Former U of I Law Dean Says She Was Victim of Admissions Scandal
Former University of Illinois law dean Heidi Hurd says she was a victim—rather than a perpetrator—of the school’s admissions scandal.
In a letter to a commission investigating admissions practices, Hurd, now a law professor at the school, said public officials abused their power when they forced her to admit students who didn’t make the initial cut, the Chicago Tribune reports.
No one “should come to mistake the story’s perpetrators with its victims, those who use implicit coercion with those who regularly feel themselves under its duress,” she wrote.
A Chicago Tribune investigation found that U of I compiled an applicant clout list based on lobbying by government officials. Documents obtained by the newspaper suggested that the law school got $300,000 in university scholarship money in exchange for admitting politically connected applicants.
Hurd said the practice was similar to a mugging victim who hands over her wallet but begs to keep photos of the kids.