Dear Editor:

I doubt that few of your readers will not see through President B. Joseph White’s dissembling and evasion as he attempts to minimize the clout that taints of the U of I admissions process.

White claims only 13 students benefited from the clout. Only 77 percent of the “category I” students were admitted to the university, an acceptance rate only marginally better than the 69% rate of all students who were admitted.

Thus, he reasons, only 8% of the 150 students on the clout list benefited from their connections.

By this reasoning, if the category I acceptance rate were 61%, White would claim that 13 students were actually denied admission to the university by virtue of their political connections.

One can only wonder how White himself was ever admitted to a university.

—

Gary M. Klass

Associate Professor

Department of Politics and Government

Illinois State University