University of Illinois president resigns after admissions scandal

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - University of Illinois President B. Joseph White resigned Wednesday following reports that the school admitted politically connected applicants over more qualified ones at its Urbana-Champaign campus.

White said he sent a resignation letter to Christopher Kennedy, the chairman of the university’s board of trustees.

According to a university news release, White will remain with the central Illinois school to teach and raise funds.

News reports first surfaced in May that politically connected applicants for spots at the university’s flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign were given special attention and tracked through a list known as Category I.

Those reports and documents later released by the university showed that some of those connected applicants were admitted over more qualified ones.

Among the e-mails was one from former Gov. Rod Blagojevich backing an applicant. White forwarded the e-mail to Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Richard Herman.

That applicant, initially denied admission but later accepted, turned out to be a relative of Tony Rezko, the convicted political influence peddler who is a key figure in the federal government’s investigation of Blagojevich.

White has said he didn’t know at the time who Rezko was when he sent along the e-mail in 2005.

Six members of the university’s board of trustees also were replaced this summer over the admissions scandal.