the board's most powerful post less than a year after he was appointed to it.
His departure came days before a state commission, impaneled by Gov. Pat Quinn to investigate admissions abuses, is expected to disclose its recommendations--namely a call for the entire board to step down and allow the governor to decide which members, if any, he will reappoint.
Shah's resignation is the second in the midst of the unfolding admissions probe. Trustee Lawrence Eppley stepped down last week.
"When I became a Trustee...many of the stakeholders in the University of Illinois system--Trustees, university administrators and staff, legislators and others--operated under a set of rules and norms that seemed appropriate at the time," Shah said in a prepared statement. "Today, I recognize that those rules are changing with the times, and I think that change is a very good thing."
Shah said he resigned when the Illinois Admissions Review Commission made clear it would recommend the resignation of all trustees, leaving the board's reconstitution in the governor's hands. * * *
School records reveal that Shah sought advantages for his relatives and friends in admissions, housing and employment matters.
In 2007, for instance, Shah parlayed his connection with Chancellor Richard Herman to secure a high-paying university job for his future son-in-law, a Dutch citizen seeking work in the United States.
University records and e-mails detail how U. of I. officials created a position without conducting a routine search, secured a work visa and paid Maarten de Jeu an annual salary of $115,000--more than other employees with the same title. Herman dipped into campus reserves to pay the salary because the position was not funded by the university department that ultimately hired him.Shah has said he "encouraged" the university to hire de Jeu, "an exceptionally well qualified" applicant who graduated first in his class from an executive MBA program at Oxford University.
While Shah acknowledged he "advocated" for student applicants, he testified before the state commission that many of his most aggressive requests were written by a secretary at his Chicago-based engineering firm who embellished his intentions.
In March 2008, Shah pushed for a student to be admitted to the rigorous MBA program, even though Chancellor Richard Herman warned that school officials "had serious concerns about his ability to handle the academics" and the student's GPA was "below what is admissible." Admissions officers were never able to confirm whether the student had attended an accredited college.
"May be [sic] he can be on probation during first year," Shah suggested.
E-mails show that when Shah pressed for a decision before he visited the student's family in India, the business school relented and offered the applicant a spot.
Shah said the applicant's family reached out to him because they wanted to be sure the admissions office was aware of the complex grading systems used at some Indian universities, including the one the student attended.
"Clearly, the most egregious cases have been identified," said Trustee David Dorris, who said he was "saddened" by Shah's resignation. "We need to really look at this thing from top to bottom."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 3, 2009 02:39 PM
Posted to General Law Related