It’s time to check in on the University of Illinois College of Law and its false reporting on the qualifications of its admitted students. Every time people look at Illinois, the school tells them that ”this time” they’ve figured out the full extent of the problem, and then it’s an even bigger mess than the last time they piped up.
On that scale, today was actually no different. When the story first emerged in September, Illinois had claimed that admission data had only been falsified for one year. Then, just a few weeks later, Illinois said that data for four class years had been falsified. Today, Illinois has come out and said that it has completed a two-month investigation that cost the school $1 million. Now they’re trying to tell everyone that the admissions data for six class years have been compromised.
How many more lies do you think Illinois could have uncovered if they had spent $2 million.
Today, Illinois offered up a sacrificial lamb. Which will make everyone forget the ever growing number of times Illinois self-reported themselves.
Here is the story from the New-Gazette:
”The UI on Monday announced it concluded its investigation into inaccuracies found with the law school’s student profile data and issued a final report Monday. The report uncovered intentional inaccuracies in six of the 10 years reviewed, and a single individual was solely responsible for these inaccuracies. The report also found the College of Law lacked adequate controls to prevent, deter and detect such actions, according to a university release.
Paul Pless, the college’s former assistant dean for admissions and financial aid, ”knowingly and intentionally” miscalculated key data, according to the university. The admissions dean was placed on administrative leave Sept. 7 and resigned from the university last week.”
And all this is not all just for the press, Illinois Law is also trying to push the ”it’s all his fault” story internally to students at the school. Here is part of an email Illinois Law students received from the Illinois Law Dean Bruce Smith:
”The investigation found that a single individual, the College’s former assistant dean for admissions and financial aid, who has resigned from the College, was solely responsible for these inaccuracies. The investigation found no evidence indicating that any other person knew that erroneous data had been reported or disseminated. The investigation also found no evidence of misreporting in any of the other areas examined during the inquiry: career placement, bar passage, and financial aid and scholarships.”
Do you actually believe this Dean Smith? Do you really believe that there has been a massive fraud by the University of Illinois College of Law for at least six years and only one person knew about it and participated in the deception?
At least this Illinois Law student isn’t buying it:
”I find it a little hard to believe that this was solely the work of the former Dean of Admissions (Paul Pless). I just don’t see how he had the incentive to do all this all on his own. Seems more likely to me that those in charge had plausible deniability.”