Athletes should be next on the list

The end result of the corruption at the U of I is the denial of admission for qualified candidates because room has had to be made for less qualified clouted candidates recommended by power brokers.

Perhaps the current inquiry of U of I admission practices might be extended to look at the cases of those who are granted admission not because of scholarship or intellectual prowess but, instead, because they possess uncommon athletic ability. Surely, the academically-unqualified athletes take up spaces at the U of I that also could have gone to academically-qualified applicants.

One needs to be careful not to paint with too broad a brush here, but the concept of the student-athlete is too often a campus fiction that doesn't stand the reality test when it is known that student-athletes can't meet traditional admissions requirements and then, once enrolled, take courses taught by easy graders so they can maintain the academic eligibility that allows them to continue to play. And, it is well-known that graduation rates for student-athletes are generally abysmal - particularly for football and basketball players. Is society better off when the U of I admits athletic entertainers instead of future teachers, doctors or scientists? Some might not think so.

Finally, the admissions inquiry may benefit too from revisiting the admission of foreign and out-of-state students at the U of I. How maddening must it be for parents whose gifted children cannot gain admission when students from all over the country and the world do? Yes, I know all about the supposed merits of diversity, but it just doesn't meet the smell test when Illinois taxpayers subsidize a U of I education to folks from all over the world at the same time that the university doesn't have the space to provide an education to academically-qualified Illinois citizens.

But, then again, where does it say that common sense has to apply to tax-supported entities-especially in Illinois?

Charles F. Falk

Schaumburg