Powers rumor

[Randolph Duke]

The University is an arm of the state government and to expect the state government to be divorced from politics is naive. Powers played politics to advance the agenda of the university and Hall played politics to advance the agenda of Rick Perry. I would much rather someone work to protect the interests of the university than to sacrifice the interests of the university to promote the partisan interests of one individual.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

completely wrong.  Hall had only one intention and that was to tear down powers so he and his f'ck buddy perry could undermine the mission of UT and convert it into a greatly diminished degree mill.  his attack was anything  but altruistic.

he's a slime bag that needs desperately to be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail.  thank God Powers held his ground and got help from key BOR members and others so they could hold off until the cavalry arrived.   with the new governor and new chancellor i believe the threat has passed but until this lamebrain is run off, we can't rest.

he's a sorry POS, totally unqualified for the position.  

I have no doubt that aggies, Perry and Hall, had ulterior motives behind their agenda. Would they have gone after A&M's president the same way? Highly unlikely. It's been documented that A&M allows students with sub-par grades in if they join the Corps. Is that at the expense of more qualified students? Who knows?

If Powers let in political cronies or BMDs kids with sub-par credentials he should have owned up to it. Or let them in on a probationary status. Hell, that's how I got into UT by taking summer school classes at The University prior to the fall semester. 

It just doesn't look good. I hope the state didn't exhaust too much time and too many resources on this political witch-hunt. What a fiasco.

 

[Growler]

yeah. its ok by me. there is not a university in the country where this doesn't happen and if you think there is, you're simply naive.

bill powers let a few kids in. its not a big deal at all. people need to stop the pontificating and nauseating moralizing. bill powers is the best president we've had in recent memory and stood down a governor bent on the distruction of this university.

he's ok in my book.

Well then we will have separate books. I don't care if others do it. Maybe it only affected 20 kids per semester, which may be only a fraction of the total enrollment, but for those 20 kids who got screwed it was probably 100% of everything to them and their families. But I guess that is okay by some including you, just so long as it wasn't THEIR or YOUR kid right? Wrong is wrong, illegal is illegal, and unethical is unethical. If you think it is nauseating for someone to point it out then you have a problem with your moral compass. Chalking these kids dreams up to enevitable and acceptable collateral damage in a pissing contest between two sides who obviously were both in the wrong most of the time in this situation, and stooped to the lowest of the lows reflects exactly who Bill Powers is. Someone not fit to run our University. Only a small percentage of conservative groups were targeted in the IRS scandal, not all, to fit a political agenda to serve what one side thought was the greater good in their opinion so I guess that is ok, acceptable and just the way things work. And just a small percentage of African Americans were lynched, not all, to fit a political agenda to serve what one side thought was the greater good in their opinion, so I guess that was ok too, acceptable, and just the way things worked. I know those are extreme examples, but the principle is the same.

I am a minority of one, I realize, but what is funny today is that the College of Communications called me today to ask me for my annual gift. And for maybe the second time in two decades I explained exactly why I would no longer contribute a dime. Maybe after Powers is gone and I see some corrections I will reconsider. I have also talked to several other Alumni who feel the same. Powers may have won a battle or two but in my opinion he lost the war. He sold out some of our State's students for personal gain.

 

[duqu]

The University is an arm of the state government and to expect the state government to be divorced from politics is naive. Powers played politics to advance the agenda of the university and Hall played politics to advance the agenda of Rick Perry. I would much rather someone work to protect the interests of the university than to sacrifice the interests of the university to promote the partisan interests of one individual.

And there you go. I'm sick and tired of people making excuses for a liar. Just because someone does something doesn't make it right.
The loyalists are out in strong fashion and I'm saddened to see their words. From nuu to Slim, I know exactly who I can't trust when I'm seeking the truth.

This entire thing was drama from the start and telling the truth could have saved a lot of people a lot of time and effort.

I am ashamed to see my school dragged through the mud just to save one person, Powers. When did he become bigger than the University of Texas?

When you lie you are lying. There used to be shame in that.

 

[Randolph Duke]

And there you go. I'm sick and tired of people making excuses for a liar. Just because someone does something doesn't make it right.

The loyalists are out in strong fashion and I'm saddened to see their words. From nuu to Slim, I know exactly who I can't trust when I'm seeking the truth.

This entire thing was drama from the start and telling the truth could have saved a lot of people a lot of time and effort.

I am ashamed to see my school dragged through the mud just to save one person, Powers. When did he become bigger than the University of Texas?

When you lie you are lying. There used to be shame in that.

Its politics. When was politics about telling the truth? To believe the president of UT is not a political individual is naive. Some times politics requires compromising on certain issues to promote the agenda of others. If a legislator is willing to promote the agenda of the president of UT if the president of UT admits the child of a key constituent, then it is the duty of the president of UT to admit that individual.
As far as the "20 kids got screwed" argument, how does anyone know any students were denied admission because favors were granted? If the student wasn't up to UT standards, admit them above the number agreed upon for the class entering the university and when they flunk out, the numbers are fine. If they were considered and denied but once admitted they don't flunk out, then they shouldn't have been denied and the marginal student who was at the top of the list of those not admitted wasn't denied anything because an applicant who was wrongly denied was admitted.

I don't care that political favors were granted. No administrator personally profited. It's politics. It happens at every state university. The difference here is the favor granted was something highly coveted. Don't kid yourself for a second thinking those claiming outrage wouldn't have accepted the exact favor that was granted. UT is a competitive school and it produces competitive people. I'd rather have people who understand no to.play politics than those who don't because playing politics is part of the world we live in.

 

[duqu]

I look at it this way. He was asked and he lied. I don't dig around in that argument any farther. I never supported Halls' efforts and always saw it as a witch hunt, still do. I've seen the "lesser of two evils" being paraded around. That's no excuse. Everyone does it? Sure. Why lie about it?

I'm just disappointed in the lie, that's all.

 

[LHornjack]

completely wrong. Hall had only one intention and that was to tear down powers so he and his f'ck buddy perry could undermine the mission of UT and convert it into a greatly diminished degree mill. his attack was anything but altruistic.

he's a slime bag that needs desperately to be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. thank God Powers held his ground and got help from key BOR members and others so they could hold off until the cavalry arrived. with the new governor and new chancellor i believe the threat has passed but until this lamebrain is run off, we can't rest.

he's a sorry POS, totally unqualified for the position.

Here here Slim, spot on !

 

[streettopeschel]

I haven't read all the threads so perhaps this been addressed but were students excluded for these 'favors' or whatever we're calling them or was the incoming FR class just made a little bigger?

 

[duqu]

street - no. apparently they were added to the list of students already accepted, no one got displaced.

 

[streettopeschel]

street - no. apparently they were added to the list of students already accepted, no one got displaced.

so the furor over 'poor kids' getting passed over in favor of sons/daughters of BMD's is for naught?

i hate wasted furor.

 

[duqu]

while I might agree I still have to ask, why lie about it? why tarnish yourself if it isn't necessary?

of course furor isn't necessary here either.

 

[streettopeschel]

while I might agree I still have to ask, why lie about it? why tarnish yourself if it isn't necessary?

that, i do not know.

 

[duqu]

ya, well, time for me to get off my high horse. bigger fish out there.

 

[Growler]

street - no. apparently they were added to the list of students already accepted, no one got displaced.

Where are you finding this information?  I'm searching.

Also, logically if they class can be expanded, does it not make sense to enroll more students based upon merit?

 

[coolhorn]

As controversies go, this one is pretty lame.  I'm not crazy about Powers allegedly either stonewalling, or being something less than truthful about whether or not he pulled some strings to get some students into school because of their parents, not their grades.  Some people, when they accrue significant power, use it when they shouldn't.  Still, saying that the report "validates" Hall's witch hunt against Powers just doesn't wash with me.  Hall has been blatantly a tool for the former governor, and obviously had an agenda in mind in launching his one man crusade to take down Powers.  That agenda had nothing to do with what's good for UT, and everything to do with Rick Perry's desire to turn UT into another University of Phoenix.

The net result of the report is gonna be some noise, and not much else.  What's to be done...fire Powers?  That would be a Pyrrhic victory, given that Powers is stepping down in June anyway.  Even if Powers is/was prone to favor the offspring of some of his wealthiest supporters, he's done a good job in other areas, and I'd prefer he stays in place until June.  He's a heck of a lot better as school President than an empty chair.  By the way, don't let this post paint me as a big Powers supporter...I'm not, although I do recognize some of the good things he's done for UT in his time in the big office.  I just don't see the need to try to push him out of office at this late hour in his UT career.

 

[Randolph Duke]

For those who haven't seen it - Bill Powers' comments on the report:

http://towertalk.utexas.edu/2015/02/12/report-issued-on-ut-austin-admissions/

1.   As Kroll reported, over a five-year period, my office intervened on behalf of “a relatively small†number of students. In particular, the report cited 73 applicants who normally would not have been admitted, or fewer than one in 1,000 admitted students.

2.   In every case, I acted in what I believed was the best interest of the University.

3.   Our admissions practices are fully consistent with all established laws, rules, and policies.

4.   I inherited this process, which was well known by regents, former chancellors, the Board of Regents Office, and UT System officials, many of whom, as the report notes, asked me to intervene on their behalf. This process, both prior to and during my presidency, was in the best long-term interest of the University.

5.   As the Kroll report points out, no spots at the University were saved and no one was displaced by this practice. The students in question were simply added to the incoming class.

6.   It is my observation that some similar process exists at virtually every selective university in America, and it does so because it serves the best interests of the institutions.

 

[coolhorn]

Cool reasoning.  From an Aggie, no less.

Actually, it can be argued that Guv good hair did more damage to his alma mater than he had the chance to do to UT.  Thank God there's a UT grad in the big office now.

 

[Randolph Duke]

If someone were to tell me, on average, a total of fifteen kids each year had their parents pull strings to get admitted as an undergrad, to all of the grad programs combined and to the law school, I would have thought the number comically low.  

 

[Chitownhorn]

If someone were to tell me, on average, a total of fifteen kids each year had their parents pull strings to get admitted as an undergrad, to all of the grad programs combined and to the law school, I would have thought the number comically low.  

It has been written into the record so let it be the truth.

 

[HornNdriftwood]

The article didn't say anything about Powers "lying." It hinted that he may have with held all the facts.

General rule of thumb, when you're being questioned by lawyers - limit your answer to only what's being asked. If counsel didn't get all the information they were seeking, that's on them.

To say that everyone does it, is to sound simple-minded. Not only does everyone do it, everyone has always done it - going all the way back to Greece and Alexandria. Schools and scholars

have always been beholden to their patrons.

Now, in this country, we once had the ideal that every citizen deserved a good, public (free) education. That ideal has long since fallen by the wayside. To call our beloved University a "public

institution" has become somewhat of a mis-nomer. Only something like 12% of funding comes from the public purse today. But more than ever, politicians want to meddle in the day-to-day

functions of running a  large university of the first-class. That's the mandate of the Texas constitution. But it's harder than ever to maintain those standards and be a full-time fund raiser to boot.

That's the job of the President of our University.

The real question to me is: if everyone is doing it, why was Powers singled out. The answer is easy. He was the only one to publicly stand up to Perry and his so-called "Seven Breakthrough

Solutions." This whole thing has been a political charade since the beginning. Perry came very close to winning this thing and forever damaging the University we all love.

Thank God for Bill Powers.

Hook 'em.