Kroll report not looking so good for apologists

[echeese]

Findings of the Kroll Investigation and report are not looking so good for the apologists.

Seems there were far more than 73 people admitted, the number is more than 3Xs that size (and that's only a minor find)

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/uts-powers-overruled-admissions-office-report-says/nj9WH/

 highlights from the Kroll report:

In another case, the President's Office called the law school apparently after speaking with two members of the Legislature. According to a voice mail recording of the call, the President's Office asked, "If we can go ahead and admit those kids. [President Powers] says it's very important." Two days later acceptance letters were sent to both applicants.
Under President Powers, [admissions holds] have totaled as many as 300 applicants of interest per year. The majority of [the holds] appear to be based on requests from Texas legislators and members of the Board of Regents.
For example the chief of staff [brazzil] essentially ordered certain "must have" applicants admitted over the objection of the Admissions Office. Admissions was essentially "forced to admit" many of these applicants over the objection of Admissions, including some applicants who, in this former official's opinion, clearly did not qualify for admission.
In sum, Kroll's review of the 73 applications in which applicants subject to a [hold] were admitted [despite] sub-par quantitative scores and grades suggests that in some instances factors such as political influence or connections with persons of influence may have played a role

 

[joeywa]

People (in general) should exercise caution when they go pointing fingers. 

Favors from friends have existed for a long time, and it's not strictly limited to academic institutions and admissions. 

Ever heard or used the saying "It's not always what you know, it's who you know?" 

Folks should keep this in mind before they wind up and throw that stone. 

 

[Growler]

This is absolutely starting to look like just the tip of the iceberg. It is going to be bigger and uglier underneath.

 

[Growler]

People (in general) should exercise caution when they go pointing fingers.

Favors from friends have existed for a long time, and it's not strictly limited to academic institutions and admissions.

Ever heard or used the saying "It's not always what you know, it's who you know?"

Folks should keep this in mind before they wind up and throw that stone.

Again thanks for the baseball updates.

But the point is that mindset is accepted and expected in Hollywood or other parts of society. But in a top notch State Flagship University such as ours that espouses equality and diversity based solely upon merit in its by-laws, engraved on its hallowed walls and in its multi-million dollar public national marketing campaigns and everything else, it is a shame to learn that it is merely a hypocritical facade.

I would have liked to think we were above it. Apparently this administration was not, and in fact were worse than most. Time for change and continued and increased scrutiny on the next group so this stops, and doesn't happen again.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

Attached is a copy of the Kroll Report. Please show us where it states Bill Powers committed any violations of state law. I see where the report points out there is no law, statute, systemwide rule or policy regarding how much weight a university president can or should give to external recommendations and where the Texas Education Code Section 51.805( B) (18) specifically states "academic institutions may consider as a factor of admission any other consideration the institution considers necessary to accomplish the institution's stated mission." I also see (p 12) where the report states the university president is the final arbiter of who does and does not get admitted, that if he were to play any other role in admissions it would be incumbent on the legislature and/or the regents to develop any such law, statute systemwide rule or policy, and that no such law, statute or rule currently exists.

I don't understand why Powers felt compelled to lie or not be entirely forthcoming with his admissions if he didn't break a state law or the University's bylaws. Is it unsavory? Sure, but it looks like Powers had the authority to make these decisions in the best interests of UT based on this line: Texas Education Code Section 51.805 (18) specifically states "academic institutions may consider as a factor of admission any other consideration the institution considers necessary to accomplish the institution's stated mission."

 

[Chitownhorn]

This is all a complete non starter for me. This practice goes on at every college in the country and will long after I'm gone. Preferential treatment is given to applicants for all sorts of reasons including recommendations from higher officials, significant donations from parents, and legacy status. These types of of practices fall under what I like to term The Wink and a Nod Acceptance.

As long as no laws are being broken I'm fine with the practice. Is it fair? Probably not, but life has it inequities, actual or perceived, and this is just one of them.  

 

[Growler]

I don't understand why Powers felt compelled to lie or not be entirely forthcoming with his admissions if he didn't break a state law or the University's bylaws. Is it unsavory? Sure, but it looks like Powers had the authority to make these decisions in the best interests of UT based on this line: Texas Education Code Section 51.805 (18) specifically states "academic institutions may consider as a factor of admission any other consideration the institution considers necessary to accomplish the institution's stated mission."

From a third party's point of view it would seem that he was embarrassed to admit to the thousands of alumni who got in legitimately and to the hundreds of thousands who wanted in but were not admitted because they missed the cut, that he did in fact grant special favors to many who were not deserving based upon merit but were admitted as a result of nepotism. That clause was written in for this specific situation to cover a University's ass legally, but having to hide behind it tears down the trust with the tax paying public. Also, in my opinion he gambled, hoping it all wouldn't come to light and his legacy would be left in better shape instead of now where he may escape legal prosecution, but his good deeds will always be followed with "Yeah..But..." As his legacy.

Maybe he would have been better off admitting it up front, but I don't think it would have changed much. People are turned off by nepotism and hypocrisy. It probably just delayed the inevitable and added "fibber" to the mix.

 

[echeese]

JB,

Texas law also prohibits "legacy" admissions and it is clear some of them are nothing but legacies.  In fact one had a 900 SAT and a 2.1 GPA. . . .

Legacy and money is all that got him in.

Powers should have been upfront. .. . .I don't have as much heart burn with 300+ (not the 73 claimed by the apologists) admitted as I do with the fact Powers wasn't honest about it. . . 

If you will lie about this. . .you will lie about that. .. 

 

[echeese]

PS,

If I am reading correctly, Chart 1 on page 60 of the Kroll Report indicates that in the past 5 years, the total of "holds" admitted (kids that did not qualify but got "special treatment") is close to 1000. . . .more than 10X the number trying to be pawned off.

More than half of those being admitted from 2011 thru 2013 . .. . .

Perhaps that is one reason this came up. . . .

 

[Randolph Duke]

Just so people know, I am directly calling echeese out in the other thread for his claims of illegal activity on the part of Bill Powers. The Kroll Report absolutely does not assert what he is claiming is does. 

Interested people can start following the conversation here:

http://www.hornsports.com/forums/topic/7199-powers-rumor/?p=152220

 

[duqu]

good grief. now it's approaching 1000. who the F@#K is in charge around here and can we trust his word??

 

[HornNdriftwood]

good grief. now it's approaching 1000. who the F@#K is in charge around here and can we trust his word??

First off, I thought the apologist in this fight were the Perry sycophants who wanted to turn UT into a diploma mill at $10,000 per degree.

Ag

The 1000 number is the amount of holds placed over a 6 year period. Of those, only 73 had less than 1100 SAT and a 2.9 HS grade average.

An applicant with a "hold" is not necessarily  unqualified. Although, many of the holds, because of limited class size and the 10% rule may not have been admitted without the intervention of the President's office, which is well within his right to do.

Did we really need ANOTHER thread on this?

 

[Growler]

Just because someone is turned off by the fact that our University President was trading admission favors for votes etc. does not necessarily make someone a Perry fan. The sickening thing to me in this is it shows that ALL involved behaved unethically. Powers looks no better than Perry or Hall in all of this at this point. For the record, I agree that Powers needed to stay until Perry was out of office, and that an empty chair is not better than having him there now. But it confirms for me now that his departure is now a good thing, and I am glad that this is now a front burner issue that will be scrutinized going forward. Merit needs to be the measuring stick and the only measuring stick for admission. Not who Mommy is. Throw him a party as he leaves if you want, but just get him out and let someone new come in and try to do this part of the job more ethically.

 

[duqu]

driftwood - thanks for clearing that up. I didn't get it at first.

 

[Randolph Duke]

Just because someone is turned off by the fact that our University President was trading admission favors for votes etc. does not necessarily make someone a Perry fan. The sickening thing to me in this is it shows that ALL involved behaved unethically. Powers looks no better than Perry or Hall in all of this at this point. For the record, I agree that Powers needed to stay until Perry was out of office, and that an empty chair is not better than having him there now. But it confirms for me now that his departure is now a good thing, and I am glad that this is now a front burner issue that will be scrutinized going forward. Merit needs to be the measuring stick and the only measuring stick for admission. Not who Mommy is. Throw him a party as he leaves if you want, but just get him out and let someone new come in and try to do this part of the job more ethically.

Kroll Report, page 12. 

Finally, while much of our investigation and many of our findings cover a period of time during which Bill Powers has been President of UT-Austin, the system presently in place, and the decision-making authority exercised by the President’s Office over Admissions, existed long before President Powers took office.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1660443-kroll-report.html#document/p31/a202918

It isn't a "Bill Powers" issue. Possibly we can just abolish the office of university president. 

 

[doc longhorn]

Frankly, in my experience, self righteousness indignation has usually been mitigated when the offended party or one of his relatives has received the very benefits he is pontificating about.

In other words and to quote Shakesphere - "Methinks he doth protest too much". 

 

[Growler]

Kroll Report, page 12.

It isn't a "Bill Powers" issue. Possibly we can just abolish the office of university president.

Ok. Probably overkill but I get your sarcasm. How about we just eliminate the loophole altogether? What would be the legit argument against preventing the President or any one individual from lowering the standards? Isnt that the whole purpose of the admissions process? Are you in favor of lowering it for a privileged few?

In order to establish authority to override Admissions Dept. protests about the under qualified applicants...

“Under President Powers, the tone and style if not the substance of the end-of-cycle meetings (with the admissions office) has changed from previous presidents. Through the Chief of Staff, it has been made clear that final admissions decisions are the prerogative of President Powers,â€

Regarding succumbing to outside requests...

“This occurred under past presidents, according to the former officials, but it became particularly acute under President Powers.â€

It appears the process existed before but was put on steroids under him does it not?

 

[LHornjack]

Does anyone here really believe for 1/10 th of one second that Hall gave a damn about admission exceptions? His witch hunt looked for everything under the sun to discredit and to get rid of Powers, and to bring in Perry's lackey's ultimately destroying what the University stands for as a school of higher education.

HornNDriftwood also shows that liars can figure and figures can lie.

Powers made the UT system better by almost any account or benchmark that one can point to except this pimple on a gnats behind.

Hall was completely single minded on delivering what Perry wanted. To dump Powers...

 

[coolhorn]

This is all a complete non starter for me. This practice goes on at every college in the country and will long after I'm gone. Preferential treatment is given to applicants for all sorts of reasons including recommendations from higher officials, significant donations from parents, and legacy status. These types of of practices fall under what I like to term The Wink and a Nod Acceptance.

As long as no laws are being broken I'm fine with the practice. Is it fair? Probably not, but life has it inequities, actual or perceived, and this is just one of them.  

This.  It's not a fair world, and nobody ever promised it would be.  Wealth, position, power, friendship...all of these get preferential treatment at one time or another...and the beat goes on.  Anyone who's trying to vilify Powers for using his office to get the offspring of some supporters and VIP's admitted to UT might as well point a finger at every college official out there.  I doubt that there's anybody who's hands are completely clean, and I doubt that Powers has done anything worse, or more often, than any college President in the land.

I realize this tempest in a teapot is a carryover from Guv good hair's attempt to turn UT into the University of Phoenix, but I don't get the point of why.  Powers is gonna be gone in June.  Perry's already moved out of the governor's mansion.  Who the hell is left to care whether or not Powers gave favored treatment to a few supporters' kids?  Surely, the money and effort that's being spent on this witch hunt could go to better things.

I'm sure Perry's supporters see this as some kind of vindication for stacking the BOR with deadwood who's sole purpose was to make life miserable for Perry.  I'm equally sure that for the 99 percent rest of us, it's just not THAT big of a deal.  Give Powers his gold watch and send him off into retirement, and wish Perry well in his job as the newest citizen of Paint Rock, Texas.  Maybe he can find a municipal office out there that he has a chance of winning.  That's assuming he doesn't get jail time when his trial comes up.