The Chicago Tribune dutifully reports…

Ex-dean calls herself ‘victim’ of admissions scandal
After testimony on University of Illinois abuses, Heidi Hurd left message praising chancellor she had criticized
By Stacy St. Clair

University of Illinois law school dean has made a final effort to distance herself from an admissions scandal, writing a lengthy letter to the state panel charged with investigating the practices.

Heidi Hurd — who testified before the Illinois Admission Review Commission nearly a month ago — sent a 15-page letter late last week in which she describes herself as a “victim” of the school’s clout lists, not a “perpetrator,” and details her efforts to push back against them.

She also supports her earlier assertions that Chancellor Richard Herman and public officials abused their power when they forced her to admit subpar students.

Commissioners will weigh the letter against a voice mail message Hurd left on Herman’s home phone shortly after she testified. University attorneys turned over the message to the commission, officials said.

According to a transcript, Hurd refers to Herman as a “knight in shining armor” and says she remains his “most ardent admirer.”

“I just know someday … when we are kicking around in heaven, we will be able to drink and laugh about this the whole time,” she says. “But to the extent that I have played a role in a scenario that should not have unfolded for you, I am beyond, beyond belief sorry.”

Read more at The News-Gazette…

Ex-UI law dean says she ‘pushed back’ against influence
By Julie Wurth

A former law dean at the University of Illinois said she inherited a “well-greased, well-oiled” system for admitting students with political clout when she became dean in 2002, and did her best to “push back.”

But members of a state panel who questioned Heidi Hurd on Wednesday appeared skeptical, asking why she didn’t do more to change the system for admitting “special interest” applicants pushed by trustees on behalf of powerful politicians, including ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

“The former governor of this state, the chair of your board of trustees, the chancellor of your university forced you to admit a student into the law school that you otherwise would not have accepted. You paint a picture of an abuse of power. Is that correct?” asked commissioner Zaldwaynaka Scott.

“I certainly thought so,” Hurd acknowledged.
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Earlier testimony from Paul Pless, assistant law dean for admissions, indicated that, over four years, the university forced the College of Law to admit 24 politically connected students who wouldn’t have been accepted otherwise. During that time, about 900 students were admitted overall.

Hurd opened her testimony Wednesday with a prepared statement saying that during her tenure, the College of Law “never took a student who was not qualified to study law or to enter the profession.”
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Hurd said when she arrived at the law school, decisions on “special interest” admissions at various UI colleges were made by three administrators at the campus level – then-Provost Richard Herman, Associate Provost Steve Schomberg and Richard Schoell, executive director of the Office of Governmental Relations.

The following year, according to her testimony, Hurd got more involved, to protect the law school’s efforts to boost its academic profile.

“I elbowed my way into the process,” she said. Based on the 2002 admissions, she said, “It was clear I was going to have to push back at every turn.”

During her first year, she said, half the students on the clout-influenced law school list were admitted; in her last year as dean, 2006-07, none were, she said.

Rod Blagojevich urged SIU to let 2 into law school
Neither 2005 applicant was admitted, university says

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich sent two letters of recommendation on behalf of applicants to Southern Illinois University’s law school, the university said Friday after a search of its admissions records in response to a federal subpoena.

The university, based in Carbondale, said it discovered the 2005 letters but found that neither applicant was admitted to the law school.

A review of applications from 2002 to 2008 to its other schools found no other examples of Blagojevich trying to use political clout to influence the university’s admissions process, the university announced.

SIU was one among three state universities — including Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois — that were subpoenaed by federal prosecutors seeking evidence that Blagojevich and his power brokers gave applicants an unfair edge.