A bit on clout at UIUC and a bit on an upcoming series

Posted by Dan on Wednesday, July 8, 2009

So some of you who attend(ed) UIUC may have heard about the clout list scandal uncovered by the Tribune.  For those who haven’t (or who are just too lazy to read the above articles), it turns out that a handful of students with academic records that wouldn’t ordinarily prove them admissible to UIUC were admitted anyway after some connected people – mostly state senators, city mayors, etc. – pulled strings with the higher-ups at the school.  The practice even grew commonplace enough to warrant the creation of an entirely separate admissions category specifically for connected applicants.

Now, this doesn’t affect me personally, and I’d be surprised if it affected anyone I know personally.  Beyond the standard response of a massive facepalm at yet another example of blatant corruption in Illinois, I don’t think there’s really much to be said.  Oh, except STOP IT.

Oh, and maybe this, too:

Why is it wrong to admit students with subpar academic records because they have political connections but perfectly acceptable to admit students with subpar academic records because they have superior athletic skills?

There.  Somebody needed to say that.

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In other news, I’m not dead.

*cheers*

Sorry about the lack of updates.  It’s been an… interesting summer.  Hopefully I can get into the swing of things over the next few weeks.

I’ve been working on the Jesus Camp series, at least.  I’ll be putting that one out next week - five posts, one each Monday through Friday.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you do so.  Don’t worry too much about being left behind – I’ll be quoting extensively – but I highly recommend that if you have the time, buy it, stream it, or torrent it.  (Watch it, too.  That generally helps).

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As a last aside, check out the new link on the bottom row.  It’s not a perfect reference, as nothing is, but it seriously hits the mark far more often than not.  There’s also a YouTube channel – not as complete, but it’s there.

That’s about it.  See you on Monday.

- Dan -

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