Marathon Pundit just released an update on the U of I veterans scholarship mess. One of the deans in Champaign calls his own people "hookers" and compares them to soldiers. The same guys that don't call veterans jarheads. Right.
Here's what MP wrote:
A shocking and highly disturbing email uncovered by Marathon Pundit paints a starkly different picture of the real environment and Imus language used by senior administrators at the College. Just after the veteran scholarship program was launched, Associate Dean Larry DeBrock, who was responsible for academic affairs and faculty staffing, referred to his own colleagues in email as "hookers" and "high-priced hookers" while personally agreeing to teach additional classes in Chicago if he was paid well enough.
DeBrock writes:
So, if you are telling folks they need to drive 3.5 hours… teach 3 hours, and drive back 3.5 hours, they need (to be) compensated. And your 37.5 is nice compensation. But, high priced hookers are still hookers. But, BUT, B U T , if you bring in 70 students and the college nets 3.5 million, the hookers are praised as soldiers. They are cheered by smiling faculty waving UIUC flags lining the roadside while they ride back into town.
You should read the second Marathon Pundit story which lays out actual emails and documents as a followup to the first story. http://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html#748390460444581746.
Man, this is bad comic book stuff. Basically this second story refutes just about everything Illinois said about the vet scholarship program with internal emails and documents from the key people involved at U of I. The current Director of the EMBA program, Dave Ikenberry, denied knowledge or involvement, but go read his own email quoted in this article that shows his feelings about vets in the program and his plan to get them out while recruiting more non-vets. This guy just flat out lied.
This is very disturbing because the scholarship was based in large part on the Illinois Veteran Grant program which gives vets the right to get an education paid for by the state after active duty. I don’t think any school has the right to refuse admission to qualified vets just because the program isn’t funded 100%. That’s what the statute says, anyway.
Marathon Pundit shows how statements made by Illinois PR machine and Ghosh are refuted with their own emails to news organizations like ABC and politicians who complained. Illinois bragged they admitted 60-70 vets under the scholarship program to ABC and the Lt. Governor, when public pressure was on them, but then they told the Daily Illini and AP reporter that the number was only 40 or so.
The story also contains an embarrassing letter from Ghosh to Lt. Governor Quinn expressing shock and disbelief that veterans were complaining about being denied access to the program. What’s funny, or sad depending on your point of view, is that the story contains another email from a veteran who Ghosh and his merry band of idiots were kicking out again at the same time he wrote the Lt. Governor. The blogger shows actual emails and letters, not just opinions. Ghosh can’t put the blame on anyone else for this because he had already fired the Director by this time.
Marathon Pundit just released an update on the U of I veterans scholarship mess. One of the deans in Champaign calls his own people "hookers" and compares them to soldiers. The same guys that don't call veterans jarheads. Right.
ReplyDeleteHere's what MP wrote:
A shocking and highly disturbing email uncovered by Marathon Pundit paints a starkly different picture of the real environment and Imus language used by senior administrators at the College. Just after the veteran scholarship program was launched, Associate Dean Larry DeBrock, who was responsible for academic affairs and faculty staffing, referred to his own colleagues in email as "hookers" and "high-priced hookers" while personally agreeing to teach additional classes in Chicago if he was paid well enough.
DeBrock writes:
So, if you are telling folks they need to drive 3.5 hours… teach 3 hours, and drive back 3.5 hours, they need (to be) compensated. And your 37.5 is nice compensation. But, high priced hookers are still hookers. But, BUT, B U T , if you bring in 70 students and the college nets 3.5 million, the hookers are praised as soldiers. They are cheered by smiling faculty waving UIUC flags lining the roadside while they ride back into town.
You should read the second Marathon Pundit story which lays out actual emails and documents as a followup to the first story.
ReplyDeletehttp://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html#748390460444581746.
Man, this is bad comic book stuff. Basically this second story refutes just about everything Illinois said about the vet scholarship program with internal emails and documents from the key people involved at U of I. The current Director of the EMBA program, Dave Ikenberry, denied knowledge or involvement, but go read his own email quoted in this article that shows his feelings about vets in the program and his plan to get them out while recruiting more non-vets. This guy just flat out lied.
This is very disturbing because the scholarship was based in large part on the Illinois Veteran Grant program which gives vets the right to get an education paid for by the state after active duty. I don’t think any school has the right to refuse admission to qualified vets just because the program isn’t funded 100%. That’s what the statute says, anyway.
Marathon Pundit shows how statements made by Illinois PR machine and Ghosh are refuted with their own emails to news organizations like ABC and politicians who complained. Illinois bragged they admitted 60-70 vets under the scholarship program to ABC and the Lt. Governor, when public pressure was on them, but then they told the Daily Illini and AP reporter that the number was only 40 or so.
The story also contains an embarrassing letter from Ghosh to Lt. Governor Quinn expressing shock and disbelief that veterans were complaining about being denied access to the program. What’s funny, or sad depending on your point of view, is that the story contains another email from a veteran who Ghosh and his merry band of idiots were kicking out again at the same time he wrote the Lt. Governor. The blogger shows actual emails and letters, not just opinions. Ghosh can’t put the blame on anyone else for this because he had already fired the Director by this time.