See comments from veterans who feel ripped off by President White, Avijit Ghosh and others at College of Business who deceived veterans with a bait-and-switch veteran scholarship program
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COMMENTS
ThomasVetFamily
posted 11/09/07 @ 4:44 PM CST
It is nice to see University of Illinois students recognize the value and contribution of our veterans. I want you to know veteran's families appreciate the sentiment, too. Although you have grown up knowing the war in Iraq, don't forget about the veterans from the first gulf war, Korea, Vietnam and your grandparents from WWII. Perhaps you did not know that the UIC campus came into being because of all the veterans coming home from WWII on the GI Bill. Your campus in Champaign owes its financial life to the GI Bill and the veterans that attended after the war.
Many of you are very fortunate to have come from homes where opportunity, success and economic ability are taken for granted. For other people, military service and the education benefits later are the only way out. Respectfully, I would like to ask you to think about doing some practical things for veterans this weekend beyond the thank you:
Do a food drive for families of veterans whose spouses have been on duty for a long time
Go buy a car load of food and supplies at Costco or Sam's, bring it to a local shelter, and help distribute it to veterans and families in need
Call your representative. S/he has a list of ideas and places where you can volunteer a couple hours of your time
Fix something in a veteran's house paint, clean, light repair 10 girls or 10 guys can do a lot of good on one Saturday morning
Call a VA hospital ask what you can do then go with a group of your friends and pitch in. Go see what a rehab facility looks like and what rehab really means to a wounded vet and their family
Raise money at your fraternity for children of veterans who have lost a parent in the war
Write a research paper on the GI Bill or Illinois Veteran Grant for a political science or English class you will learn a lot then send it to your Congressman to ask for additional funding
Go to a ceremony on veteran's day just watch and listen you'll begin to understand
I guess I am asking students to say thank you, but also take some action that lets our veterans know at a deeper level that you understand the freedom you enjoy is, in part, due to their efforts. That takes some effort. Trust me, you will earn 10 times what it costs you in benefit to your spirit.
I realize this is a less popular subject than say, issues like the Chief, racial discrimination or professors' concerns about the impact the Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government will have on their research productivity.
Many of us who have children serving overseas watched key leaders of your administration deal from the bottom of the deck with veterans last year. It is a simple matter of a promise made and promise broken to veterans who served their country honorably. Maybe one of you can actually help fix the problem someday in Springfield or Washington. If you have an opinion either way, write your administration or congressman and let them know how you feel. You can also express your feelings your Board, Joseph White, Avijit Ghosh and Richard Herman. After all, if we all care about how we treat each other, minority students, and the message we send or do not send with the Chief, we should care at least as much about how we treat our veterans at University of Illinois. The problem is that discrimination against veterans is NOT against the law.
You can read about it in the Marine Corp Times and the Daily Illini. It has been talked about enough, so I will just give you a few references you can read about in your spare time.
ABC News abclocal. Go.com/wls/story? Section=investigative&id=4924607
Marine Corp Times - A Broken Scholarship Promise to Vets? By David Mercer - The Associated Press: www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/03/apvetscholarship070312/
What Happened Behind The Scenes of The University of Illinois Veteran Scholarship Scandal By Marathon Pundit (blog) marathonpundit. Blogspot.com_05_01_archive.html#748390460444581746
Daily Illini - Investigative Report: MBA Admissions Process Questioned media. Www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/03/06/News/Investigative. Report. Mba. Admissions. Process. Questioned-2759535. Shtml
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PK
posted 11/10/07 @ 4:17 PM CST
Thanks for the previous post and the links. Fascinating reading. If any of this is true, somebody's heads should roll in this administration.
Nobody and I mean NOBODY at the University of Illinois should be allowed to discriminate against anybody and especially our veterans. Our top administrators are supposed to set an example for ethical leadership, not this kind of behavior.
I graduated from the Executive MBA program when it was in Champaign. I saw the unilateral decision of Dean Ghosh to move the program to Chicago against the wishes of faculty, staff and students who were enrolled and going to classes while the change was made.
It is time for University administrators? And I mean President White, Chancellor Herman, Provost Katehi, College of Business Dean Avijit Ghosh and Associate Deans Larry DeBrock and David Ikenberry? To come clean on this issue and be accountable for their actions just like they demand of UIUC students. Otherwise I do not want to hear a pious word from any of them about One Campus, Chief Illiniwek and similar issues involving equality, tolerance and sensitivity.
I read a couple Daily Illini articles and others by Associate Press, Christian Science Monitor, ABC News and blogs. Here is what I want to know.
Who came up with the LAME idea to alter admissions procedures and application deadlines to kick veterans out AFTER they were already accepted to the EMBA program? By the way, most people in the real world call that CHEATING.
Why did the EMBA program recruit and admit additional students who did not serve in the military a month after it kicked veterans out?
When you announced the 110 veteran scholarships at the Alumni luncheon in Chicago and at the dedication of the new instructional facility a couple months later, EVERY ONE OF YOU applauded when Lt. Governor Patrick Quinn mentioned the 110 full-ride scholarships for veterans in his speech. Which of you uttered those contemptible words that too many jarheads would bias the class demographic? Why do you feel that way?
Who forged the signature of the former EMBA Assistant Dean on a letter sent to 35 veterans over Memorial Day weekend rescinding their admission to the EMBA program? Who approved doing that? Who really wrote that letter?
Why did Dean Ghosh fire the EMBA program? S Assistant Dean two months after his promotion? Was the timing connected with protests from US Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn and an investigation by the Office of Executive Inspector General?
Why did David Ikenberry tell the Associated Press that he had no knowledge of the veteran scholarship scandal until July, after the former Director was fired, but his own emails from May describe a strategy to rid the program of veterans and replace them with civilians?
Why did the university? S PR people deny wrongdoing when emails and documents sent to ABC News ant Lt. Governor Quinn show a different story?
What is the status of the Inspector General? S ongoing investigation in Champaign on this issue?
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OldVet1945
posted 11/10/07 @ 9:57 PM CST
Lesson from WWII - infamy lasts a very long time. I would hope somebody at U of I fixes this problem and those that caused this injustice are themselves brought to justice.
My children and grandchildren attended UIC and Champaign over the years. I can understand that many people do not understand military service if they spent their entire career inside a school. There is no reason to discriminate against veterans, though.
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Janice
posted 11/11/07 @ 5:57 PM CST
Dear ThomasVetFamily,
Obviously you have a history with the military. I feel for you. So do I.
I read the story of what U of I did to our veterans in this scholarship fiasco. This was very upsetting to read on Veterans Day.
For U of I officials to represent themselves as friends of veterans, promise them an free education, receive the support of alumni and politicians but then yank the program out from underneath veterans with a scheme involving altered admissions procedures is cowardly and despicable. They did it on Memorial Day weekend, too. This strikes me as the worst kind of discrimination.
U of I officials stood on a stage with state and national politicians, took a pat on the back for being a friend to veterans, and then called them jarheads who would hurt its reputation and quality. You used veterans to improve your image and status, sold them out and then lied about it after getting caught. You treated them like second-class citizens. That is textbook discrimination and more dishonest than plagiarism.
Evidently most of the wrongdoing took place at the College of Business by its Dean, Avijit Ghosh, Larry DeBrock, and David Ikenberry. I cannot understand why Joseph White got Sylvia Manning involved at UIC. I am also surprised that David Ikenberry got mixed up in this. His father ran U of I when I was a student. What a shame.
One Campus? Spare me. It starts at the top. It stops at the top.
I call on the Board of Trustees to publish the Inspector General's investigation in its entirety when it is completed. I call on Springfield legislators to take appropriate action against University administrators as State employees who perpetrated this fraud and orchestrated the cover-up against Illinois veterans who served our country. We need to have trust in our officials at all levels of government and higher education. U of I has not told the truth about this situation. That is not a good signal to all the young people who are told to play by the rules.
Univ Illinois' $339,000 Payback Between Avijit Ghosh and Joseph White
According to the Champaign News-Gazette, Avijit Ghosh, the disgraced former dean of the College of Business at University of Illinois in Champaign, got a new job at U of I courtesy of his old friend Joseph White. Ghosh headed up the presidential search committee that got White his job as President of U of I. This is not a Starbucks barista salary Ghosh gets 339 thousand bucks per year a decent return on investment for masterminding the veteran scholarship scandal and betraying the public trust. The new job Ghosh gets lets him run technology, economic development and a venture capital company for Springfield, UIC and Champaign campuses. Not a bad gig for someone with a degree in GEOGRAPHY. Sort of like nominating a plumber to run Citibank.
Give me a double shot corruption espresso this morning. On second thought, maybe President White should recommend Ghosh for a patronage job in the 11th ward. Ghosh has the skills.
The timing could not be better for Ghosh, who has been interviewing without success for jobs around the world. He recently interviewed at Western Michigan University, did not get it, and went to India while the Illinois Inspector General continued its investigation of discrimination against veterans. Good thing Ghosh landed in India, too, since those jarheads Ghosh does not think are smart enough for University of Illinois do not vacation in India very often.
Ghosh is fortunate to get 339K of taxpayer-funded salary, but I doubt luck had much to do with it. It pays to have friends in high places like University of Illinois President Joseph White who got help from Ghosh when he headed up the presidential search committee. So while Ghosh continues interviewing for jobs outside University of Illinois, it is comforting for Illinois taxpayers to know that Joseph White subscribes to the Daley-Stroger-Ryan rules of political patronage. Loyalty has its rewards. We should all be so lucky.
Discriminate against veterans, rig admissions standards to kick them out, get caught, and then find a new job courtesy of a friend you helped get a job. Maybe the Inspector General should give President White a call next.
What a priceless lesson in ethics from the ivory tower.
Is there a group of citizens that deserves our thanks and fair treatment more than veterans who risked their lives for our country?
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